At the end of 2020, it’s time to take stock of a particular year, during which our habits have been profoundly changed. While direct contact tends to become rare because of Covid-19, it is almost natural that we turn to the web to find new solutions to continue working, socializing, consuming, or entertaining ourselves.
While it seems obvious that internet traffic experienced a sharp increase during the Covid-19 health crisis, we wanted to dig deeper into the subject. Here are ten statistics, or key figures, which help to understand the evolution of behavior on the web in a world in the grip of a pandemic.
1. Drive-thru online orders increased by 72-180:
When the crisis sets in, the Internet fails… This is at least one of the first effects observed when the pandemic arrived in France. The day after the first presidential speech, on March 12, the French turned massively to the sites of the various hypermarkets to quickly fill up with provisions.
Some servers did not take the shock as it was brutal and unexpected. Fortunately, these “crashes” were quickly resolved to allow Internet users to continue their purchases.
2. Netflix decreases its speed by 25% in Europe:
Does that seem contradictory to you? In reality, it is rather logical: once the confinement has been announced, we begin to fear that the Internet network will be overused. And for good reason, with the confined population, the web is becoming a main source of occupation for many of us. Some of the digital giants, such as Netflix.
3. “Coronavirus” becomes the most searched query on Google
This applies both nationally and globally. In France, the term “coronavirus” largely dominates search engines, well before “covid 19” or “covid-19” during the month of March. At the global level, this query even far exceeds the usually unbeatable “google” query.
4. WhatsApp is 40% more used during the first lockdown
During the month of March 2020, exchanges on the Whatsapp application experienced a spectacular increase, in particular within confined countries where this figure rose to 51%. From the need to stay at home comes the need to interact more with loved ones and family.
And it must be said that Whatsapp perfectly meets this need, thanks to its group conversation system, particularly suitable for family exchanges.
5. Zoom: the most downloaded application in the world in April 2020
Finally, the application that has gained the most ground during this crisis is Zoom videoconferencing. Its number of downloads exploded during the month of April with the generalization of teleworking and passed in front of TikTok, Facebook, and Whatsapp on all download platforms.
6. Traffic on tourism-related websites drops by 72%
While overall online traffic has experienced a monumental leap during the pandemic, the area that has suffered the most from this crisis is tourism. The various sites of travel agencies and online reservations for international flights and stays have recorded a spectacular drop worldwide: 72% fewer visits according to Contentsquare and 92% fewer transactions compared to pre-crisis levels.
7. In France, e-commerce increased by 13% following the first confinement
How to take stock of statistics on the web this year without mentioning the growth of online commerce? While it becomes impossible to go to the store to make purchases, most brands quickly realize that to survive.
They must be able to sell their products via the Internet. The sector that has made the most progress remains food with a 55% increase in online sales, according to the Kantar barometer, followed by pharmaceutical products (+49%) and household products (+46%).
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8. Amazon’s market share fell by 8 points in France at the start of the year
If Amazon remains the most important online sales platform in France in 2020, in terms of sales volume, the e-commerce giant must now face the rise of its competitors. Certain groups such as Fnac, Darty, and Boulanger are beginning to appropriate market shares formerly acquired by Amazon, still according to the Kantar barometer. It cannot, therefore, be said that the health crisis has been beneficial to him.
9. Google remains the most visited site on the planet
Some things don’t change from year to year, even on the web. Thus, Google, the world’s leading search engine, comfortably retains its first place in the ranking of the most visited sites. On the other hand, it is interesting to note the soaring rise of Chinese sites, in particular Tmall, the leader in e-commerce on this side of the globe.
10. An “Unprecedented” Crisis
Last observation, which we share with you for fun: is the astonishing increase in the use of the word “unprecedented” on Google this year. This trend is all the more surprising since it does not only concern searches in French: the equivalent term in English “unprecedented” is experiencing similar growth.
