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The Pandemic and the Changing Consumer Behavior

July 30, 2021

Editorials

The Pandemic and the Changing Consumer Behavior

Consumer behavior isn’t constant. It’s always evolving. Partly because the technology is constantly moving towards more and more convenience.
Thanks to the digital revolution, consumers don’t need to take time off and visit retail stores to get the things they need or want.
The pandemic has also given the digital space a push in the forward direction. With less human-to-human interaction, the only alternative that we are left with is shopping online.
So, while consumers were already inclined to shopping online even before the pandemic, the post-pandemic era has seen an unprecedented boost in online commerce.
Let’s dig a little deeper.

Pre-Pandemic Consumer Behavior


The worldwide crises have induced a major shift in how consumers behave. And, it had a radical impact on the growth of the eCommerce industry.
See, eCommerce was already on the rise and brands were utilizing livestreams to connect with consumers effectively.
Alibaba’s Taobao has already been using livestream quite successfully. Seeing the eCommerce giant’s success, Amazon launched its own livestreaming platform too.
This shows that although the post-pandemic scenario increased the demand for online marketplaces, it was already booming industry.

Post-Pandemic Shopping Trends


The lifestyle of most people has changed a lot during these testing times. Most people wouldn’t leave their homes either because of restrictions or because they don’t want to.
As staying indoors became a norm, consumers were naturally more inclined to buying everything online.
This radical change could’ve taken years or even decades otherwise. But, we are living in an unpredictable world.
And, while online shopping was on the rise already, after the pandemic, people even started buying their groceries online. Something that no one could have imagined otherwise.
This is just one category of consumer goods that found popularity in the online shopping industry. There are others like house essentials and cleaning supplies that people use in their daily lives.
In the US alone, consumers spent $211.5 billion on eCommerce in the 2nd quarter of 2020. This was a whopping 31.8% quarter-on-quarter growth.
Just like brands have changed the way they do business in the post-pandemic world, consumer preferences have also shifted.
And, the more important thing to note for a brand is that the new trends are going to catch up even after the pandemic ends.
Let’s take a look at them.

Local Buying Has Increased


People are more and more becoming community-focused as far as shopping is concerned. The first reason for that is that it’s convenient, and the second is that they want to provide support to local brands and businesses.
The important thing to note here is that the trend seems to continue for a long time even after the crises.
As a brand, you can take this opportunity to glance at your neighborhood and find local prospects that you might have missed in the past.

Ecommerce is Booming


A study reports that online buying has increased by 53% because a lot of people had to self-isolate and remain at home. Be it the working class, students, or entrepreneurs.
The rising trend of eCommerce post-pandemic tells us that people are starting to trust online retailers more and more.
And, as brands try to gain credibility by offering top-notch services/products, it’s only going to get more common.
As a brand, you can leverage this trend in your favor by offering convenient home delivery and check-out services on your online store.
Livestreaming is a great way to keep everything streamlined and straightforward for your prospects. You can provide a simple payment option to make things further convenient.

Touch-Free Payments


It’s also understandable that people now prefer to pay with safer methods. Around 40% of people would likely use a touch-free payment method due to obvious reasons.
As a helpful brand, it’s your duty to help consumers feel safe and comfortable. What better than offering an online checkout method?
If you are using livestreams to sell your products, you can redirect users to the product page after they like your product.

Consumers are More Cost-Conscious


The crisis has been a testing phase for many people, especially when it comes to financial matters. A lot of consumers admitted that they have been affected financially because of the pandemic.
This most often means that consumers will be conscious of their spending. And, if they find something that’s cheaper than something they have been buying, they will probably prefer that.
As a consumer-centric brand, what you can do is, offer special discounts to your audience whenever you can. Of course, you don’t want to hurt your margins.
But, helping them in their times of need can establish you as a sensitive and helpful brand. Which ultimately will help you build brand loyalty.

Consumers are Trying New Products and Brands


Another noticeable trend that the retail industry has seen is that consumers are trying to get in touch with new brands and try new products
The reason can be stock availability, convenience, curiosity, or accessibility. But, the point is, once they shift to a new brand, they tend to stay with them.
As a brand, this offers a good opportunity to present your brand or products in front of new audiences in an effective way.
While there are multiple ways of doing that, Jumble suggests livestreaming. Done right, livestream can not only help you reach a lot of online audiences, but it can also build your loyal customer base.

Where is the Market Headed?


We’ve already established that change is inevitable, especially in this ever-evolving digital era. The retail market is definitely headed towards more digitization and convenience in shopping.
You don’t have to worry about it as a retail brand though. You can easily evolve with the market and can even improve your brand’s reach and conversions.

What Brands Need to Do?


With all the major eCommerce brands jumping on the bandwagon, every brand out there needs to understand that livestreaming is the future of retail.
While you can choose to stick to your eCommerce store and avoid getting into a new area, your competitors might get ahead by doing livestreams.
See, no matter how convenient eCommerce stores get, they can’t match the impact a livestream has on consumer purchases.
Plus, there are a lot of consumers out there that simply don’t buy stuff online because they have trust issues with the brands.
By leveraging the intimate nature of livestreams, you can target that audience and let them know that you can provide the high-quality products they want.
Let’s see how you can get started with livestreaming as a retail brand.

Start with the Right Equipment


You don’t need a hefty sum of money to get started with livestreaming for your brand. Just the basic tools will do the job effectively.
You’d be needing:
• A computer
• A camera with a mic
• A livestream software
• A stable internet connection

Plan Your Livestream


Not planning your livestreams can lead to an unsatisfactory audience experience. You need to be sure about the content you are going to present to your prospects.
Create a goal and an outline that can help you stick to it. Make sure to not rely on it too much though. Your livestreams should be natural and engaging.

Promote Your Livestream


How would your target customers join your stream when they don’t even know about it?
Even if you have a sizeable email list, getting the word out about your streams is a good idea because you want to attract new prospects too.
Schedule your livestream on social media platforms and ask people to register for it through an email opt-in form.

Engage Your Audience


Engaging your audience with your livestream is imperative because if you don’t, you might lose a bunch of your prospects forever.
See, the dwindling attention spans and an unprecedented amount of clutter on the internet can repel your audience if your content is not captivating.
Fortunately, livestreams are interactive, so you can use different tactics to get and retain your audience’s attention.
For instance, you can encourage them to ask whatever they want on a particular topic. It’s important to stick to a theme or a topic and keep your livestream going in one direction.

Final Thoughts


The worldwide crisis has affected many industries adversely. A lot of people started working from home mostly because they didn’t have a choice.
The one industry that kept on booming at a rapid pace is eCommerce. That’s because the stay-at-home concept works in its favor.
You don’t need to go out to buy a product if you have an eCommerce store for that, right?
Livestream shopping is a strategy that eCommerce companies have been using quite effectively, even before the pandemic.
As a retail brand, livestream shopping can change the complexion of your business, if you do it right. All you’d need is livestream software and the basic equipment to get started.

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