Insights to get your heart racing...
Welcome to The Pulse. With the British public unleashed and bars and restaurants open once again, we’ve been keeping a close eye on how this is impacting online sales trends. So far sales volumes across the Awin network are still holding strong year on year, however analysis of the ‘Super Saturday’ weekend shows on average 10% decline in sales compared to the weekend before bars and restaurants opened back up. It will be interesting to see if longer term it proves to be wider entertainment options that curb our online spending habits, rather than the high street opening again.
This month we have all eyes on the Travel industry with some early positive indicators that it's starting to bounce back. Sector Stories focuses on recent movements across the sector and July’s strong performance so far. Domestic travel and Attractions are seeing some phenomenal results, and it seems confidence is gaining towards foreign travel as airport parking takes off.
Last week Alex hosted the global Finance webinar, discussing trends and updates from across the sector with a specialist global panel, and in case you missed it you can still catch Jess’s global Agency webinar recording. Links are provided in the Check Out. We also share our views on the new TikTok for business platform, the #StopHateForProfit campaign and the first ever all female, virtual Affiliate Summit!
Enjoy,
Client Partnerships team
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Trending Now
The stats grabbing our attention
52% of sales track through app as one large fashion brand launches app tracking for lockdown, performance YoY up by a third with app sales driving 12% higher AOV.
69% is the percentage of app sales for bloggers and social content publishers tracking through one retailer’s app, driving 135% increase in performance YoY for these publisher types.
$5,072 trillion is the expected retail sales for China in 2020, taking the #1 spot from the US. 41.2% will take place online (compared to 14.5% in the US). Source: eMarketer
80% is the average growth from brands on Awin’s green payment status since 2018 compared to 25% by brands on the slower amber payment status
182% is the YoY increase in bookings seen by UK Holiday brand, Snaptrip in the first week of July, suggesting a rush on summer 2020 staycations.
17 weeks is the amount of time it has taken for the amount of driving trips in the UK to return to pre lockdown levels after begin to dip on the 11th of March according to Apple Maps routing usage, with it continuing to rise as the economy opens up.
£3 million the amount of currency exchanged through Awin FX merchants in June, up nearly 80% month on month, the first monthly increase in 2020.
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Visual Intelligence
Visual illustrations of key market trends
As per the UK government’s changes in policy, Saturday the 4th of July saw a significant easing on lockdown restrictions in England, with many pubs and restaurants reopening and citizens able to visit the households of friends and family. Widely dubbed “Super Saturday” by the UK media, it was widely reported that the ongoing pandemic didn’t prevent many from visiting pubs and other reopened businesses. With people able to spend their leisure time outdoors as well as physical retail being open since mid-June, Awin’s UK transaction data shows that less online sales were made over this weekend. With every hour from 10am on Saturday until the end of Sunday showing a decrease compared to the previous weekend. Across Saturday and Sunday sales on the network were down -10.8% over this period but retail being the main driver at -11.5% whereas Finance was down -7.8%, Telecoms and Services -2.5% and Travel -0.2%. Within retail the largest fallers by volume were Womenswear (-23%), Shoes (-28.7%) and Health and Beauty (-16.8%).
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Sector Stories
Deep diving into sectors experiencing change
Travel Cleared for Takeoff
Following the lockdown in the UK from March we saw a consistent decrease in bookings in the travel space, down +97% and -98% in April and May retrospectively versus 2019, however in June we started to see this lift slightly, down -93% and in the first week of July bookings are down even less so, though still substantially, at - 88% YoY.
Looking at the booking trends month on month also helps us understand this positive trend across the UK travel landscape, June saw an increase in bookings by 184% comparative to May, and the first week of July sales are already +218% above that tracked in the first week of June.
June 15th marked the re-opening of many tourist attractions and national parks, and as a result June and July (1st – 7th) have seen a 576% increase in tourism and attraction sales versus the previous month. The second largest performance increase month on month in travel was within the airport parking and transfers space, up 433% MoM. Airport parking is often purchased after flights have been booked and much closer to departure date, often around 2 weeks. This to me assumes less flights are now being cancelled as we enter July, and consumers are more comfortable to fly in the coming weeks.
Looking at the first week of July specifically the best performing sub-sector was coaches within the travel sector, up 600% versus the first week of June. This aligns with the reopening of some of the hospitality sector. Most of the largest UK coach companies allow bookings up to a month in advance which would lead us to assume some summer holiday staycations are being booked to visit friends and family across the UK.
