Change in lifestyle:
The definition of Quality Time:
Social Distancing:
Power of Authority:
If governments and authorities get their handling of the crisis right (which mostly they will) it won’t be a surprise if the power shifts to a central authority and a top-down power control will be back in fashion. Now, how does it make a difference in consumer behaviour? Acceptance for the role of governments and companies in society, and their importance of collective behaviour may increase a lot
Things to watch:
Even if the virus is gone, public pulling into Movie Theatres, malls, theme parks, concerts, stadiums is going to be the biggest challenge. This in turn will lead businesses either to focus on pulling the crowd by increasing the trust in public gatherings or find alternate ways. The former practise is an age old marketing practise and they keep doing it anyways. But if they are finding alternatives, then here are some arenas .
Digital:
The world already moved towards the digital everything in the self isolation or lockdown state. Chances are, that consumers are going to be more attached to this digital everything.
Elearning and WFH:
Students may adapt to online classes and possibilities are that big schools and universities are going to shift from their conventional classroom studies into online and virtual classes.
E-commerce:
Yesterday when I was talking to one of my friends in the USA, one of her parents who is living in a big city started using ecom for the first time to buy her essentials. This is happening in most of the isolated or locked down places in the world. Older generations are starting to see online shopping as a valid and safe option.
As mentioned earlier, trust is the most influencing factor of the consumer behavioural change and to gain or retain their trust on online platforms is going to be the at-most important task in-front of UX researchers/analysts. Product categories, Trust gain, Payment methods and Delivery Options are the areas which are going to undergo a cycle of rethinking or reinventing methods.
Health and personal hygiene:
This is one sector where there is an increase of more than 50% across the globe and this is going to continue for the next 12 months (experts opinion). Nielsen group studies on asian countries predict that personal hygiene and home hygiene products are going to move more towards online sales.
On Demand movies and customized digital content:
Confidence and Trust:
Trust will be more important than ever before and building confidence to the consumers in every channel possible is going to be the biggest challenge of all. Chances are, that consumers are going to go back to well established branded company products (premium products and services), rather than experimental trials on new products. Justifiable optimism will sell well.
Home Delivery:
To really understand behaviours we need to understand actions, cognitions and emotions. All the three are connected (not unidirectional but multi directional). Behaviours could be Conscious or Subconscious. Again measuring behaviours is going to boil down to Qualitative and Quantitative studies and observations. This is where UX researchers and designers need to look at and go beyond the rational, into the emotional behaviours. Look at the bigger picture but solve the puzzle piece by piece.