The potential impact of inflation on user searches on Amazon.it during the third quarter of 2022

According to preliminary ISTAT estimates of October 2022, the national consumer price index recorded an increase of almost 12% on an annual basis and 3.5% monthly. Energy goods are certainly explaining this significant surge, but not only: inflationary tensions are affecting almost all product sectors.

But how does inflation have affected user searches on Amazon.it?

On Amazon.it there is a growing relevance of searches that contains a specific reference to the “offer” segment (i.e. “tablet on offer”): this kind of behaviour may indicate an attempt to cope with the increasing reduction in their purchasing power. In the third quarter of 2022, offers-related searches recorded double-digit growth (more than 30% year over year), which reached almost 40% in October.

NB. The “generic” segment collects all those search terms that refer to “offer/offers” without mentioning a specific product category (i.e. “offers of the day”).

Growing search for discounted essential goods

Although they remain relevant in terms of volumes, searches related to Electronics (-6 percentage points) and Computers & Accessories (-4 percentage points) have lost share in favour of searches related to basic necessities: macro-categories such as Health and Personal Care and DIY earned respectively +3 and +7 percentage points in terms of share on the total estimated search volumes of the “offers” segment.

In the third quarter of 2022, search terms related to discounted products such as toilet paper, fabric softeners and detergents are also increasing, generating 5% of the estimated search volumes in the “offer” segment, gaining 3 percentage points over the same period of the previous year (i.e. “toilet paper offer flash” +218% YoY).

It is essential to specify that there is not necessarily a direct correlation between searches containing the word “offer” and products with a price reduction: in fact, following user searches of discounted products, Amazon often shows value packs. For example, the three most clicked products for “carta igienica offerta lampo” are two packs of 36 (Amazon brand) and one of 90 rolls (Tenderly).

The pellet segment

Interestingly, in the third quarter of 2022, search terms related to “pellet in offerta” generated 7% of the estimated search volumes of the “offer” segment, marking a 4-digit growth of almost +1500% year over year.

Remember that the price of pellets, biomass until a year ago universally perceived as cheaper than methane gas, is now subject to continuous increases due to various causes – including the scarcity of raw material that is often wood from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.

The search term “pellet per stufa sacchi 15kg offerte” has in fact increased from 72° to 2° most relevant search term in the offers segment.

Among the new search trends in the category Garden & Outdoors, we can also find “pellettatrice domestica“, a tool for the home production of pellets: it is clear that the user trusts Amazon – in terms of a marketplace where to search for convenience – also for product categories for which, under normal conditions, it would not be the proper channel.

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