Effect on Consumer’s Purchasing Behaviour Post Lockdown in India

30th January 2020, was the start of the pandemic in India. It’s been almost 5 months and the world is still suffering from the brutal effects of this disease, caused by some other country’s carelessness. Nothing in the world is untouched by this cruel virus.

The economy is degrading, political faith is sabotaged, and in all this chaos consumers are suffering every minute. Food, medical facilities, transportation, job facilities are some of the major problems faced by consumers. To understand the difficulties faced by consumers, it would be significant to trace consumer's behaviour during and after the lockdown period. I believe, Covid-19 has not only affected the purchasing power of the consumers but also has sabotaged the upcoming years of millions of offline retailers across the country.

Due to the fear of the pandemic, in lockdown, people are preferring to stock up essentials like staples (rice and wheat), personal care products, sanitation and hygiene products etc. which is affecting the market prices and supplies. This social distancing and lockdown has turned the consumer’s behaviour upside down and has left the market fragile.

As ordered by our Prime Minister, the malls, restaurants, cinema halls, street food ‘thelas’ etc. were closed resulting in a huge decrease in the number of consumers. This decline has affected the cost of much of what is sold in the market. Practically, consumers like you and me will grab this opportunity of low-priced branded products but the fear of Coronavirus has decreased the demand for non-essentials with a double rate.

Not just the product market but there have been heavy losses to the transport market also, especially to private companies like Ola and Uber who have even reached the level of recession. Experts say that since people are scared to travel through public transport there might be an increase in automobile purchase for the next few years. Some of the automobiles companies have even started working on affordable middle-class automobiles.

According to the survey, conducted by the IT Company Capgemini during the lockdown period, about 74% of the consumers said they would prefer to purchase essentials from online stores than usual retailers, whereas 89% of them prioritized health, safety and sanitation over anything else. Considering the hygiene preferences of the consumers we can soon expect the addition of columns in our bills to pay for sanitation and hygiene in restaurants, public transports, hotels and other places.

Now, coming to the online shopping market the best example of ‘Shut-Down Business’ is of Amazon’s biggest skincare brand Wow Skin Science which was building huge profits from selling around 19,000 products a day is now selling a mere of 2000 products a day. This suggests that the only market which might not be at loss during and post lockdown is the market of omnichannel essential product retailers who have changed their working ways according to consumer’s behaviour.

But consumer behaviour can’t be considered as stable, what is evolving in lockdown may not be permanent post lockdown. Considering there are consumers who are not willing to buy products online, it is not probable for the offline market to completely vanish, but surely the sales have higher chances to increase in the online market. According to a survey by NRF (National Retail Federation), more than 50% of the consumers have purchased online products who usually would buy it from stores. Though some of them might shift back to the stores' post lockdown, some would adopt the digital momentum and will become permanent.

Demand for products that make consumers independent will also rise. As lockdown has taught us to be more self-reliant('Aatm-Nirbhar') the market for the products like personal transport, cooking machines, dishwashers, washing machines etc. will grow.

Interestingly the digital market of mobiles and the internet is increasing. In the lockdown period, the payment for internet bills, DTH, TV recharge and all through a digital medium has increased to almost 200% as recorded by Paytm. The market for digital payment is the only market not in a loss as it serves as a necessity and provides leisure payments.

After analyzing I think the major consumer conduct that will surely be the part of post lockdown consumer behaviour includes:

1. Payment through a digital medium;
2. Health and sanitation check protocols by customers on the products before buying, and;
3. Sheer convenience through eCommerce will be preferred.

Considering that consumers are rational and will react according to the need, we cannot accurately describe the different behaviours which will be shown after lockdown until it actually happens.

Till then, Stay Home and Stay Safe!

By,

LawVastutah