An audience update from our Data & Insight Director, Richard Walker

“Last week we saw the initial public reaction to more stringent measures imposed by the government in light of coronavirus (COVID-19). We saw that whilst our marketplace was more resilient than most, our traffic was still down around 21% last week vs the same period last year (w/c 16th March). The lockdown announcement made last Monday 23rd caused a temporary drop in traffic which was down on the Tuesday by 36.6%, but it then recovered quickly. We ended the week 29.4% down vs the same time last year. Whilst the environment is still incredibly challenging for retailers, we did see our audience come back a little over the weekend trending just below 23% down on last year showing some positive signs that consumers are still researching cars.

“We also saw a very high advert view per user session number, meaning that visitors to our site are viewing more adverts per visit than normal. This reinforces our notion last week that whilst consumers can’t easily buy their next car right now, digital forecourts remain key with consumers still browsing, contacting retailers and lining up their next purchase for when the Government’s isolation restrictions are eased.

“My team and I will keep monitoring the numbers and continue to regularly update you all, so you can stay on top of what’s going on.”

Author: Richard Walker, Data & Insight Director, Auto Trader.