Coronavirus has changed consumer behavior — here's what marketers need to do next
Summary
TLDRThe COVID-19 pandemic has rapidly altered consumer behavior, with anxiety spiking and shopping patterns shifting. Consumer insight firm Kantar and analytics company Bliss have observed these changes through extensive data collection. Initially, panic buying surged, particularly for essentials like toilet paper and pasta. As consumers adapt to the 'new normal,' there's a return to nostalgic purchases and comfort items. Brands are expected to pivot their offerings, like LVMH and Burberry, which have shifted from luxury goods to protective gear and sanitizers. Consumers now seek practical help and staff welfare from companies, and they value brands that contribute positively to the pandemic response. As the crisis evolves, brands must plan for recovery by aligning with their core purpose, providing utility, and rebuilding consumer confidence.
Takeaways
- 📈 Consumer behavior is rapidly changing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with spikes in anxiety and concern.
- 📊 Sentiment monitoring by companies like Kantar shows that after initial panic, consumers begin to adjust and think about the future.
- 📉 Analytics company Bliss observed significant drops in store footfall, with varying degrees of impact across different countries.
- 🛒 Consumers exhibited survival instincts, leading to panic buying of essential items like toilet paper and long-life food.
- 🔄 Stage 2 of consumer behavior showed stability as consumers adapted to the 'new normal', with a return to nostalgic purchases.
- 🤝 There was a temporary illusion of loyalty, with fewer visits to fewer stores, challenging businesses to retain customers.
- 📢 Advertising is seen as acceptable by over 90% of consumers, as it provides a sense of normalcy and escape from bleak news.
- 🔄 Brands like LVMH, Sandro, and Burberry pivoted their offerings to more useful items such as protective clothing and hand sanitizers.
- 🏥 The primary demand from consumers for brands is to prioritize staff welfare and offer practical help, like mortgage holidays or insurance rebates.
- 🌟 Millennials, aged 25 to 34, are seeking practical help the most, as they've been impacted quickly by the pandemic's financial effects.
- 🔮 As we move forward, brands need to pivot again to align with their beliefs and help society rebuild confidence in various aspects of life.
Q & A
What has Cantar observed in terms of consumer sentiment during the COVID-19 pandemic?
-Cantar has noticed a spike in anxiety and concern for the general situation among consumers during the pandemic. As restrictions were imposed, there was an initial adjustment period, after which the level of concern settled back a bit, and people started thinking more about the future.
How does Bliss Analytics describe the initial consumer behavior during the pandemic?
-Bliss Analytics observed a 'panic' stage with significant drops in store footfall, especially in markets without lockdowns like Sweden, and a decrease in grocery shopping in places with eased lockdowns like parts of the US and the UK.
What consumer behavior did Bliss Analytics identify as consumers adapted to the new normal?
-After the initial panic, consumers entered a 'stability' phase where they adapted to the new normal, showing nesting behavior, returning to nostalgic purchases, and buying comfort products.
What changes in consumer behavior did the pandemic bring about in terms of brand loyalty?
-The pandemic led to an illusion of loyalty, with people making fewer visits to fewer stores, which poses a challenge for brands to retain customers as the situation transitions from a health crisis to an economic one.
How have brands like LVMH, Sandro, and Burberry responded to the pandemic?
-These fashion and luxury brands have pivoted their offerings from clothing or cosmetics to more useful items during the pandemic, such as protective clothing or hand sanitizers.
What is the primary expectation consumers have from brands during the pandemic?
-Consumers primarily expect brands to prioritize staff welfare and offer practical help, such as financial services providing mortgage holidays or rebates on insurance.
What does the script suggest about the role of advertising during the pandemic?
-The script suggests that advertising can provide a sense of normalcy and a bit of escape from the bleak news, with over 90% of consumers being okay with brands advertising during the crisis.
How are different age groups affected by the pandemic, and what are their priorities?
-Millennials, aged 25 to 34, have felt the impact on their household finances the fastest and are looking for more practical help. Different groups of consumers are demanding different things from brands.
What are the recommended actions for brands as they navigate through the pandemic and plan for recovery?
-Experts recommend that brands should continue advertising, consider media choices carefully due to changing media consumption, and start planning for recovery by focusing on simplicity, staying true to their purpose, and ensuring their actions are as useful as possible.
What is the key to rebuilding consumer confidence as economies start to reopen?
-Rebuilding confidence involves restoring trust in going out, interacting, and the economy itself, which will be a collective effort over the next few months.
Who ultimately decides the pace at which restrictions are lifted and freedom is utilized?
-While governments may relax restrictions, it is ultimately the public who decides how quickly they use their regained freedom.
Outlines
📈 Consumer Behavior Shifts During the COVID-19 Pandemic
The script discusses how the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated changes in consumer behavior, with anxiety and concern peaking as restrictions are imposed. Consumer insight company Cantar has been monitoring these sentiments through interviews with over 25,000 individuals every two weeks. Analytics company Bliss has also observed similar patterns, processing location data from billions of mobile devices to track consumer movements. The initial panic phase saw a significant drop in store footfall, with varying degrees of impact in different countries. As consumers adapted to the 'new normal,' there was a shift towards stability, including a return to nostalgic purchases and comfort products. The script also highlights a temporary illusion of loyalty, with consumers visiting fewer stores but making more purchases per visit. Brands are encouraged to pivot their offerings to meet current needs, such as LVMH and Burberry shifting from luxury goods to protective clothing and sanitizers. The primary expectation from consumers is for brands to prioritize staff welfare and provide practical help, such as mortgage holidays or insurance rebates. The script concludes with recommendations for brands to maintain advertising, plan for recovery, and align their actions with their core purpose to rebuild consumer confidence.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Couvade 19 pandemic
💡Consumer sentiment
💡Analytics company
💡Survival instinct
💡Nostalgic purchases
💡Loyalty
💡Purpose-led advertising
💡Pivot
💡Staff welfare
💡Practical help
💡Rebuild confidence
Highlights
Consumers are producing a lot of data, and behavior is changing rapidly due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cantar interviews over 25,000 people every two weeks to monitor consumer sentiment during restrictions.
