If you are looking to thrive in the aftermath of COVID-19 is all about keeping on top of consumer trends, and moving with them.
The best way to do this is to listen to what they are asking and understanding what they want from you. Once you know what that is, you can change your strategy to meet their needs. Consumer insights play a massive role in this.
We can all agree 2020 has thrown a spanner into the works in everyone’s lives, from personal to work to how brands need to rethink their strategies and where consumers are spending more time these days. COVID 19 has brought radical change and new habits, opinions and perceptions.
Our partners at GlobalWebIndex have fielded coronavirus research across 20 countries and have recently released their 4th wave of findings. These types of surveys allow us to map crucial changes that consumers will bring in a post-pandemic world.
The crucial question we are looking at here is: what changes will stick? We have highlighted some trends that are most likely to continue:
Travel Habits Will Continue To Change.
When asked what type(s) of vacation people intend to take in the next 12 months, domestic vacations and staycations in the local area top the list, scoring considerably more than short-haul foreign vacations or long-haul ones.
If we look specifically at South African survey respondents from the last round of survey data (29 June - 2 July 2020). 43% of South Africans say they intend to take a domestic vacation in the next 12 months and 35% tell us they will not be taking a vacation at all. We can assume that comes down to a squeeze on finances during this period.
Consumers Are Reassessing Their Personal Finances.
When asked about their personal financial response to the coronavirus outbreak, over 90% are planning to change their behaviour in some way.
This is reflected in the 83% of consumers expecting the pandemic to impact their personal finances, albeit with the largest amount anticipating only a small impact across multiple markets. (44% say this, compared to 30% envisaging a big impact and 9% bracing for a dramatic impact).
If we look exclusively at South African consumers, 64% of survey respondents have told us that COVID 19 will have a big or dramatic impact on personal and household finances.
Globally, around 4 in 10 plan to cut back on their day-to-day spending or are looking to reduce their regular financial commitments (e.g. cancel subscriptions, memberships, etc).
Online Shopping Will Continue To Boost
Online shopping is set to grow - and this enthusiasm has increased since April, showing no signs of waning even as more countries move into the recovery phase of the pandemic.
Free delivery is the single biggest motivator for global consumers when online shopping, with discounts and customer reviews taking second and third place.
These trends are just a few of a number of developing trends happening globally due to COVID 19.
For free access to the report please find it here, these reports are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the information available on the intuitive GlobalWebIndex platform.
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