| Hello there, this is Spencer Soper in Seattle.It's no secret that shoppers flocked to Amazon.com Inc. to stock up on face masks and toilet paper at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and then shifted to desks, laptops, video games and even swimming pools as things stretched out for the long haul. Business is good when most of your competitors are forced to close. The trillion-dollar question now is how much spending that shifted from stores to websites will stay there once the pandemic subsides. There's also the question of whether a consumer spending pullback tied to rising joblessness and uncertainty about further government stimulus will blunt Amazon's rise. We spent the past week and a half looking at a lot of data about the abrupt shift in consumer spending patterns, and here are some of the interesting takeaways. People are getting more comfortable with buy-online-pickup-in-store and curbside pickup options. About 31% of shoppers said they preferred this method of online shopping in July, up from 24% in June, according to Adobe Inc., which is closely monitoring shopper preferences. That's a good sign for Walmart Inc. and Target Corp., which have been investing in those capabilities that Amazon really lacks. The good news for Amazon is most shoppers still prefer home delivery. But the company must make sure it has more inventory available for same-day home delivery to keep that number from shifting much further in favor of store pickup. Online shoppers have been very forgiving regarding delivery delays. That was an interesting find from an Amazon shopper survey conducted in June by Goat Consulting, and emphasized just how much consumer priorities shifted. More than 40% of shoppers said it was reasonable to wait an additional two to three days to get online orders delivered during the pandemic and nearly 25% were fine waiting an additional four to five days. The survey helps explain how Amazon was able to grow so much during the pandemic despite some logistical stumbles. Shoppers were willing to wait as long as they knew their orders were on the way. With so many businesses shuttered and inventory often out of stock, 40% of shoppers said they were willing to try new brands and retailers, according to McKinsey, a huge opportunity for up-and-coming businesses to grab market share from bigger rivals. This is another phenomenon that plays to Amazon's strength. With hundreds of millions of products in its online marketplace, people flocked there for alternatives and found them from the millions of merchants who sell products on the site. Amazon isn't just replacing in-store shoppers. It has become a substitute for entire industries. Amazon is also benefiting from closed bars and restaurants by selling more kitchen appliances to foodies suddenly stuck at home. People still can't travel much, so airfare money is going to buy gifts for relatives they can't visit, said Vivek Pandya, a researcher with Adobe. And the gains from closed hair salons are staggering. Hair-dye sales surged 971% on Amazon during the pandemic, according to Hinge Global, which monitors sales on the site. "We believe many of these trends will be lasting," said Kathy Mak Cummins, who runs data analytics at Hinge Global. "Consumers are shifting their purchase behavior to e-commerce, driven by wide assortment, better in-stock rates and the convenience of in-home delivery. For many categories, consumers' adoption of e-commerce is likely to continue even after the pandemic." —Spencer Soper | 
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