Journal of International Business Research and

Marketing
Volume 6, Issue 3, 2021
journal homepage: www.researchleap.com

Consumer Behaviour during Pandemic of COVID-19

Lenka Svajdova
Ing. Bc, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Technical University of Ostrava Department of Marketing and Business, Czech Republic.

ABSTRACT
2021 Research Leap/Inovatus Services Ltd. Knowledge of consumer behaviour is an important factor in the success of companies.
All rights reserved. Knowing how the consumer behaves and what factors influence him enables companies
to manage the marketing mix, branding and communication more effectively with
DOI: 10.18775/jibrm.1849-8558.2015.63.3005 customers. Identifying the factors that affect consumers is sometimes very difficult to
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.18775/jibrm.1849- identify correctly, because very often they are internal factors.
8558.2015.63.3005 The current situation currently prevailing in global markets is mainly influenced by
external factors - the COVID-19 pandemic and the effects of political and legislative steps
Keywords: and the economic situation. That is, the factors that both customers and retailers had to
Consumer behavior, COVID-19, External factors adapt to. The author aims to identify changes in consumer behaviour when buying basic
products - food, drugstore goods, clothing and footwear and electronics during the
pandemic of COVID-19.
The aim of this article is based on analysis of primary, secondary data and marketing
survey to identify changes in consumer behaviour because of political, legislative, and
economic factors caused by the spread of illness COVID-19.
The result will be the evaluation of changings in consumer behaviour because of the
pandemic of COVID-19.

1. Introduction 2. Consumer Behaviour

The year 2020 will go down in the history of retail as a year of Zamazalová (2008) talks about internal and external factors
overcoming problems and opening new possibilities. One of the influencing consumer behaviour. Among the external factors,
benefits of an otherwise unfavourable situation is the fact that the marketing macro environment is mentioned, which
customers have begun to realize how important retail is to their influences the implementation and development of marketing
daily lives. activities that are aimed at target customers.

Covid-19 has changed the world of retail and the customer. The environment is constantly changing very fast. External
Based on the comparison with the previous period, there was an factors that influence consumer behaviour create the following
increase in average spending and a decrease in the frequency of groups of factors: social factors (further divided into
purchases. Consumer confidence has fallen; people are worried demographic and cultural factors), technical and technological
about the future. Retailers have invested billions in anti- factors, economic factors, political and legal factors (legislative
coronary measures and E-commerce is breaking records. framework) and natural factors.

The coronavirus pandemic has changed customers' shopping Douchova et al. (1993) considers the following to be the most
behaviour in addition to the pandemic itself, there were also important factors influencing consumer behaviour: objective
influences based on political, legislative, and economic factors. conditions of consumer behaviour (individual economic
The shopping basket has changed, the routine of running environment and objective economic situation) and consumer
households, the reasons for purchasing and the availability of personality, his social environment and situational tuning.
goods and services have changed. Whether the changes will be
permanent, or everything will return to its original state will be 2.1 Consumer Behaviour and COVID-19
shown in the next months and will be the subject of research that This turbulent situation has huge impact on everyday
will follow the research mentioned in this article consumers´ life. The pandemic of COVID - 19 has significantly
dramatically changed both the businesses acting and consumers
behaving (Donthu and Gustafsson, 2020; Pantano et al., 2020).

34 Journal of International Business Research and Marketing, vol. 6, issue 3, pp. 34-37, March 2021
 35 Journal of International Business Research and Marketing

Laato et al. (2020) underline that the government prepared age group of 65 + was represented by 53 responders. The aim of
lockdown by closing schools, restaurants, some shops, and the research was not to identify the causes, but descriptive – to
public services, which may have spread fears of what will identify changes that consumers had noticed about their
happen in future. Due to this fact it is also possible to consider behaviour. In order to obtain comprehensive results of the
that customers will change their shopping habits in the long run. impact of COVID 19 on consumer purchasing behaviour,
For example, Sheth (2020) claims that there are four major questions were divided into four areas of questions – food
contexts which govern or disrupt consumer habits. They are purchases, drugstores, fashion and footwear and electronics. So,
social context (e.g., changes in the workplace and in interaction two sectors where there were no bans and two that were affected
with neighbours and friends), the implementation of new by authorities’ restrictions. The period for which respondents
technology (including online shopping and delivery), the impact described their shopping habits was October 2020 to January
of consumption habits due to new rules (the COVID-19 2021. Thus, a period that was largely affected by the effects of
pandemic regulations), and less predictable context (the government restrictions on the retail sector for a smaller part of
development of the global COVID-19 pandemic). this period took place under a looser regime.

Kirk and Rifkin (2020) that history shows that a period of crisis 3. Survey
can and is often perceived as an impetus for significant The author will continue with presenting the results of the survey
transformations in society. and recommend paying attention to and will compare those results with data from the survey
consumer behaviours in each of these three phases: reacting, published in Retail’s news journal containing data related to e-
coping, do-it-yourself behaviours, and then also longer-term commerce. The implemented questionnaire survey was focused
adapting. on confirming the observed changes in consumer behaviour
when buying food, drugstore goods, clothing and footwear and
The change in consumer behaviour identified in this article was electronics. The questions were aimed at identifying possible
the COVID-19 pandemic. Which from the point of view of changes in the frequency of purchases, changes in the
theoretical background we can consider as an external factor composition of purchases, e-shop preferences and shopping time
belonging to the group of natural factors, however, for food and drugstore goods, the retail units of which were not
complementary factors that influenced consumer behaviour restricted in any way. In the case of clothing, footwear, and
were, according to the author, political and legislative factors, electronics, it was found out how big a problem for consumers
and economic factors, which were represented by restrictions was the closure of stores and the rate of use of e-shops in
and uncertainty caused by concerns about the economic future. obtaining these goods.

