Changing Consumer Behaviour
A recent article published by Forbes magazine looked at how consumer behavior may change in the new normal.
It’s hardly a surprise that behaviors have changed to cope with what we have witnessed over the last number of months. But is this a temporary change or will consumer behavior be forever changed?
Much of our working days have now revolved around sitting on Zoom calls and finding new and innovative ways to stay connected to our customers and keeping them engaged. In turn, these same customers are foraging for supplies, or fretting about health, finances, and home-schooling.
Inevitably, with restrictions starting to be lifted, our thoughts are turning to what life will be like when the current madness subsides.
At the very least, we will probably witness significant changes in how we greet each other — no more hugs or handshakes in the foreseeable future, although air kisses may still be permitted! But how we work, how we play, and certainly how we consume will also change significantly — some changes that have been made to cope with the enforced quarantine may never be reversed. We saw for example how Twitter became the first company to advise its staff that they can work from home forever if they so choose. It is likely many others will follow suit. The same question is now arising across many companies, particularly in the tech sector — do we need a building full of people or can we continue to operate our business as usual — remotely?
The Covid-19 pandemic will change our world long after the virus subsides, causing consumers to rethink their purchase decisions (both large and small). Businesses and marketers, in particular, will need to respond to life in “The New Normal”.
Whilst there is no one person to tell us what the future holds, we can make some educated guesses. After all, while for the vast majority of us this is the biggest disaster we’ve ever experienced, the world has seen many others. And we know that the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.
Forbes provided some interesting examples in their article, citing the example of the U.S. cities that enforced social distancing during the 1918 influenza pandemic — they emerged stronger afterward than those that didn’t. In the more recent past, we can look at what happened following the Great Recession. For example, it seems reasonable to predict that many consumers will switch to value-priced brands for a number of years to come. Brand allegiance may become a thing of the past and organizations will need to fight harder for customer attention, loyalty, and advocacy.
We can however take a look at a number of fundamental human motivations that are likely to drive consumer preferences and behaviors in The New Normal. We know that deep-seated values change over time in every culture, and these in turn influence the products and services we seek — even though at times this is like turning a battleship.
After months of uncertainty and limitations, businesses globally are searching for answers to pertinent questions:
- How will consumers behave once their market moves firmly into the recovery phase?
- Will they start buying the purchases they’ve been delaying?
- Will travel begin to get back to normal?
- Will people return straight-away to the locations that had been closed straight away?
Whilst no-one has a crystal ball to provide the answers to these questions, what we can be sure of it that the specifics of any ‘new normal’ will vary significantly between markets, regions, and demographics.
How a country or audience behaved before the outbreak will be a determining factor and so too will the degree to which the country or audience was affected. We also need to factor in how long it took to recover, and what — if any — national measures are put in place in the post-outbreak landscape.
Above all, we need to exercise caution in assuming any automatic continuation of behaviors that were acquired or boosted during an unprecedented crisis like this.
Consumers are in unchartered territory, often being required to do things out of necessity rather than choice. Businesses and marketers need to prepare themselves and sooner rather than later.
