Understanding the Unprecedented: Quarantine and its Effects on the American Consumer Second Edition: From Needs to Enrichment Overview The consumer has now spent over a month quarantined in their homes. In our first edition of the Coronavirus Consumer Report we analyzed the impact of the first two weeks of the crisis on the mindshare and wallet share of the consumer. In our latest edition, we check in on that consumer to see how their behavior has evolved as they become accustomed to the “new normal”. In this report, we continue to address the following questions: 1. How has the Coronavirus and related crisis impacted the ways in which consumers engage in 1 digital content and make purchase decisions? 2. How will these trends shift as the crisis continues and we settle into our “new normal”? What will 2 the next phase look like from a consumer perspective? 3. Will these trends, or some of these trends, achieve a level of permanence even after the crisis 3 abates? In order to answer these questions, we partnered with data insights analytics firm, Crosswalk, to analyze the digital data of over 5 million consumers. This edition of the Coronavirus Consumer Report covers the second two weeks of the crisis (March 29th – April 11th) when Americans began to settle into their quarantined lives. We plan to continue to provide pulse check updates throughout the crisis to see how the trends evolve over time. For this report, Traub and Crosswalk conducted a study of 5.29M consumers who provided self- identified information via social media platforms. We sourced parsed data from digital networks, consumption trends, habits, and language. We then applied our proprietary funnel system to filter the data and assign inferences based on proven correlations between specific data points and demographically known characteristics. The study analyzed 4.9M active online retail consumers across the United States, split between Gen Z (2.5M), Millennials (915K), Gen X (880K) and Baby Boomers (1M). 1 Key Takeaways Consumers are turning to content to satisfy their emotional needs and commerce to satisfy their functional needs. Brands that are able to enrich consumers’ lives by satisfying both emotional and functional needs have an opportunity to not only survive, but also thrive during this time. Kids Content and Products: Kids content and products surged in popularity as Millennial and Gen X Consumers who are in quarantine trying to juggle their various responsibilities (working from home, home schooling, feeding and cleaning their households) turned to kids content and products to entertain and occupy their children while at home. Fitness: Fitness brands have been most consistently successful throughout the crisis by engaging customers on both their emotional needs (fitness content) and their functional needs (fitness products). Fitness subscriptions exploded during the crisis as consumers found new ways to stay active and healthy while at home. Groceries/CPG: In the first two weeks of the crisis, consumers engaged in a nationwide panic purchase of grocery and cleaning products. Now that their pantries are well stocked, they no longer needed to purchase these products at such high volumes. Groceries/CPG continued to dominate the wallet share, but the percentage of consumers purchasing those products dropped in the recent period, indicating that the overall spending levels are decreasing. 2 Demographic Breakdown of Our Study AGE ETHNICITY 18-20 21-24 Caucasian 25-29 30-34 35-37 African American 38-44 45-49 Hispanic 50-54 55-59 60-64 Asian 65+ 0 20 40 60 80 100 0 25 50 75 100 Gen Z Consumer Millennial Consumer % of Sample Size Gen X Consumer Baby Boomer Consumer GENDER Female Male 0 25 50 75 100 % of Sample Size 3 CONTENT Content Engagement March 29th – April 11 NEWS STREAMING FOOD FITNESS TECH FASHION BEAUTY KIDS +13% +5% -8% -7% -15% -5% -13% 0 25 50 75 100 0 25 50 75 100 0 25 50 75 100 0 25 50 75 100 0 25 50 75 100 0 25 50 75 100 0 25 50 75 100 0 25 50 75 100 As consumers settled into their quarantine routines, they continued to turn to During the first two weeks of the crisis, consumers who The biggest shift over the second two weeks of content to entertain, enrich and occupy their time. Streaming, food and fitness were forced into WFH situations turned to the internet quarantine was the shift towards entertaining and content were places consumers turned for ways to entertain themselves and their to research the best tech and tech set-ups to smooth occupying kids. Parents turned to the internet to families (without spending too much extra money) during this long confinement in out the transition. Most consumers are now set up to provide content for their children while they their homes. WFH and no longer need tech-related content. juggled their various responsibilities. th th *Note: Percent changes represent change from March 15 – 28 to present reporting period. 