The Covid-19 Pandemic has been rough for both humanity and businesses across the world. No country has been untouched by the Covid-19 effects and while humanity is facing this crisis, the whole world has joined their hands to fight these tough times together. However, going back to normal still looks tough and we might have to wait for a few more months. But as Lucius Annaeus Seneca once rightly said that, “Great leaders rejoice in adversity just as brave soldiers triumph in a war”. After months of lockdown people are finding new ways to continue their livelihood by resuming their work with extra precautions.
As the lockdown 4.0 transformed into Unlock 1.0 on 1stJune, consumer sentiment has improved, and things are slowly moving towards normalcy. Facebook and BCG published their “Turn the Tide” report to help marketers understand the shift in behavioral patterns of Indian customers. We have mentioned below our favourite 7 consumer behaviours which explain a lot about the new patterns that are emerging for the rest of the 2020.
- Indoor is the new Outdoor, Thanks to Social Distancing
Going out is stressful right now, we would all agree on this point and as per the latest data the current scenario is going to replicate itself in the coming months as well. 85% of users who responded to the survey said that they are trying to avoid public places and 79% of users said they will not step out of their house until its important. Approximately 45% of users said that they are not comfortable going out for movies and dining in the coming two months while 38% users wish to go out for entertainment after 2-3 months.
Working situations are changing and currently 79% of users are working from home and wish to continue the same for 2020.
Brand Case : Given the Current scenario even traditional brands who find it hard to transform quickly are moving fast towards digital means. SBI launched #GharSeBanking campaign targeting its customers and motivating them to continue their banking operations from their respective homes.
- Consumers are moving towards Make in India or towards the brand that they can trust
Months have passed since the first cases started to show and things have not been the same since then, consumers have started thinking twice before making a final decision. Impulse buying is on brink of extinction for now. Among all these scenarios below are some interesting stats that showed up:
- 65% of users believe that a brand’s response to the crisis would impact on their future purchasing decisions. Many brands that crossed their usual comfort zone to serve their customers are amongst their favourite ones now.
- 63% of users now want to know the origin of a product before they go ahead and make their final decisions.
- 59% of users continue to purchase the products that they are usually loyal to.
Brand Case : With TATA group’s generous donations generating thousands of conversations on Twitter, many users were seen tweeting that they would prefer buying TATA’s automotive products over the foreign brands. Uber and Ola were in the news too as they continued their operations to help corona warriors for a safer commute as they fought Covid-19 on the frontlines.
- With low income comes lesser spending capacity
With many companies announcing cost cutting measures ranging from pay cuts to a complete shutdown, the market sentiment has hit an all time low. Most of the metro cities users never knew the meaning of essentials before the Covid-19 pandemic and with the growing uncertainty, people are likely to spend less in the coming days.
- 35% of users expect heavy discounts in the upcoming festive seasons across all categories
- 70% of users to look for cheaper alternative brand/alternative expecting more value for money than ever
- 54% of users are expecting lower income in the next 6 months than usual
Brand Case : People may be skeptical to step out but haven’t forgotten their favourite brands. ZARA is fully functional and delivering online, ZARA went ahead to launch their summer collection online with the stores shut as most of them are in malls. Premium eateries like Big Chill are now delivering their food online which had never been considered in the past even with the huge demands.
- Everything to everyone, Let’s go Digital
Even after the longest lockdowns and biggest social distancing campaign in history, the Covid-19 cases refuse to stop and as humanity limps back to normalcy people want to make their lives as contactless as possible which is only possible digitally.
- Facebook network which comprises of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and WhatsApp has recorded all time high numbers of 3Bn active users
- 32 CR Indian students are forced to stay home and adapt to online studies
- Sadhuguru foundation recorded a rise of 202% time spent in online Yoga session and CureFit reported growth of 120% in online sessions
- 51% increase in digital wallet payments and 60% of these users expected to continue using wallets post the pandemic
- 46% increase in Netbanking services and 50% users are expected to retain the behaviour
Brand Case : CultFit laid off its 800 employees from their offline centres and has invested heavily in strengthening their online sessions instead and hence is now offering 80+ sessions daily engaging 25K+ customers on an average.
- Future is now, E-Commerce is the new ‘store next door’
E-commerce which used to be a thing of millennials and techies a few years ago has now become a household thing and because of the higher infection risk, users from all age and income groups are adapting to e-commerce.
- 50% increase in the e-com users expected till 31st of July
- More than 50% shift of buying from retail to online expected in the Apparel, Mobile phones, personal health care and supplement industry
- 120% increase in search keywords related to health and immunity
Brand Case : While many brands have communication related to covid-19, some of the brands just took it to another level by making their entry into adjacent categories for increased business. Dabur launched “Tulsi Drops Immunity Packs” which claims to help in building immunity. Amul in a similar step launched the Haldi doodh pack.
- Smart Shoppers, Brands will have to pull up their socks
With everything a click away, people are now more informed and research well before making their final purchase decision. Online shoppers always researched about the reviews and quality of the products, but now new parameters are being added like manufacturer brand’s origin.
- 30% of automotive buyers researched about brand’s country of origin before making decision
- When it comes to gadgets all parameters like reviews, features, origin and brand goodwill had equal weightage
- 40% of users are conducting online research across categories
Brand Case : A popular and most used app like TikTok faced a backlash and the ratings fell down to 1.6 from 4.8 stars on play store. Stats suggest that this had a lot to do with the origin country of the app.
- Remote Way of Living
Lifestyle across the world is changing fast and with people staying inside their homes with limited means of entertainment, the task to influence users is more challenging than ever. Getting into potential customer’s eyes is just not enough and brands are finding new ways to become a part of their customer’s life.
- WHO WhatsApp bot on Covid-19 engaged with 12Mn users via Whatsapp
- 700Mn daily active users on messenger are connecting everyday for audio and video calls
- 2.6 Bn active monthly users recorded on Facebook alone
- Instagram live views have increased by 60% in a week
Brand Case: Budweiser is conducting a live virtual party session to keep the bud fans engaged during the lockdown. Spotify ran a contest asking users to show how their work from home setup looked like.
We can conclude that the world is changing, and times are tough but humanity as usual is adapting and finding new ways to survive. It is upon brands now to keep up with the changing times and convert every challenge into an opportunity.
At Brandhues, We are determined to help you keep up with the changing times and provide you with the best updated marketing plans that yield measurable results for your brand.
