Impact of COVID-19 on

Mobile and Sim buying

As of April 11, 2020

HYPOTHESIS

Lockdown and the current economic-pandemic situation means

changes to the status quo –

1. Changes to consumer preferences and shopping behaviour

2. Changes to the need and availability

3. Changes to the competition landscape

How has telecom (mobiles and sim) buying impacted and changed

since the beginning of 2020?

W2 W3 W4 W5 W6 W7 W8 W9 W10 W11 W12 W13 W14 W15

CY-19 CY-20

Slight spike in the recent weeks driven by recent launches and consumers

engagement with service providers

Volume indexed to W2

Clicks indexed to W2

Source: Microsoft Internal Data, All Device

Consumers are engaging more with service providers and performing more

generic searches looking for better deals

W2 W3 W4 W5 W6 W7 W8 W9 W10 W11 W12 W13 W14 W15

Volume indexed to W2 2020 Generics OEM SP

100%

Source: Internal Microsoft Data,, All Device

*SP: Service Provider

OEM: Original Equipment Manufacturer

mobile phone

mobiles

best mobile phone deals

sim free mobile phones

phone deals

Top 10 Generic Queries

mobile phone deals

mobile phones

sim only deals

mobile

phones

Service Providers

-24%

-3%

-12%

-26%

27%

-8%

3%

6%

10%

10%

-23%

-17%

BT

ID Mobile

Virgin Mobile

Sky Mobile

Vodafone

EE

Three

Giff Gaff

O2

Tesco Mobile

Voxi Mobile

Smarty

Remain visible & stay connected as consumers shift brands

1%

1%

1%

2%

4%

6%

5%

9%

10%

15%

16%

29%

1%

1%

1%

2%

3%

5%

6%

9%

11%

17%

18%

27%

Voxi Mobile

Smarty

BT

ID Mobile

Sky Mobile

Virgin Mobile

Vodafone

Three

Giff Gaff

Tesco Mobile

O2

EE

YoY service provider brand searches (W12 – W15)

CY-20 CY-19

Service Provider brand searches

W12-W15 compared to W2 – W5 2020

Source: Microsoft Internal Data, O&O Search Data, All Device

W2 starting 5th Jan 2020, W12 starting15th Mar 2020

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

120%

Brands experiencing drastic drop in volume

Volume indexed to W2 2020

BT Smarty Virgin Mobile Voxi Mobile Sky Mobile

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

120%

140%

160%

W2 W3 W4 W5 W6 W7 W8 W9 W10 W11 W12 W13 W14 W15

Top stable brands

Volume indexed to W2 2020

Vodafone EE Giff Gaff O2 Tesco Mobile Three

Changing competition landscape, highly influenced by the deals & rewards

Source: Internal Data, O&O Search Data, All Device

OEMs

0%

1%

2%

0%

1%

2%

3%

2%

3%

4%

13%

29%

40%

1%

1%

1%

1%

1%

1%

1%

2%

3%

4%

8%

32%

44%

DORO

HTC

Honor

Oppo

Xiaomi

OnePlus

Sony

Google…

Motorola

Nokia

Huawei

Samsung

Apple

YoY OEM brand & model searches (W12 – W15)

CY-20 CY-19

-15%

-9%

-7%

-8%

-11%

-33%

-23%

-35%

-26%

-21%

-21%

-4%

-14%

-19%

LG

DORO

Oppo

HTC

Xiaomi

Honor

OnePlus

Sony

Google Phones

Motorola

Nokia

Huawei

Samsung

Apple

OEM brand and model searches

W12-W15 compared to W2 – W5 2020

Pandemic has affected all brand- some brands more than othersBut popular brands have grown stronger in their share

Source: Internal Data, O&O Search Data, All Device

W2 starting 5th Jan 2020, W12 starting15th Mar 2020

77%

85%

W2 W3 W4 W5 W6 W7 W8 W9 W10 W11 W12 W13 W14 W15

Volume indexed to W2 2020

Apple Huawei Samsung

Overall lower phone (model + brand) searches across the brand spectrumBut new phone launches continue to create intermittent peaks

Others (Doro,HTC,LG) Google Phones Honor Motorola Nokia OnePlus Oppo Sony Xiaomi

Volume indexed to W2 2020

Source: Internal Data, O&O Search Data, All Device

Avg CTR : -2%

Avg CPC : 2%

Avg CTR : 5%

Avg CPC : -9%

Avg CTR : 6%

Avg CPC : -27%

Avg. CPC & CTR Comparison (W12 – W15 over W2 – W5)

Grab greater engagement at cheaper cost on brand searches

SIMO-PAYG

[Sim only – Pay as you go]

81%91%

W2 W3 W4 W5 W6 W7 W8 W9 W10 W11 W12 W13 W14 W15

Volume indexed to W2 2020

CY-19 CY-20

SIMO-PAYG popularity has further raised since lockdown

Source: Internal Data, O&O Search Data, All Device

W2 starting 5th Jan 2020, W12 starting15th Mar 2020

ee sim only deals

sim

giff gaff sim only

best sim only deals

sim only deals uk

vodafone top up

sim only deals

o2 top up

ee top up

tesco mobile top up

Top 10 SIMO-PAYG Queries

2%

5%

4%

3%

14%

22%

21%

28%

2%

4%

5%

6%

14%

19%

23%

26%

ID Mobile

Giff Gaff

Three

Others (Voxi, Sky, Smarty, BT, Virgin)

Tesco Mobile

O2

EE

Vodafone

Service Provider SIMO-PAYG brand searches

W12-W15 compared to W2 – W5 2020

W2 - W5 W12 - W15

45% 40%

56% 60%

W2 - W5 W12 - W15

Generics Vs. Brand Split for SIMO-PAYG

Generics Brand

“Top up” and “deals” are the key to SIMO-PAYG While some are looking for best deals shifting brands, others need more top -up

Source: Internal Data, O&O Search Data, All Device

Used Phones

W2 W3 W4 W5 W6 W7 W8 W9 W10 W11 W12 W13 W14 W15

New Phones Refurbished

reconditioned iphone

refurbished iphone x

iphone x refurbished

used iphone

second hand iphone

refurbished iphone

apple refurbished

refurbished iphones

refurbished iphone 7

apple refurbished uk

Top 10 Refurbished Queries

Category Definition:

Refurbished category includes and queries containing

used/refurbished/secondhand/old and other related terms

New Phone: any OEM (mobile specific query) and model

related queries without any refurbished category query

Used-Refurbished phones got special attention since the lockdown, mostly

Apple-iPhone led

Volume Indexed to W2 2020

Source: Internal Data, O&O Search Data, All Device

General Sub-Trends

99%

103%

W2 W3 W4 W5 W6 W7 W8 W9 W10 W11 W12 W13 W14 W15

Volume Indexed to W2 2020

Cheap/ budget Business Compare

Deals-sale-offers Elderly/ specially abled No upfront cost/ sim free/ unlocked

Rewiew Rewards

145%

231%

Volume Indexed to W2 2020

Free sim OnlineTop up

100%

100%

Post lockdown, simple & cheap phones for older people and freebies were

popular

Trending trends

Phone for elders

Cheap & Budget phones

Free sims

Online Top-ups

Rewards & Perks

Source: Internal Data, O&O Search Data, All Device

Used-Refurbished phones have

received special attention since the

lockdown, mostly Apple-iPhone led

SIMO-PAYG popularity has further raised since lockdown