The COVID-19 and the changes it has brought in the lifestyle of mankind is surely unprecedented. In the shopping arena, the scenario is no different. People are shifting from brick-and-mortar to online shopping and changing their priorities on what they buy, from where and how much.
The initial stages of ‘stay at home’ orders around the world saw huge fluctuations and adjustments in the area of retail, whether online or not. The consumer shopping behavior changed within days, as in panic buying or hoarding of tissue papers were the norms. As the world is on its way to adopting new patterns of shopping in such circumstances, there have been seen tremendous changes in shopping behaviors from older generations down to newer generations.
The demand in the areas, for instance in restaurants, apparel, footwear, accessories, travel, and entertainment, has seen a huge decline in demand. Whereas, grocery shopping tops every other area of shopping in its demand. The rise in online-shopping is noteworthy. Also, e-commerce stores are seeing upward mobility on graphs to some extent.
Digital Commerce vs Brick and Mortar Commerce
The changing patterns are evident here. As more and more people are buying stuff online due to the safety precautions and avoiding first-hand contacts at the markets and stores. According to the research by pyments.com for April 2020, where the data for the remote payment in the US has been provided :
- There has been seen a 24.7 percent increase in shopping via a digital medium.
- People whose recent purchases were online comprised a total of 38.5 percent.
- Also there 53.3 percent of people who utilized their mobile phones for their recent purchases.
This is an evident fact that safety measures are pushing people to go for digital channels to shop more and more now. The people who were not into online shopping up until now, are also inclined towards this trend now.
Online Shopping Statistics 2020
The huge jump of e-commerce sales to $4.2 trillion according to statista.com, is referring to the fact that online shopping is gaining popularity amid COVID-19. However, whether this trend will be retained after the situation becomes normal is yet to be seen. But right now the online sales trend is seeing a huge spike.
22% of the global retails will be through eCommerce at the end of this year if the trend continues. It already close to over 12% of the total US retail. Where Amazon, Google, and Facebook are the biggest companies online.
Panic Buying Under COVID-19 Circumstances
Panic buying usually is related to the fear of not stocking up enough than others to be able to survive. As it’s the human instinct to survive by being the fittest. Such pandemics brought with itself a kind of competitive environment, where humans instinctively compete.
So, the hoarding of toilet papers and other stuff was a demonstration of such kind of behavior. Not to say that it applies to the whole humanity and that it actually points out their primitive nature. The world has civilized a lot since then, but the fragments always resurface here and there in such circumstances.
As human wants to be in control of the situations around, this needs to push him to hoard up what is deemed necessary. Also, he relates his survival capabilities by comparing to his specie member’s survival preparedness. In the same way, this relatedness or comparison pushes him to compete which leads to panic buying.
Transformative Approach to Buying and Shopping
People have changed their priorities of buying under the COVID-19 situation. Save and stockpile. Some products are now prioritized as compared to the previous in-demand products, such as footwear, accessories, travel and entertainment stuff, apparel, and cosmetics.
The foremost prioritized products are listed below, where according to Neilson.com, the demand for health products has been the biggest.
- Health Products:
The health products have seen a high demand especially in Masks which comprise sales above 300% now. Neilson has indicated that sales of hand sanitizers hit almost RM1 million (US$237,176) in the week ended Jan. 26, 2020; that’s more than 800% above the weekly average.
- Packaged Food:
People are shopping more and more for packaged and shelf-stable food that would last long. Without getting rotten or wasted. People are concerned about the complete lockdown and the upcoming global recession, so they are piling up the food in their storeroom which would endure eternal conditions such as pasta and canned food and last longer than the fresh food.
- Grocery Shopping:
Grocery shopping still remains the priority whether from brick and mortar stores or online stores, it is essential and it tops the list when it comes to consumers’ shopping behaviors. However, many stores were not prepared enough to adjust to the sudden online demand and adjust their warehouses respectively. Retailers are slowly adjusting to the huge demand online such as Wal-Mart and other departmental stores. However, it has not been an easy task. “It’s kind of becoming more challenging to put a meal together,” said Paul Smyth, a software engineer referring to the delayed deliveries of the orders for groceries made online.
- Fitness equipment and Indoor Activities Tools:
Not only ‘work out at home’ has been trending, but also the associated indoor activities. The reason such devices and toys are in huge demand. The fitness industries have seen a profit by eCommerce selling the equipment online. The consumer behavior here is unprecedented as there have been reported many first time orders for like stuff.
However, some businesses are in loss due to changing consumer behavior patterns such as :
- Luxury Goods:
Covid-19 has created circumstances where buying essentials and avoiding luxury has become a trend to ‘save and stockpile’. The uncertainty of the economic downturn or feared market crises has influenced people’s psychology. It is evident from the fact the Vogue Business has seen a loss of $10 billion in 2020. Entertainment, travel, and restaurant industries are seeing huge losses owing to the lockdowns. Also, luxury consumers are mostly in Asia which is currently affected and the first-ever affected area by the pandemic.
- Apparel Shopping:
People have declined interest in apparel and beauty stores as compared to the past. Many stores have shut down their physical stores and now working solely online. But here too, the decrease in sales is around 20%. This is because of the fact that people are investing their budgets in essential only.
Moreover, Shopify has enlisted the in-demand products in the online stores amid Covid-19, which goes as :
- Pet bed
- One size fits all sofa and couch covers
- Minimalist jewelry
- Beard straightener
- Shapewear
- Backpacks
- Post-workout massage guns
- Plaid hoodie
- Smartwatches
- Infant and baby carrier
- Athleisure
Consumer behavior is evident in the list provided by Shopify. Nearly all of the products are based on the requirements of indoor activities.
Conclusion
A new customer comes online every day. With more and more internet accessibility, people prefer to shop online during the pandemic and avoid all sorts of first-hand contacts. Consumer behaviors towards shopping and their priorities towards buying have been highly affected by the pandemic, where consumers have become more inclined towards buying essentials while avoiding luxury.
