When the covid-19 pandemic was declared by World In 2020, as health organizations and several countries including India began declaring a series of nationwide or partial lockdowns, forcing many to stay inside their homes, digital connectivity boomed.
Following social distancing, people went online shopping in greater numbers than ever before. digitization, online shopping and distribution, and remote working became common.
The best-prepared companies were caught off guard in their ability to be agile and responsive during the pandemic. As manufacturing ceased and resources dwindled, issues with general product supply grew to crisis proportions.
As a result, retailers rose to the occasion not only by encouraging more online purchases, but also by adopting new technology that allowed them to engage with customers and improve their overall customer experience.
According to a report published by McKinsey & Company In 2020, a period of transition, self-isolation and economic uncertainty, in some cases, was expected to change consumer behavior for years to come.
At the time, it was said that new consumer behavior affected every aspect of how people act, how they shop and how people entertain themselves. These rapid changes have dire consequences for retailers and consumer packaged goods companies.
The McKinsey report also states that an analysis of consumers in more than 40 countries has uncovered new emerging behaviors in eight areas such as,
• Work (increased unemployment, fall in consumption on the go, and remote working), learning (distance learning and spending around learning).
• Communications and information (decline in in-person sampling and change in media consumption—migrating to digital ahead).
• Travel and mobility (decrease in tourist spending and travel retail, as well as an increase in domestic tourism).
• Shopping and consumption (e-commerce boom, preference for trusted brands, discretionary spending-decline in business, large basket-less shopping frequency, shift to stores closer to home and polarization of stability).
• Life at home (nesting at home and booming online).
• Sports and entertainment (preference for digital entertainment, change of sources of entertainment – ie online streaming from cinema theaters and extra play time).
• Health and wellbeing (focus on health and hygiene, the pace of organic, natural and fresh, fitness on demand and e-pharmacy, as well as e-doctor at large).
Indian consumers during pandemic
The world has seen a change in consumer behavior soon after the pandemic forced millions of people to stay at home. India, which became one of the top three countries hardest hit by the pandemic, also took note of the change in consumer behavior and the trend starting with the first nationwide lockdown, which was announced in March 2020.
Throwing light on the matter, Rajneesh Gupta, who is the Vice President and Head of India and the sub-continent business at Zebra Technologies, told News18: “Covid-19 has changed the modern shopping experience forever. For example, while shoppers have started returning to stores, many are still concerned about coming into contact with others. ,
“According to Zebra’s 14th Annual Global Buyer Study, 65% of surveyed shoppers are still concerned about clean surfaces, and many still do not trust retailers to follow health and safety protocols in stores Huh. These concerns have prompted retailers to introduce self-check-out tools, BOPIS (Buy Online, Pickup in Store), curbside pickup and home delivery services at an unprecedented pace,” explained the industry insider.
He further added that with the introduction of these new purchasing options, it has become important to equip the front-line workers of the industry with the right technology to track every action in their supply-chain operations from order fulfillment.
“Additionally, industry leaders are investing aggressively in technologies that offer predictive capabilities, focusing on artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) solutions combined with RFID technology in their operations. Enable them to be business-critical to enable greater real-time visibility in the market, make decisions more quickly and accurately, e.g., optimizing inventory, improving time to market, ‘no-stock’ key Minimizing incidents and helping to personalize the customer experience,” said Gupta.
Separately, in terms of the food delivery market, it was reported last year that the online food delivery market in India is expected to be worth $5 billion by 2020. But growth aided by the pandemic and the sector is now expected to reach $21 billion by 2026. At a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of around 30%.
According to reports this year, restaurants and cloud kitchens were seeing a surge in demand for online food delivery as movement of people was restricted in early January – especially on weekends in some metro areas – another of the pandemic. Because of the new wave.
It was then said that according to several industry executives, the restaurant industry is moving ahead with online delivery as dine-in has been hit once again. He estimated that the increase in online demand would be temporary and normalize once the restrictions are lifted.
So did people go back to dine-in mode or did they get comfortable with the online food delivery option? To find answers and understand whether there has been any change in customer behavior since the pandemic, News18 spoke to Neha, who is the Chief Marketing Officer at Pizza Hut India.
According to him, as a result of the changed work style and lifestyle, consumers have adopted many new buying behaviours, and some of these habits are expected to remain for a long time.
Citing examples of change in behavior or new trends, Neha said: “We have added many first time customers who never ordered food online before the pandemic, but are now in the habit of opting for delivery or takeaway . Professionals who started working from home and ordering food as an alternative to home eating is another pandemic trend that continues. ,
He further added: “AI-powered distribution expansion and digitization to provide personalized suggestions to consumers based on their buying behavior has become extremely important for consumer brands as the majority of sales are now driven by the delivery channel.”
“Ordering from trusted locations gained importance during the pandemic, but at the same time sensitized consumers to spend, therefore offering great value deals for singles, couples and family consumption to keep customers coming back to their trusted brands. important,” she noted. ,
It is understood that the way the Covid-19 pandemic affects shopping habits will most likely continue for the foreseeable future.
But it is also noteworthy that the virus outbreak in specific areas may temporarily increase the need for online ordering and home delivery, while in the case of other unaffected locations, may see an increase in in-person retailing. But what about the post-Covid scenario?
According to the Observer Research Foundation, an interesting aspect of human behavior is the return of habits or needs that have been abandoned as entertainment or hobbies. Day-to-day activities in our current world, such as in-store shopping, business trips, dining out, and so on, have great potential to be transformed into one-time recreational activities and hobbies.
However, according to this independent global think tank based in New Delhi, “It will be interesting and important to know which of these habits are the modern-day equivalent of hunting and fishing, to find out the way human society has taken a position.” to put. -Covid scenario. ,
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