Eager to learn more about the influence of the coronavirus pandemic on the shopping and media consumption habits of people during Ramadan, Facebook’s insights and research division, called Facebook IQ, and analytics firm YouGov published a marketing guide called Ramadan: This is the Joy of Discovery, which features key insights from their survey.

The survey was conducted between May 23 and June 13, 2020, and it included 17,758 participants. “Approximately 1,500 interviews were completed in 11 countries, with samples that were representative of the adult online population across age, gender and region in each market,” write Facebook IQ and YouGov in their marketing guide. “For the global average data cuts in this guide, we focused our analysis on the eight markets where Ramadan is celebrated by the majority of the population.”

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The most important insight is that the pandemic has fundamentally changed how people shop. Among those surveyed, 42 percent are planning to spend less time shopping in stores during Ramadan, choosing to shop online using their mobile devices instead. This is a major opportunity for marketers, who need to offer a seamless experience throughout the purchase journey to increase their conversion rates and sales.

During Ramadan, nearly half of all survey participants agreed that they spend more time on their mobile devices, and 8 in 10 said that they don’t put their smartphones and tablets down even while watching TV, including members of Gen X and Baby Boomers. One of their favorite activities around Ramadan is discovering shopping ideas, researching things to buy, and, of course, purchasing items.

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The first shopping peak happens just before Ramadan, in mid-April, and the second shopping peak coincides with the start of Eid. Even though 39 percent of shoppers start planning their purchases about a month before celebrations start, only 20 percent have completed shopping when Ramadan begins.

For more insights like these, read the full marketing guide, which Facebook kindly published on its website.