4 Social Media Consumption March 15th – 28th March 29th – April 11 Active on All demographic groups increased their time spent on social media. Active on Social Social Social media provides an outlet as well as a portal into the outside world for people stuck in their homes. Youtube became increasingly Tik Tok Tik Tok popular with Millennials and Gen X as consumers turned to the platform to entertain both themselves and their children. Instagram Instagram YouTube YouTube Facebook Facebook Twitter Twitter Pinterest Pinterest As the economic toll of the Coronavirus crisis began to impact people on the individual level, they turned to LinkedIn in increasing LinkedIn LinkedIn numbers. Many people were laid off, furloughed, or otherwise impacted and utilized LinkedIn to look for new jobs or post status 0 25 50 75 100 0 25 50 75 100 updates. We expect LinkedIn to continue rising in popularity as the economic crisis persists. % of Sample Size % of Sample Size Newcomers Increase Decrease 5 Youtube Breakdown Breakdown of content the streaming Consumer is consuming/ viewing on streaming platforms. March 15th – 28th March 29th – April 11 ALIGN TWO CHARTS COMMENT Across generations, people are seeking new ways to enrich their time at home. They are turning to tutorials on Youtube to learn “home economics” skills such as cooking, sewing, and housekeeping. Families with young children are juggling working from home, home school, entertaining children without playdates, and feeding and cleaning their households. Kids content on Youtube keeps children quiet and entertained providing their parents a break from childcare duties. Newcomers Increase Decrease 6 MEDIA VISITED March 29th – April 11 Media Visited OUTLET FREQUENCY GEN Z CONSUMER Change in Average Frequency Buzzfeed Average Visits 40 Average Visits 34% 25 Traditional TMZ 22% 18 Average Visits News (80%) People Average Visits NYT, Wall Street Journal, HuffPost, (22%) 21% 15 Washington Post, LA Times 0 40 Average Visits E! Online 18% 10 Average Visits Cable/Network Refinery29 Average Visits TV 15% 11 (71%) MSNBC, Fox, CNN, NBC Today MSNBC Average Visits 0 12% 8 40 Average Visits NY Times 12% 7 Average Visits Digital Media 24% Platforms Fox 7 Average Visits (3%) 11% Forbes, Mashable, Refinery29, Buzzfeed, Fast Company, Wired, WWD 0 ESPN 5% 11 Average Visits 40 Average Visits Entertainment Media ESPN, Fox Sports, The Onion, People, TMZ, E! Online, GQ, Esquire, Vogue, InStyle, Elle, Glamour, Marie (46%) Claire, Who What Wear 0 (33%) Prior to March 2020 Outlet & Frequency: Percentage indicates aggregate number of unique pings back from the participant group during our study. 1 ping = 1 user. Frequency: This March 15th – March 28th measures the average aggregate user pings or more simply put, the average th th *Note: Media outlets in purple were visited at any point in this study by this age group March 29 – April 11 number of times a user visited each site during the course of the study. 7 March 29th – April 11 Media Visited OUTLET FREQUENCY MILLENNIAL CONSUMER CNN Average Visits Change in Average Frequency 48% 55 40 Average Visits NY Times 122% (5%) 39% 52 Average Visits Traditional News HuffPost 33% 34 Average Visits NYT, Wall Street Journal, HuffPost, MSNBC Washington Post, LA Times 0 32% 25 Average Visits 40 Average Visits 25% The Average Visits Onion 21 Cable/Network 730% 29% TV Fox 22% 24 Average Visits MSNBC, Fox, CNN, NBC Today 0 Mashable Average Visits 40 Average Visits 20% 22 Wall Street Average Visits Digital Media Journal 18% 21 Platforms 20% ESPN Average Visits Forbes, Mashable, Refinery29, Buzzfeed, Fast (20%) 12% 11 Company, Wired, WWD 0 40 Average Visits Wired 11% 8 Average Visits Entertainment Average Visits Media Forbes 8% 12 ESPN, Fox Sports, The Onion, People, TMZ, E! Online, GQ, Esquire, Vogue, InStyle, Elle, Glamour, Marie (42%) Claire, Who What Wear (40%) 0 Prior to March 2020 Outlet & Frequency: Percentage indicates aggregate number of unique pings back from the participant group during our study. 1 ping = 1 user. Frequency: This March 15th – March 28th measures the average aggregate user pings or more simply put, the average th th *Note: Media outlets in purple were visited at any point in this study by this age group March 29 – April 11 number of times a user visited each site during the course of the study. 8 March 29th – April 11 Media Visited OUTLET FREQUENCY GEN X CONSUMER NY Times Average Visits Change in Average Frequency 44% 43 40 Average Visits MSNBC Average Visits 15% 39% 44 Traditional 187% CNN Average Visits News 38% 32 NYT, Wall Street Journal, HuffPost, Wall Street Average Visits Washington Post, LA Times 0 Journal