In-store purchases by the Portuguese rose 12% between 18 and 24 May, the second biggest increase since the beginning of the deflation, to an average equivalent to three quarters of the pre-pandemic period, SIBS reported today.
“In the week of May 18-24, the third in the state of calamity, the consumption habits of the Portuguese people accentuated the trends registered since the beginning of the deflation process, with the average number of physical purchases rising eight points compared to the previous week , which represents a growth of 12%, the second biggest increase since the beginning of the deflation, returning to approach the average before the beginning of the pandemic ”, says SIBS in a statement.
According to data from the SIBS Analytics platform, “the average store purchases are now at a value equivalent to three quarters of the average prior to the first case of infection registered in Portugal”.
Last week, in-store purchases in the sectors of super and hypermarkets, small food distribution, beverages and tobacco, pharmacies and parapharmacies continued to “lose preponderance due to the gradual reopening of the economy”, reaching an accumulated weight of 53% in all purchases in the Multibanco network compared to the 47% represented by all other sectors ”.
According to the managing entity of the Multibanco network, “this figure of 47% represents the highest percentage since the state of emergency was declared in Portugal in mid-March, already showing some acceleration in other sectors and business activities”.
SIBS also highlights “a new record” of using the MB Way service in purchases on the Multibando network since the first case of the new coronavirus in Portugal was registered: “In the week under analysis, from May 18 to 24, the average purchase in store through MB Way it was 70% above the average before the start of the pandemic ”, he notes, adding that the use of this application in physical purchases“ registered the eighth consecutive week of increase and rose 29% compared to the previous week ”.
Online shopping, on the other hand, recorded a “slight drop”, equivalent to three points compared to the previous week, going from 92 to 89 points compared to the pre-pandemic average.
In a sectoral analysis of online shopping, it appears that the greatest growth compared to the period before the pandemic continues to be registered in the restaurant, food delivery and take away, with an increase of 59%, followed by entertainment , culture and subscriptions, which increased by 39%.
The food and retail trade grew by 26%, “although there was a significant slowdown in the growth of these sectors in the week of May 18 to 24 when compared to the weeks of state of emergency and the two previous weeks of state of calamity ”.
According to SIBS, the “progressive transformation of the consumption habits of the Portuguese” can also be seen adding these three areas to pharmacies and parapharmacies, perfumery and cosmetics, games and toys and decoration and household items ”, since, for the For the first time since the state of emergency was declared in Portugal, the accumulated weight of these sectors represents less than half of the online purchases made by the Portuguese.
Even so, “it is worth highlighting the greater dispersion among different sectors of activity in‘ online ’purchases compared to physical purchases”.
Analyzing the use of the MB Way service in ‘e-commerce’, the average number of purchases fell four percentage points in the week of May 18 to 24 compared to the previous one, but was still 12 percentage points above the values recorded before the first case of covid-19 in Portugal.
As for the amount spent for each purchase on the Multibanco network, the average dropped for the second consecutive week (-2%), from 38.6 euros to 37.8 euros, while in online purchases the opposite occurred, increasing 2.8% to 40.2 euros, compared to 39.1 euros the previous week.
According to SIBS, both in physical and online purchases, the average values per purchase remain above the average for the period before the pandemic, with the value 8.9% higher in the physical channel and 7.2% higher in the ‘online’ .
Globally, according to a report by the AFP news agency, the covid-19 pandemic has already claimed more than 344,000 deaths and infected more than 5.4 million people in 196 countries and territories.
More than 2.1 million patients were considered cured.
In Portugal, 1,342 people died of the 31,007 confirmed to be infected, and there are 18,096 recovered cases, according to the Directorate-General for Health.
The disease is transmitted by a new coronavirus detected in late December in Wuhan, a city in central China.
After Europe succeeded China as the center of the pandemic in February, the American continent became the one with the most confirmed cases (about 2.5 million, against more than two million on the European continent), although with fewer deaths ( more than 144 thousand, against more than 172 thousand).
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