From bulk buying to online shopping, the shopping behaviour has been constantly changing during the pandemic as the people are changing their consumption patterns, shopping preferences and frequency of shopping trips.
Due to the lockdown and the entire pandemic scenario, consumers have been forced to shop differently — reprioritizing what is essential and ensuring their safety at the same time. The consumer has very limited number of choices now because of the lockdown and social distancing because they would have to go to a store which may be less crowded and may not have variety of choices for the products they need.
Covid has literally put an end to the fun factor in shopping and it’s all about necessity and survival now.
Well, there also has been a drastic shift of the shopping world to our mobile screens. Working, schooling and shopping have all shifted and localized at home.
PANIC BUYING AND PANDEMIC
Covid 19 had led to panic buying and a lot of chaos among the consumers initially People responded to the pandemic by stocking up all the essentials and medical supplies because of the main reason being uncertainty and tension.
Another aspect of panic buying was the crowd mentality. People started buying and stocking up seeing others doing the same and didn’t want to put themselves in a situation of scarcity of resources.
THE ONLINE SHOPPING ERA
E-commerce sector has grown extensively during the pandemic as all the consumers were searching, placing orders, and purchasing the basic necessities and groceries online. They didn’t want to step out and expose themselves to any risk of getting affected with covid. There is risk factor associated with online shopping as the products had to be sanitized after delivery before usage. However, the risk factor being very low benefited the e-commerce industry exponentially. People wanted to avoid the in-store experiences and started preferring online shopping over the brick-and-mortar shopping.
CATEGORIES IN DEMAND
- Increased interest in safeguarding health led to an increased demand for immunity boosters, honey and traditional products like chyawanprash.
- Comfort foods & Dry food items – Consumers were stockpiling breakfast cereals, rice, instant noodles majorly Maggi, biscuits (especially Parle G) due to the longer shelf life of these products.
- Sanitizer, cleaning wipes and sprays, handwash, dishwashers, thermometers, office products for work-from-home setup
- Personal care products like men’s grooming kits and trimmers, female grooming products, hair dye and personal hygiene products also saw an increase in sales.
- Even though the fashion and clothing category saw a decline initially, later on it picked up as people started buying different clothes for work from home and other purposes.
It also needs to be pointed out that the pack size preferences for edible as well as other basic necessities had changed as people were spending on large packs instead of their usual small pack purchases.
There has been a decline in the number of shopping trips as well leading to decrease in walk-ins. Shoppers are indulging in one-time purchases rather than their usual fill-up purchases during pre-covid.
The only good thing about this situation is that consumers are enjoying more flexibility as they are not time-bound and no schedules planned for going to workplace or to educational institutions. There has been a normalization of buying as shoppers have realized that there are enough goods in stock now.
Sreethi Dinesh || PGPMR
sreethi.dinesh@northpointindia.com