UAE residents are increasingly turning to home delivery options for their groceries amid social distancing and movement restrictions designed to minimise the impact of COVID-19, according to analytics from SEMrush.
Searches related to ‘online grocery’ in the UAE grew a massive 560 per cent between January 2020 – when the first COVID-19 case was announced in the UAE – and March 2020. Searches for ‘online pharmacy’ jumped 238 per cent, while ‘pharmacy delivery’ searches climbed 184 per cent.
Delivery aggregators and consumer goods providers also saw steady increases in search volume with Zomato seeing a 55 per cent search volume increase during the same period, while Uber Eats searches rose by 96 per cent and Amazon searches climbed 44 per cent. The delivery aggregator increases come despite the ongoing #UAERestaurantsUnite campaign, which encourages residents to shop direct.
Collectively, fast food sites have seen a 33 per cent increase in search volumes, with big winners like Dominos and Subway seeing increases of 40 per cent and 61 per cent, respectively.
“UAE web traffic analysis indicates a trend of consumers bypass aggregators to order food deliveries direct,” says Olga Andrienko, Head of Global Marketing at SEMrush. “It would be worthwhile for regional businesses to continuously monitor online search and traffic data to assess online trends in any sector.”
Similar trends have been witnessed around the world, with online shopping seeing a 50 per cent increase in Germany, a 122 per cent increase in Japan and a 108 per cent increase in Korea.
“The COVID-19 outbreak has affected people around the world; it has also affected behavioural patterns in daily routines globally, causing ripple effects that have temporarily changed the global economy,” adds Andrienko.
The World Economic Forum has estimated the UAE’s 2020 e-commerce market to be valued at $27.2 billion.