There is a spike in anxiety and concern for the general situation as restrictions are imposed.
Concern settles back a little as people start thinking about the future after adjusting to restrictions.
Analytics company Bliss processes 7 terabytes of location data daily from over a quarter of a billion mobile devices worldwide.
Stage one of the pandemic saw panic with significant drops in store footfall in some markets.
In Sweden, grocery shopping is down 20 points compared to normal, while in parts of the US it's down about 50%.
In the UK, grocery footfall is down about 70% compared to February and early March.
A survival instinct led to panic buying of toilet paper and long-life food like pasta.
Stage 2 of consumer behavior saw stability as consumers adapted to the 'new normal'.
Lockdown led to quirky consumer behavior, including an illusion of loyalty with fewer visits to fewer stores.
The challenge for brands is to keep customers as the crisis shifts from health to economic.
Over 90% of consumers are okay with brands advertising during the pandemic.
Advertising can provide a little bit of escape from the bleak news during the pandemic.
Consumers are forcing brands to seek a sense of purpose in their advertising and actions.
Luxury brands like LVMH, Sandro, and Burberry pivoted to offer protective clothing and hand sanitizers.
Some brands, like those in the airline industry, are finding it difficult to find a way to be useful during the pandemic.
Consumers are looking for brands to prioritize staff welfare and offer practical help.
Different groups of consumers are demanding different things, with Millennials seeking more practical help.
Brands need to pivot to align with their beliefs and help society move through the pandemic.
The next phase for brands involves rebuilding consumer confidence in going out, interacting, and the economy.
Experts recommend that brands continue advertising, consider media choices, and plan for recovery.
The public will decide how quickly they use the freedom regained as restrictions are relaxed.
Transcripts
consumers are producing a lot of data
and the couvade 19 pandemic is seeing
behavior changing at a breakneck speed
consumer insight company cantar has been
interviewing more than 25,000 people
every two weeks
monitoring consumer sentiment as
restrictions are imposed you see a spike
in anxiety concern for the general
situation people start to adjust to the
restrictions I wouldn't say that the
concern drops away completely but it
does settle back a little bit and people
do then start thinking a little bit more
about the future a similar pattern was
spotted by analytics company bliss they
process 7 terabytes of location data
from over a quarter of a billion mobile
devices worldwide every day Stage one
panic with big falls in store footfall
in some markets like like Sweden where
there hasn't been a lockdown they've
seen grocery shopping down 20 points
versus what it would have been normally
in parts of the US where lock downs have
eased that's still down about 50% and in
the UK where we're still down about 70%
in terms of grocery foot fourth of what
we would have been experiencing in
February and early March a survival
instinct kicked in with pack buying a
toilet paper and long life food like
pasta then came stage 2 stability as a
consumer adapts to the so-called new
normal queue nesting behavior and a
return to nostalgic purchases and
comfort products lockdown saw a quirky
consumer behavior an illusion of loyalty
few are people making fewer visits to
fewer stores the challenge for some will
be keeping the customers as we moved
from a health crisis to an economic one
you could advertise with more than 90%
of consumers saying it was ok for brown
to do so there are some very pragmatic
reasons you know people still need
brands the economy still needs to
continue and people see that as part of
you know business as usual there is also
a sense though that advertising can
provide a little bit of escape from some
you know fairly bleak news around at the
moment before the pandemic there was a
silly
of purpose led advertising now consumers
are forcing brands to seek one research
suggests that it's not just about what
you do as a business but how you do it
if you look at a lot of fashion and
luxury brands LVMH or Sandro or Burberry
they've been able to pivot what they are
offering from clothing or cosmetics into
things that right now are arguably the
more useful and I protective clothing or
hand sanitizers whereas you know maybe
some of the airline brands who are
currently grounded are finding it much
more difficult to find a way of being
useful at the moment the primary thing
that people are looking for for brands
to do and for companies to do is it's
actually staff welfare it's to look
after your people and beyond that people
want brands to offer just practical help
so if you think about the BT advertising
helping people to use technology if you
think about financial companies and
services offering mortgage holidays or
rebates on insurance you know anything
that will just help people get through
their everyday but a reminder different
groups of consumers are demanding
different things so Jen's eggs the
priority really is for brands to be part
of the effort to deal with the
coronavirus situation on a more macro
level I think from the Millennial of the
twenty five to thirty fours
they're the ones that have felt the
impact on their household finances the
fastest so they are really looking for
much more practical help just as brands
have pivoted to help people through some
of the immediate situations that we
found ourselves in in the pandemic that
the next pivot that brands do need to
make us to say as we start to move
through this and to look to the future
what can we do that still aligns with
what we believe in as a brand foot will
help into the next phase what we're
going to need to be able to do
collectively over the next few months is
to rebuild confidence confidence in you
know going out confidence in interacting
confidence in our economy most
fundamentally so what do I experts
recommend I would say keep advertised
and keep a presence if you can
I consider your media choices media
consumption is changing at the moment so
there are opportunities to maximize your
ROI and the third would be to stop
planning the recovery now you know
firstly to drive simplicity through what
they do as much as possible secondly to
make decisions that are led by their
purpose so not to go off track in terms
of being distracted from delivering on
that core purpose and thirdly make sure
that there is useful as possible the
government may be the ones to relax
restrictions it will be the public who
decide how quickly they they use that
freedom again
you
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