The big question burns, as some economies reopen, while others still enforce stay-at-home orders: How is overall consumer confidence faring?
The truth is, consumers will likely not come back until they feel that it’s safe (physically and financially) to do so. With that said, many consumer trends have sprouted from the COVID-19 pandemic, thus altering people’s spending intentions. Plus, as consumers continue to face the dual-front crisis of personal safety and financial well-being, there are some positives that can come from such trends.
Here are 7 ways that consumer behavior has evolved post-pandemic, to which marketers can take note of:
Less Shopping In-Store
“With lockdowns and social distancing rules characterizing the COVID-19 period worldwide, online shopping has surged, thus making digital-based shopping behaviors have been the norm,” says Jack Fairweather, a project manager at Paper Fellows and State of writing. “In fact, a recent survey has suggested that nearly 50% of shoppers surveyed prefer shopping online, rather than visit a physical store, until they think it’s safe to physically go into a store again.”
Here are some examples of online shopping that make up this consumer trend:
- Curbside pickup
- Online grocery shopping and deliveries
- Restaurant deliveries
- BOPIS (buy online, pick up in-store)
“Many businesses and restaurants have already seen the economic potential in online shopping, despite not having a lot of employees to work in their physical stores,” adds Fairweather.
Increased Remote Working
In 2020, “work from home” (WFH) has gone mainstream, with some companies already allowing their employees to work remotely, while others are considering the idea. As remote work catches on, this also brings the changes to consumer behavior:
- Increased use of desktop rather than mobile devices
- More flexibility in time management
- Increased demand for remote work products and technologies
Therefore, marketers can look to these changes to formulate strategic marketing to consumers.
Virtual Interactions
As more and more people and companies interact with each other with virtual meetings and video conferencing tools during the social distancing period, this allows more convenience for them, versus having to meet in a physical place despite traffic and travel. Therefore, this allows brands to interact with customers and build stronger customer relationships across virtual meetings and sessions.
Paying Is Contactless
During COVID-19, consumers have been cautious about physical contact, when shopping in-store. People have turned to contactless payments (i.e. e-wallets and tap credit card) at physical stores to try and minimize physical contact. Even as the virus is eradicated, safety measures such as these will be more commonplace, because of their convenience and easy usage.
Storytelling Marketing
People love to hear and tell stories daily. Or, in this day and age, social media platforms like Snapchat and Instagram would use Stories to share photos and videos. As brands have adapted this kind of storytelling, this had allowed them to express more open communication and authenticity in brand marketing.
Increased Online Media Usage
“With people staying home this year alone, this allowed them to spend more time online or on their devices,” says Charlie Newbold, a business writer at Australian help and Boom essays. “In fact, in this year, the average time spent by consumers with media has risen to 13 hours and 35 minutes a day, since people can’t go out during lockdowns. And even as life returns to normal, and TV viewings will dwindle when COVID-19 recedes, online media will still remain on top in consumer usage.”
In short, companies can take advantage of this increase by marketing on social media, especially the platforms where most users are hanging out right now.
More Frugal Spending
Nowadays, consumers are frugal spending, either due to the following:
- Concerns over the economy, OR
- Concerns over the stock market
Even before the pandemic, people were seeking deals, in the hopes of saving money. In response, brands and companies are offer discounts on products online. Such incentives give people value for their money, when they buy something.
Conclusion
As economies slowly reopen, consumer trends will continue to evolve depending on what customers want at present. Despite people having to succumb to worldwide lockdown to stop, or at least control, the spread of COVID-19, businesses and brands have found numerous ways to keep selling to customers, simply by considering these 7 post-pandemic consumer trends that have happened thus far. And as it stands right now, these trends won’t disappear any time soon.
Kristin Herman writes and edits at UK Writings and Academized. She is also a freelance blogger for Essay Roo. As a tech enthusiast, she blogs about the latest trends on technology.
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