More online purchases and increased demand for smartphones: how pandemics changed buyer habits

Sales in the A1 virtual shop have grown by 45% in average over the last six months. Such growth is due to the expansion of COVID epidemics, which caused most people to migrate from offline to online, as well as seasonal offers of the company. Regions became the leaders of online shopping.

Last half a year had a significant impact on the habits of A1 customers: they began using services of the company's virtual shop more frequently, preferring delivery by courier.

A1 virtual shop allows the buyer to get an online video consultation regarding the selected device model in the live streaming format. Thanks to the system of stationary webcameras installed on the special premises, consultants are able to demonstrate the work features of certain devices to clients using the cameras of their work smartphones, show open display stands of mobile devices and accessories, and guide them to full-fledged demo zones of the VOKA video service and the A1 Smart Home system.

Vitebsk and Vitebsk region became the leaders in terms of the quantity of purchases; in comparison with the same period of 2019, online sales increased by more than 64% and 43% respectively.

In general, significant growth was found in regions, which significantly outperformed large regional cities in terms of indicators. The most active ones include Minsk and Grodno regions with the growth of 61% and 59% respectively. In Brest Region, the growth amounted to 53%; in Gomel and Mogilev regions, it turned out to be a little less - 34% and 21% respectively.

Of all the goods presented in the A1 virtual shop, smartphones traditionally enjoyed the highest demand. The users are also especially interested in "A1 Alpha" - the first model released under the A1 brand, which became the bestseller of 2019 at a price of only 149 rubles. Especially popular were also last year's Samsung models - Galaxy A51 with integrated memory capacity of 64 GB and Galaxy A30s, high-tech Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro, as well as iPhone XR, which are still available in the company's virtual store on beneficial terms.

You can place an order at the A1 online shop 24 hours a day and choose courier delivery or customer pickup. It is possible to pay for the purchase with a bank card upon delivery, in cash, from your account balance or online via Webpay.