2.2 Methodology For each sector, several statements were made with which the
The questionnaire survey method will be used to achieve the respondent had to express his / her level of agreement. The level
goals of this article. The questionnaire survey take place online of agreement was to consider a comparison of purchasing
and the method of personal interviewing. The selection file will behaviour before the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
contain 414 respondents to be selected. To obtain relevant data,
the random selection will be used to select the sample this 3.1 Consumer Behaviour – Food
guarantee maximum representativeness of the research. The Observing the Figure 1 it can be declared that when excluding
selection will contain the entire structure of the surveyed file respondents who were unable to assess the degree of agreement
considering the age. The aim of the questionnaire survey will be /disagreement with the statement, half of the respondents
to identify changes in consumer purchasing behaviour due to the expressed the opinion that they did not change the time of
COVID 19 pandemic, with a special focus on changes in the way shopping. In the case of food, there was no outflow of customers
of purchasing goods like time, place and method of purchase to the online space, 40% of respondents started buying food in
compared to the "pre-covid" period. e-shops to a greater extent than before the COVID-19 pandemic.
More than 50% of respondents look forward to reopening
The questionnaire survey was carried out between December farmers' markets. 64% remained loyal to shops when buying
2020 and January 2021. The total number of 424 respondents food. More than half of the 414 respondents did not change their
from the Moravian-Silesian Region (Czech Republic) shopping cart. About half then changed the frequency of their
participated in the questionnaire survey. After the proof of purchases. This corresponds to the results of research at the
survey in pilotage, the questionnaire was carried out online and national level.
by personal interviewing. Of the 414 respondents, 318 were E-shops began to be used to a greater extent by respondents in
women and 106 were men. There were 49 respondents in the 15- the age group 15 to 35 and to a greater extent by men who were
25 age group. From 26- 35 years old group were 85 respondents. represented in this age group. The time of purchase was changed
Between the ages of 36 and 45 there were 86 interviewees. The rather by economically active residents.
age of 46 and 55 was represented by 71 respondents. And
between the ages of 56 and 65 there were 80 responders, and the
 36 Journal of International Business Research and Marketing

Figure 1: Consumer Behaviour – Food

Figure 3: Consumer Behaviour - Footwear and Fashion
Source: Author’s research
Source: Author’s research
3.2 Consumer Behaviour - Drugstore
3.4 Consumer Behaviour – Electronics
As for changing in consumer behaviour purchasing drugstore
Almost 70% of respondents agreed on a fact, that closing of
(Figure 2 Consumer behaviour – Drugstore) there were no
stores with Electronics represented significant problem to them
surprises. Respondents didn´t show preferences for e-shops,
and 41% of them used e-shop for the first time and almost 50%
they continued in purchasing these kinds of products in shops
used e-shop with more frequency. More than 70% declared that
and didn´t change timing of shopping. What have changed was
the close of the store led to decrease in demand. The close of
the frequency of shopping – they visited those shops with less
shops was bigger problem for the age group 55+, and the age
frequency and the products were different.
group 45+ started to use e-shops for purchasing electronics.

E-shops began to be used to a greater extent by respondents in

the age group 25 to 35 and to a greater extent by women who
were represented in this age group.

Figure 4: Consumer Behaviour – Electronics

Source: Author’s research

4. Discussion
Since the beginning of the first outbreak of COVID-19 in early
Figure 2: Consumer Behaviour – Drugstore 2020, consumer behaviour has deviated significantly from
Source: Author’s research normal. Closing stores combined with consumers' fear of their
own health has led to an immediate and sharp increase in
3.3 Consumer Behaviour – Clothes and Shoes demand and the use of alternative distribution channels.
Clothing stores and shoes stores were affected by restrictions
and bans to stop spreading the virus. For more than 73% of Coronavirus has changed consumer behaviour in every way.
respondents the closing of stores of clothes and shoes was a During an emergency, more than 37% of customers shopped
significant problem and led to a reduction in demand for this online than usual. Even after its completion, e-shops are used by
kind of products. In age group less than 45 the usage of e-shop 23% of shoppers more than before government restrictions.
is significant, in the age group between 15 – 25 the number of e- According to estimates by the Association for Electronic
shoppers is the same. Commerce (APEK), the turnover of e-shops in the pre-
Christmas period alone could reach CZK 65 billion, which
means a year-on-year growth of more than 25%. However, the
result in this complicated year will be influenced by several
factors, including the willingness of people to spend. The
estimated year-on-year growth of online retail compared to
 37 Journal of International Business Research and Marketing

2019 is about 25%, which would mean more than CZK 190
billion in total turnover, according to APEK (Retail news, 2021).
The unprecedented situation that 2020 brought a number of
changes. And so internet sales are even higher than even the
most optimistic expectations. At the same time, however, it is
necessary to emphasize that this success did not fall entirely into
the lap of e-shops alone. The readiness and capabilities of Czech
online store operators have been and are crucial (Retailnews,
2021).

The discussion could be set on the fact if the changes in

consumer behavior as for „adiction“ for on-line shopping will
be permanent or it will decrease in the post-COVID times.

5. Conclusion
Based on the research, it can be concluded that there has been a
change in consumer behaviour in the Czech Republic because of
restrictions that have been introduced to reduce the spread of
COVID-19. In all analysed sectors - sales of food, drugstore
goods, clothing and footwear, electronics, there was an increase
in sales volumes through online channels. For drugstore goods
and food, there was a change in the structure of purchases and
the frequency of purchases. Demand for clothing, footwear, and
electronics, which were closed due to government measures,
decreased, despite a growing number of online purchases. The
question remains whether the changes will be permanent, or
customers will return to their original shopping habits.

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