With many travellers currently amending trip dates or claiming vouchers for their next trip, paired with the continued safety measures and in-depth quarantine rules it will continue to be a slow increase for the rest of the landscape, and staycations, with a focus on remote accommodation, paired with day trips will continue to be a popular choice throughout the second half of 2020.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Our take on hot discussion topics
TikTok have recently launched TikTok Business, do you think brands will give attention to this platform as a means of generating more customers and sales online?
According to the Influencer Marketing Hub TikTok has been installed on devices over 1.9 billion times worldwide. […] TikTok also enjoyed a massive 500% increase in in-app spending between May 2018 and April 2019, taking it to $7.4 billion. Couple this with many advertisers reaching out to find out what opportunities there are to effectively partner and track performance across TikTok and we think this will only expand the opportunities around influencer marketing as a means of driving up online sales for brands.
With huge popularity sweeping the US and the app originating in China we predict that the launch of TikTok business will see the UK start to take further note of the platform which boasts the highest follower engagement rates vs. Twitter and Instagram. Stats sampled in an online research project conducted by Influencer Marketing Hub across 100,000 user profiles showed that TikTok saw a 8.13 rate of engagement vs. 3.7% on Instagram and 0.6% on Twitter for those that had around 10,000 followers. If we apply that uplift in engagement to the success that we’ve seen from Instagram influencers and brand partnerships, we could see double the interactivity and higher conversions with the added customer reach that TikTok can provide, not only in the UK but across all affiliate markets. - Jess
How do you think the recent boycott of Facebook advertising by brands amid the #StopHateForProfit campaign will affect the affiliate channel?
Facebook advertising growth has been exponential, and the duopoly of Facebook and Google frequently benefit from the lions share on of digital ad spend. Any movement towards a more diversified advertising portfolio will be better for all – customers, advertisers and publishers, and whilst that isn't the core aim of the campaign, it will be a welcome side effect. The affiliate channel has long championed transparency and proudly showcased exactly where advertisers are promoted. Therefore, the attention the #StopHateForProfit campaign is generating, and the increased awareness Advertisers will now have on their brand ‘s position in publications should prove to be a positive for the channel.
Awin's content Analyst Rob Davinson explores this further, and in the context of the 'kindness ecomony' in his latest article - Roz
The Affiliate Summit was hosted remotely for the first time, and with an all-female line up. Do you think it was a success?
ASE Remote was able to quadruple attendees from home – hitting 4000 guests which speaks volumes in terms of its success. eMarketer released survey results recently and found that 62% have a desire for ‘global virtual events with live video feeds from headliners speaking about big issues’ to occur more regularly post-pandemic and I definitely agree. From a speaker perspective at ASE remote - talks were pre-recorded which aids confidence in presenting, whilst still paired with a live Q & A to allow for audience participation. From an attendee perspective I enjoyed the full event especially the flexibility of being able to watch live or catch later. The app provided great networking across the three days – I also loved the creativity around the social aspects! I’m excited to see what other events will go virtual including the PMA’s in August and the Girl Up Leadership Summit this week – Joelle
What does the recent announcements about Huawei mean for the future of telco?
I actually wrote a little bit about 5G earlier this year and in it I did think that the demand for fast internet may have finally given 5G a USP beyond the hype. I think that this may still happen with the current 5G setup as telecoms providers have until 2027 to remove Huawei equipment from the network however, this may definitely delay any further roll out of 5G as networks now look at alternative suppliers. What this may mean is that 5G home broadband may take a backseat which may help drive the need for ultrafast wired products which are already seeing unprecedented levels of demand. For handsets, I think the 5G phones will still come out but perhaps they’ll need to consider other USPs to market within the UK if networks worry about pushing 5G whilst there may be capacity issues. - Alex
If you would like us to answer a question next month please email uk-clientpartnerships@awin.com
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Our favourite content from the affiliate channel and further afield
Jess hosts a panel discussion on our Global Agency webinar [Webinar]
Alex hosted our Finance sector webinar discussions this week [Webinar]
Review the benefits Advertisers on Awin ‘green’ payment status benefit from [Article]
Read the latest digital ad spend updates including Q2 spending statistics across the globe and predictions for the rest of the year [Research]
Listen to the new Secret Leaders show on Sundays or on catch up ‘Represented’ features Black & minority founders pitching for investment from Dragons Den style committee to do their part to support the #blacklivesmatter movement. [Podcast]
Be inspired by the latest Uniqodo blog post focusing on personalisation, sharing examples from some of the largest brands as well as actionable takeaways [Blog Post]
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We hope you enjoyed this edition of The Pulse,
To get in touch please email uk-clientpartnerships@awin.com.
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