E-commerce Update: Sales Remain Steady Despite Winter Storms

On Sunday, January 31, and Monday, February 1, when winter storms were hitting the Northeast, we saw a big drop in the percentage of online customers who completed an online purchase (the ecommerce conversion rate), but week over week online sales ended up being down by only 0.69 percent.

Traffic over the past seven days was up 5.5 percent vs. the previous seven days (orange line below). The increase in the number of users over the past seven days appears to have offset the drop in the conversion rate on Sunday and Monday.

We’re actually in a very consistent traffic and sales pattern right now, but as we’ve seen over the past year, consumers can quickly change their normal purchasing behavior following major news events, which then impact online sales and traffic patterns.