In this blog post, we consider four unexpected trends that have emerged in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. The data covers Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
Trend 1: Time to read
The number of unique visitors on book retail sites and apps in many APAC countries, while down in April 2021 compared with April 2020, was significantly higher compared with Jan 2020 – pre-pandemic days. Global players in the book retail space such as Scribd.com and Google Play Books are still prominent. Restrictions of course have not fully been lifted in many countries, as the spectre of Omicron delays the process. Whether the weight of online book retail will remain high once the restrictions are fully lifted remains to be seen.
Table 1
Books, retail category - Total Unique Visitors Index
Jan 2020 = base 100
Jan-2020
Apr-2020
Apr-2021
Australia
100
167
151
China
95
69
Hong Kong
129
130
India
102
87
Indonesia
97
53
Japan
114
Malaysia
113
Singapore
193
154
Taiwan
122
76
Vietnam
107
103
Source: Comscore MMX Multi-Platform Jan 2020 – April 2021, Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
Trend 2: Mindfulness
In line with the return of interest in reading books, the search about Religion/Spirituality, aligned with the country’s dominant faith, still is a subject of attention: even if the number of unique visitors dropped in April 2021, it remains higher compared with pre-pandemic days (Jan 2020).
Table 2
Religion/Spirituality category - Total Unique Visitors Index
UV INDEX: Jan 2020 = base 100
139
92
N/A
128
118
127
84
105
60
61
120
99
104
93
96
50
Source: Comscore MMX Multi-Platform Jan 2020 – April 2021, Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Vietnam
Trend 3: Consumers strive to achieve a healthy mind in a healthy body
Health and fitness are still a big trend, people’s interest and visits on fitness and diet-related sites or apps increased significantly in April 2021 compared to April 2020. It seems that people kept their weekly exercise routines during the pandemic as a routine activity for life – beyond Covid. Given the scale of the increase, it seems likely that the trend will continue into the near future.
Table 3
Fitness/Diet - Total Unique Visitors Index
UV INDEX: Jan 2020 = base100
158
277
119
111
117
101
115
80
112
147
62
Trend 4: The impasse: home sweet home vs. it’s time to “go out”
In 2020 consumers elsewhere in the world and also in the Asia-Pacific region improved their home or at least showed interest on home improvement and decoration topics. While not as strong as in 2020, the trend shows signs of persistence: as the table below shows, in most countries the number of unique visitors was still higher in April 2021 then in April 2020.
Table 4
Home/Architecture - Total Unique Visitors Index
134
90
49
106
142
238
123