Changes in consumer behaviour and psychology post-pandemic

First of all, a huge congratulations to everyone for staying at home for the past 5 weeks. Without the support of each individual, it will not be possible to defeat COVID-19.

Yesterday, I was watching TV with my family. Suddenly, one advertisement came up with thousands of people in it. My mother suddenly exclaimed, “Where is this crowd?”. I told her that it is just an advertisement that would've been shot months before today. Probably, years! She replied, “Looking at a crowd nowadays makes us so insecure.” 

This response from my mother made me think about how we will have to unlearn older consumer behaviour and psychology so that we can learn about the new altered behaviours.

This pandemic has hit core human behaviour - physical interactions. Now, a consumer fears in stepping out to a crowded and unhygienic place. Even shaking hands and hugging their loved ones bring immense hesitation.

All of us have lost confidence in physical human interactions. Not only our personal lives, but it will also affect our businesses on a great scale!

What changes will happen in consumer behaviour and psychology?

• The consumer will avoid going to places that have lots of crowds such as hotels, theatres, malls, and supermarkets.
• To reduce interaction, the consumer will start buying online on platforms that follow all the necessary guidelines. 
• To reduce physical contact, a consumer might avoid paying in cash and focus on online contact-less payment methods such as UPI, e-wallets, or net banking.
• The consumer might stop buying unessential items for a few years to save for rainy days!
• The consumer might delay/avoid unnecessary travel for the upcoming few months. (travelling - being the biggest medium of this pandemic)

Which businesses will get affected by these consumer behaviours and psychology changes? What innovation can you do?

Facing difficult situations pushes us to think out of the box and rise and shine in this unfortunate scenario.

It will be difficult for businesses with large consumers gathering to run on their usual strategies. They will have to look for some innovative business strategies that involve little to no human interaction to meet their revenue goals.

Here are some innovative and digitalized ideas for your business:

• If you are a retail business, you can explore e-commerce systems that bring your business to your customers’ fingertips.
• If you are a hotel and restaurant business owner, using voice-enabled technologies for ordering food and services doesn’t only reduce human interaction for your customers - it also makes the process fun for them.
• If you are a clothing brand, bring in AR (Augmented Reality!) to your business, and people won’t stop using your apps to try on their favourite designs.
• If you are a local retailer and shop owner, add a contact-less QR-code or mobile-based payment systems such as UPI or e-wallets.
• If you are an e-commerce business, it would be a great boost to your consumer base if you start building a brand that focuses on hygiene for their deliveries and shipments. Drone-based delivery system trials are also something that can be explored.

To come out and grow out of this pandemic, all the businesses simply have to start identifying their consumers’ behaviour with analytics and data crunching. 

The consumers always have their unique buying patterns. Businesses who successfully identify these changes early on will thrive in the upcoming competitive market.