Demand undiminished by latest lockdown

The latest figures suggest Lockdown 3:0 is having little impact on consumer demand.

According to the latest data from Auto Trader, after an initial dip following the announcement that England would be entering its third national lockdown, consumer demand has remained strong.

During the first three days of the new year, there was a seven per cent year-on-year increase in visitors to Auto Trader, before taking a slight fall immediately following the announcement on 4 January. However, with an average of 1.8 million visitors a day recorded during the week ending 10 January, levels were still 1.1% higher than the same period last year.

Volumes have continued rising since then, with the number of visits reaching a 4.3% YoY growth over the weekend.

In a separate piece of research conducted in December, 35% of consumers said that owning a car is more important to them than it was before the pandemic.

Data and insights director, Richard Walker, said: “The lockdown was not the start to the year any of us were hoping for and unfortunately these new measures across the UK will have a significant impact on everyone’s plans over the next quarter. However, the data does give us reasons to be positive, with clear evidence of strong underlying consumer demand and buying intent.

“As well as being far better prepared to continue selling via click and collect and home delivery over the coming weeks, we’re confident retailers can expect strong levels of demand as we come out of these restrictions.”