The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted consumers' buying habits. With lockdown and social distancing, consumers’ alternatives are restricted and shopping experience is shifting.
In addition to: Hoarding, Improvisation and Embracing Digital Technology, what are the other changes in consumers' bahavior that could be observed during this pandemic context?
Food and non-alcoholic drinks will be a key consumer spending priority area in Iran in 2020 as consumer purchasing patterns shift in response to the spread of Covid-19 in the country. While movement restrictions are being eased and non-essential retail is permitted to reopen we expect consumers to avoid public areas out of fear of contracting the virus. Iran's macroeconomicand geopolitical challenges are likely to persist post-Covid-19 and we expect consumers to remain cautious, allocating their spending to staples such as bread, rice and cereals and in-expensive non-alcoholic drinks.
Iran Food & Drink Q4 2020. https://www.marketresearch.com/
In addition, It is highly unlikely that people can contract COVID-19 from food or food packaging.
From my personal perspective, it has changed my view of actually physically visiting store to shop. Previously, I perceived this a chore, but now since I am literally stuck at home working, I am starved of human interaction and seeing going out to shop as an outing that I look forward to.
Hence, my point is that many people feel the same way as me, and have a need to get out. For example, I have also not seen as many people walking, jogging and exercising in my neighborhood as now. This is also evident at our local parks, which are now packed, when previously they were not as popular. This is also evident at a number of other nature related public places, such as our beaches, mountains, lakes, nature reserves, hiking trials, etc.
People are tired of working and doing everything at home and have a need to get out and consume nature related activities and applicable products/services. At least this is my observation.
Dear Rodney Duffett
Thank you for this response which really reflects what we are currently experiencing in Tunisia.
During this second wave of the pandemic, we felt that people do not strictly follow the instructions and they prefer wearing masks while walking or visiting the shops. The fear has been overtaken by other new feelings and other states of mind. It will be interesting to explore and to explain this changing attitude.
In Australia we have seen an increased pace in adoption of online shopping. Necessity has driven the growth of techological literacy by a wider range of demographics. While this is likely to stay post-Covid the dual pull of experience and social occasion values are likely to support a return to “physical” stores. It will be interesting to see if large shopping centres “malls” surv
The only way you can observed the consumers behavior during this post-Covid 19 make sure that you have good package discount for the customer and using social media for the customers patronized you products.
Buying/selling online maybe becoming a trend during/after Covid-19. So technology to do so will be accelerated. It will also spell death to small offline shop. Also in my country there are tendency buying from a friend, so maybe it increasing SME growth, but only the ones that can sell online
In my opinion, I think that consumer's post Covid behavior varies across countries depending on how their country dealt with this pandemic and how is its recovery (especially with the second wave). However, generally speaking, I think that consumers intend to continue shifting their spending to essentials with a greater shift to digital.
Hopefully we will be more conscious about what we are doing and how we are living.
Manel Hakim Masmoudi People are more stick to the necessity buying, avoiding unnecessary items.
Covid-19 sonrası yeni kazanımlar mı? Edindik yoksa varoluş gerçeğinine mi?Döndük burası çok önemlidir. Çünkü fıtratımızda ihtiyacımız olanı alma eğilimi var iken teknolojinin ve endustrinin gelişmesi ile daha çok ürün çeşitliliğine erişir olduk. Hedonist bir tercihe doğru sürüklendik. Şimdi herkesin ağzında maske ile marketten cips, çikolata vb. ürünleri hala canımız çekiyormu? Bu taraftan bakınca, tüketici gıda anlamında daha çok anlık değilde istiflenebilir ürünlerden yana tercihini kullanıyor. İstek bazlı değil ihtiyaç bazlı talep ettiğini düşünüyorum. Ülkesel ve bireysel ekonominin de küçüldüğünü düşünerek.
There has been a significant change in people's tended to shop online, where the covid-19 pandemic has led people to start believing in online shopping. For the market, there are open opportunities to do online marketing intensely and variedly. People will get used to and more thoroughly shop for products of daily needs starting with health products, food, education to hobbies.
It is true that the outbreak of covid19 has changed the global market. Many experts believe that there is a growing tendency to shop online during the pandemic. Consequently, there seem to be noticeable changes to online consumer behavior.
Firstly, the importance of electronic word of mouth (eWOM) and advice communications, in general, is growing rapidly. There are many occasions where customers can neither see and touch the physical product, nor they can trust the information or product reviews published by the companies. Therefore, they are paying more attention to comments which are published by fellow customers.
