Impact of COVID-19 on Mobile and Sim buying
As of April 11, 2020 HYPOTHESIS Lockdown and the current economic-pandemic situation means changes to the status quo –
1. Changes to consumer preferences and shopping behaviour 2. Changes to the need and availability 3. Changes to the competition landscape
How has telecom (mobiles and sim) buying impacted and changed since the beginning of 2020? Slight spike in the recent weeks driven by recent launches and consumers engagement with service providers
Volume indexed to W2
W2 W3 W4 W5 W6 W7 W8 W9 W10 W11 W12 W13 W14 W15
CY-19 CY-20
Clicks indexed to W2
Source: Microsoft Internal Data, All Device Consumers are engaging more with service providers and performing more generic searches looking for better deals
Volume indexed to W2 2020 Generics OEM SP
100%
W2 W3 W4 W5 W6 W7 W8 W9 W10 W11 W12 W13 W14 W15
Top 10 Generic Queries
mobile phone deals mobile phone mobile phones mobiles sim only deals best mobile phone deals mobile sim free mobile phones phones phone deals Source: Internal Microsoft Data,, All Device *SP: Service Provider OEM: Original Equipment Manufacturer Service Providers Remain visible & stay connected as consumers shift brands
Service Provider brand searches YoY service provider brand searches (W12 – W15) W12-W15 compared to W2 – W5 2020 CY-20 CY-19
EE 27% 29% Smarty -17% O2 18% 16% Voxi Mobile -23% Tesco Mobile 17% Tesco Mobile 10% 15% Giff Gaff 11% O2 10% 10%
Three 9% Giff Gaff 6% 9%
Three Vodafone 6% 3% 5%
EE -8% Virgin Mobile 5% 6% Vodafone 27% Sky Mobile 3% 4% Sky Mobile -26% ID Mobile 2% 2% Virgin Mobile -12% BT 1% 1% ID Mobile -3% Smarty 1% BT -24% 1% Voxi Mobile 1% 1% Source: Microsoft Internal Data, O&O Search Data, All Device W2 starting 5th Jan 2020, W12 starting15th Mar 2020 Changing competition landscape, highly influenced by the deals & rewards
Top stable brands 160% Volume indexed to W2 2020 140%
120%
100%
80%
60% Vodafone EE Giff Gaff O2 Tesco Mobile Three 40%
20% W2 W3 W4 W5 W6 W7 W8 W9 W10 W11 W12 W13 W14 W15
Brands experiencing drastic drop in volume 120% Volume indexed to W2 2020
100%
80%
60%
40% BT Smarty Virgin Mobile Voxi Mobile Sky Mobile
20% Source: Internal Data, O&O Search Data, All Device OEMs Pandemic has affected all brand- some brands more than others But popular brands have grown stronger in their share
YoY OEM brand & model searches (W12 – W15) OEM brand and model searches CY-20 CY-19 W12-W15 compared to W2 – W5 2020 44% Apple 40% Apple -19% Samsung 32% Samsung -14% 29% 8% Huawei -4% Huawei 13% 4% Nokia -21% Nokia 4% Motorola -21% 3% Motorola 3% Google Phones -26% 2% Google… 2% Sony -35% 1% Sony 3% OnePlus -23% 1% OnePlus 2% Honor -33% Xiaomi 1% Xiaomi -11% 1% 1% HTC -8% Oppo 0% 1% Oppo -7% Honor 2%
DORO -9% 1% HTC 1% LG -15% 1% DORO 0% Source: Internal Data, O&O Search Data, All Device W2 starting 5th Jan 2020, W12 starting15th Mar 2020 Overall lower phone (model + brand) searches across the brand spectrum But new phone launches continue to create intermittent peaks
Volume indexed to W2 2020
Apple Huawei Samsung
85% 77%
W2 W3 W4 W5 W6 W7 W8 W9 W10 W11 W12 W13 W14 W15
Volume indexed to W2 2020
Others (Doro,HTC,LG) Google Phones Honor Motorola Nokia OnePlus Oppo Sony Xiaomi
Source: Internal Data, O&O Search Data, All Device Grab greater engagement at cheaper cost on brand searches
Avg. CPC & CTR Comparison (W12 – W15 over W2 – W5)
Avg CTR : 6% Avg CTR : 5% Avg CTR : -2%
Avg CPC : -27% Avg CPC : -9% Avg CPC : 2% SIMO-PAYG
[Sim only – Pay as you go] SIMO-PAYG popularity has further raised since lockdown
Volume indexed to W2 2020
91% 81%
W2 W3 W4 W5 W6 W7 W8 W9 W10 W11 W12 W13 W14 W15
CY-19 CY-20
Top 10 SIMO-PAYG Queries vodafone top up ee sim only deals sim only deals sim o2 top up giff gaff sim only ee top up best sim only deals tesco mobile top up sim only deals uk
Source: Internal Data, O&O Search Data, All Device W2 starting 5th Jan 2020, W12 starting15th Mar 2020 “Top up” and “deals” are the key to SIMO-PAYG While some are looking for best deals shifting brands, others need more top -up
Service Provider SIMO-PAYG brand searches W12-W15 compared to W2 – W5 2020 Generics Vs. Brand Split for SIMO-PAYG W2 - W5 W12 - W15
26% Vodafone 28%
23% 56% EE 60% 21%
19% O2 22%
14% Tesco Mobile 14% 45% 40% 6% Others (Voxi, Sky, Smarty, BT, Virgin) 3%
W2 - W5 W12 - W15 5% Three 4% Generics Brand 4% Giff Gaff 5%
2% ID Mobile 2%
Source: Internal Data, O&O Search Data, All Device Used Phones Used-Refurbished phones got special attention since the lockdown, mostly Apple-iPhone led
Volume Indexed to W2 2020
W2 W3 W4 W5 W6 W7 W8 W9 W10 W11 W12 W13 W14 W15
New Phones Refurbished
Top 10 Refurbished Queries
Category Definition: refurbished iphone reconditioned iphone Refurbished category includes and queries containing apple refurbished refurbished iphone x used/refurbished/secondhand/old and other related terms refurbished iphones iphone x refurbished New Phone: any OEM (mobile specific query) and model refurbished iphone 7 used iphone related queries without any refurbished category query apple refurbished uk second hand iphone
Source: Internal Data, O&O Search Data, All Device General Sub-Trends Post lockdown, simple & cheap phones for older people and freebies were popular
Volume Indexed to W2 2020
100% 103% 99% Trending trends
Phone for elders Cheap & Budget phones Cheap/ budget Business Compare Free sims Deals-sale-offers Elderly/ specially abled No upfront cost/ sim free/ unlocked Online Top-ups Rewiew Rewards Rewards & Perks W2 W3 W4 W5 W6 W7 W8 W9 W10 W11 W12 W13 W14 W15
Volume Indexed to W2 2020
Free sim OnlineTop up 231%
145% 100%
Source: Internal Data, O&O Search Data, All Device SIMO-PAYG popularity has further raised since lockdown
Used-Refurbished phones have received special attention since the lockdown, mostly Apple-iPhone led