{"id":50482,"date":"2021-07-12T07:45:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-12T11:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/?p=50482"},"modified":"2024-02-29T04:51:41","modified_gmt":"2024-02-29T09:51:41","slug":"pandemic-long-term-impacts-on-customer-behavior","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/pandemic-long-term-impacts-on-customer-behavior\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pandemic Made Me Do It: Long-term Impacts on Customer Behavior"},"content":{"rendered":"

COVID-19 changes a lot of things: how we work, how we feel about being indoors with strangers, and how we buy stuff. The pandemic is expected to have lasting impacts on customer behavior, regardless of whether you’re a consumer or a business customer.<\/p>\n

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Perhaps the most obvious impact on customer behavior<\/a>? The increased migration to e-commerce and online activities. Obviously, there were people shopping online before, whether for themselves or their businesses. Yet, \u201cin 2020, the share of e-commerce grew at two- to five-times the rate before COVID-19,\u201d according to McKinsey<\/a>. Many consumers were using digital channels for the first time and of those, roughly three quarters plan to persist as things swing back closer to what life was like before the pandemic.<\/p>\n

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The vast majority of consumers also expect immediate fulfillment. When it comes to e-commerce delivery, “over 90 percent see two to three days as the baseline, and 30 percent expect same-day delivery,\u201d according to Retail Industry Leaders Association<\/a> research. The days of waiting patiently for a week are gone.<\/p>\n

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Convenience and cost are higher priorities<\/h2>\n

Brand loyalty was also severely shaken by the pandemic. In other McKinsey research<\/a>, \u201can astonishing 75 percent of US consumers\u201d reported \u201ctrying a new shopping behavior in response to economic pressures, store closings, and changing priorities.\u201d What does this mean for brands? That they need to \u201censure strong availability and also convey value.\u201d With enough hurdles put up in their lives, buyers were primarily motivated to try new brands because the product or service was available when they wanted it (in stock or when they were shopping).<\/p>\n

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Value and better prices and promotions were the next most important considerations. The pandemic saw budgets tightening for consumers and business buyers alike. According to TrustRadius, 49 percent of B2B buyers decreased their spending in 2020. Companies also held layoffs and froze budgets while consumers worried about losing their jobs.<\/p>\n

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Things are turning around in several sectors, but the anxiety over spending remains in some areas. B2B buyers<\/a> are likely to focus on meeting immediate needs only, waiting to see what is coming on the horizon.<\/p>\n

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Meanwhile, consumers are expected to engage in something called “revenge spending<\/a>” \u2014 the impulse to go out and spend because it\u2019s been a year since a shopper could do so. This isn\u2019t going to last, though. Things are expected to settle back into a cost consciousness once the desire to \u201ctreat yo\u2019self\u201d wanes.<\/p>\n

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At the same time, even though people are getting vaccinated, the greater attention to better hygiene and cleaning practices isn\u2019t going away. Contactless payment, self-checkout, grocery delivery, or curbside pickup were once novel. Now they have become a habit. In McKinsey\u2019s Consumer Pulse survey, 60 percent planned to continue buying online and picking up in-store and 79 percent would now prefer self-checkout.<\/p>\n

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The percentages aren\u2019t as high in Numerator\u2019s surveys<\/a>, which found people were shopping in stores less frequently (50 percent) and making more online purchases (55 percent). Yet post-COVID, nearly one in four (22 percent) expected to continue \u201ca higher frequency of online shopping.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Fast track technology in engagement<\/h2>\n

Technology is also changing expectations. Accenture suggests the \u201cpandemic brought 2025 to 2020, accelerating changes in consumer preferences and behaviors and putting pressure on brands to keep pace.\u201d This is reflected in the increasing digital experience, which will call for:<\/p>\n

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