Secondly, it is evident that Covid19 has resulted in many people losing their jobs, working at home, or spend more time at home, thus spending more time online. The more time spent on the internet means the more content viewed and also might mean the more content created and published. This is to say that user-generated content (UGC) is gaining more prominence than ever before, as people are reviewing products on different social media such as Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, etc. This user-generated content can have its own advantages and disadvantages for enterprises and businesses, which should be taken into the account.
Finally, while online shopping and online media consumption is thriving, the company websites, their applications, and even their profiles on social media have become more vital for their success. Matters such as UI (user interface), UX (user experience), and the learning curve has become critical as more users are likely to install applications, or visit websites.
To conclude, it is probably safe to say that there is a need to research the area of “e-consumer behavior” and related topics such as eWOM, UGC, and UI/UX design more than ever. This is because while the pandemic itself might be over in the near future, but the changes to consumer behavior are more likely to stay for a longer period. Therefore, there is a need to further research the mentioned topic areas, which might help both private and public sectors as well as the general public.
The biggest change concerns the home office. This results in more time at home and with the family. More leisure time, more movies and real meals. The home office allows you to work anywhere, there are people moving to houses in the countryside or on the beach, to have a life with less time in traffic and in cities with a lower cost of living.
Consumers want to spend less time in shopping malls, which will reduce time spent making comparisons
well said Nida Khan , I totally agree with you. But we still need an empirical confirmation about gender differences during covid-19 pandemic and about their relative coping strategies. it will be an interesting research topic.
Consumption patterns have changed. Some products are no longer on the market because they were imported and with the closure of airports and restrictions on foreign travel some of these products are not easily accessible.
Nida Khan, in Uganda, it's reported that domestic violence has increased as a result of formerly absentee husbands being more at home because of the COVID lockdown restrictions.
The SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) coronavirus pandemic has caused an increase in the digitization and internetisation of economic processes, the development of e-commerce, internet payments, internet banking, purchases made via the internet, etc. Consumers' behavior has changed. We purchase more and more different types of products and services remotely via the Internet, using online sales platforms, offers of specific companies on their websites or through the websites of online stores. When the SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) coronavirus pandemic has passed, many of the changes already made in consumer behavior will remain. The changes in shopping habits are so profound that after the pandemic, consumers will still make a significant part of their purchases via the Internet. Hopefully, thanks to highly effective vaccines, the SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) coronavirus pandemic will expire or significantly reduce its scale in 2021.
Best regards,
Dariusz Prokopowicz
Some customers have become difficult to handle. For example here in Kenya, when they pay money for goods through mobile money, they pay and reverse and thus making losses for sellers.
Apparently, a lot of changes have taken place. Will they stay with the in long-term? We'll see
Dear Manel Hakim Masmoudi,
Yes, during the SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) coronavirus pandemic, there was a large increase in consumer purchases over the Internet. Consumers are increasingly looking for opinions and advertisements about offers of certain products and services on social networks. Consumers more and more often make payment transactions and order products and / or services online using a smartphone. In the period from March 2020, there have been such large changes in consumer behavior in this regard that even when the pandemic is over, a significant part of consumers will still buy online more often than in a stationary mode than in the traditional formula. The only exception may be food products, mainly fresh fruit and vegetables. In this range, a significant part of the trade is still carried out traditionally, stationary, in physical stores, at marketplaces, markets where farm owners sell and in shopping centers. Also, in the range of building materials, machinery and construction equipment, a significant part of the trade is still held traditionally. However, in the assortment of industrial products, RTV and household appliances, electronics, IT devices, even when the SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) coronavirus pandemic expires, most of the trade can be permanently transferred to the Internet. It happens that consumers visit shopping centers, electronics and / or household appliances stores to view the products they want to buy. During their stay in a physical store, they consult the sellers on certain types of products or services, write down the key features of the technical description for specific selected product models, and then after returning home or during this return, they order the selected product model online.
Best regards,
Dariusz Prokopowicz
Consumers have new desires and needs, according to the Corona pandemic, for example the great concern they have about hygiene in the required product. As for services, they also have services that have become essential, such as the Internet and e-wallets.
Consumers think more about their consumption patterns now. The pandemic and lockdowns showed how dependent consumers were of services and consumption. Nowadays sustainable consumption is the key