ICFAI BUSINESS SCHOOL

Shankarapalli, Hyderabad, Telangana- 501203

INTERNSHIP REPORT
ON
CHANGING CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR POST COVID-19

SUBMITTED BY:-

V.SRIVATSAN
21BSPHH01C1418
SECTION I

MASTERS OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express gratitude to all those who have guided us to complete this report.

I put forward a special token of appreciation to our faculty member of Marketing Management and

our project guide, Prof. Kalaa Chenji whose unparalleled contribution, support and encouragement

paved the way to complete the project.

I take this opportunity to express heartfelt thanks to everyone who endorsed me throughout the

course of this project. I am thankful for their guidance, invaluable inputs during the project work.

I am sincerely indebted to them for sharing their insightful and enlightening views on issues related

to the project.

I also like to express my warm thanks to IBS HYDERABAD for giving me this opportunity to

work on this insightful project.

I do not have adequate and enough words to thank my parents, who have always been a source of

strength and inspiration for me. I cannot imagine to achieve something without their love and

constant support. Without their support this project was unfeasible.

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Consumer behavior post covid-19

INDEX

S.NO PARTICULARS PAGE NO.

1. ABSTRACT 04

2. INTRODUCTION 05

3. PURCHASING PATTERN 06

4. HYPOTHESIS 11

5. 12
METHODOLOGY

6. 15
INTERPRETATIONS FROM QUESTIONNAIRE

7. CONCLUSIONS 18

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Consumer behavior post covid-19

ABSTRACT

The coronavirus pandemic has impacted in large the consumers' purchasing habits and

consuming habits due to the lockdowns and social distancing measures imposed by

various governments across the globe. Due to the lockdowns and social distancing

measures imposed by various governments around the world, the coronavirus pandemic

has disrupted consumers' purchasing and consuming habits. Since the pandemic isn't

going away anytime soon, their customers are adjusting to new patterns.

The purpose of this research is to examine how the epidemic has changed consumers'

shopping habits and consuming behavior. Going back to the prior purchase and

consuming patterns, they will be subjected to the new COVID-19 guidelines. As a result,

the way one shops or buys goods and services will be altered. Furthermore, new habits

are likely to emerge as a result of technological advancements and changing life patterns.

As a result, the purpose of this paper is to examine and determine whether social

distancing and lockdown guidelines will cause consumers to change their purchasing

habits permanently or temporarily. Furthermore, the paper will determine whether there

are any new shopping habits, whether through digital technology or physical appearance

in stores. During the peak of the coronavirus cases in different countries at different times,

the patterns may be long or short term.

This report tells how consumer behavior has changed from offline buying to online buying

because of the impact of Covid-19 pandemic and various challenges faced by retailers’ brands

associated with E-commerce websites.

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Consumer behavior post covid-19

INTRODUCTION
Consumer views and purchasing habits are shifting, and this will continue even after the

pandemic is over. During COVID-19, basic requirements like as food are at the forefront of

most transactions. People are buying more carefully, shopping locally, and adopting digital

commerce: the pandemic's immediate effects, the impact after regulations were altered, and the

post-pandemic effects. People have learned to live with the virus in the middle of many

countries' economies slowly opening up. Purchasing and consumption habits differ between

areas and countries. However, the pandemic has a variety of common effects over the world.

Shifting to fundamentals and values, flight to digital commerce, shock on loyalty, health care

economy, and homebody economy are all examples of everyday habits that have transformed.

Even when diverse economies around the world open up, the majority of customers remain in

lower-income situations. This has a negative impact on citizens' confidence and optimism for

economic recovery, which has been declining since April 2020. Consumers in India and China,

on the other hand, are more hopeful than those in Europe and the United States. As a result, the

pandemic is likely to have a major impact on the world as we know it. People are now buying

differently, living differently, and thinking differently in a variety of ways all throughout the

world. The loss of retail shops has thrown supply chains into disarray. As a result, consumers

will view goods and services from a different perspective. The virus is transforming the

consumer products business in real time by swiftly affecting long-term consumption

tendencies. The new behaviors are likely to outlast the pandemic, permanently altering how

people shop, value, live, and work. People react differently to the COVID sickness because of

their dread of it, resulting in varied purchasing and attitudes. Despite the social distancing

measures adopted during the epidemic, there was panic buying of staple and hygiene products,

and some consumers went about their business as usual.

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Consumer behavior post covid-19

PURCHASING PATTERN

Impact Of Covid-19 On Purchasing Habits: -

Since coronavirus outbreak was declared a pandemic

and cases across various countries started rising,

Consumers started stockpiling essential products. It

was performed to meet daily consumption, which

resulted in temporary stockouts and shortages of

toilet paper, bread, water, meat, disinfection, and

cleaning supplies. Hoarding is a common practice to

deal with the uncertainty of future supplies of

fundamental necessities. When a country experiences hyperinflation, this is a common

response. There was also the formation of a grey market, in which unauthorized

intermediaries hoarded the product and raised the prices. This occurred in the case of PPE

(personal protective equipment) for healthcare professionals, such as N95 masks.

Furthermore, stockpiling generated a temporary surge in demand. These factors aided the sale

of counterfeit goods (Gans, 2020).

Consumers in countries such as India, South Korea, China, Italy, and others were unable to

go to the grocery store or shopping malls due to complete lockdown. Rather, they kept their

goods at home. Consumers were confined to their homes due to a lack of space and an excess

of distinct activities such as working, learning, buying, and socializing. Consumers

experimented with numerous recipes, practiced their talent, and performed inventive and new

methods to play music, share learning, and shop online more creatively with more flexible

time at home (Meyer, 2020). Consumers became producers with economic potential once

some of them became viral. Another area of future research is how consumers improvised to

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Consumer behavior post covid-19

deal with a product or service shortage. This has resulted in novel behaviors and, in some

cases, an alternative to location-based consumption, such as telemedicine and online

education (Martin, Butcher, 2020). During times of crisis and uncertainty, people have a

tendency to put off purchasing and using discretionary goods and services. This was

frequently connected with big-ticket items like houses, cars, and appliances. Concerts, sports,

bars, and restaurants were among the optional services included. As a result, demand is

expected to shift in the future. Consumers embraced a variety of new technology and

applications. The Zoom video services are an obvious example. Most households have access

to the internet in order to stay in touch with family and friends. This was also expanded to

home-based classes for schools and colleges, as well as telehealth for virtual meetings with

doctors and other health care providers (Fabius et al, 2020).

CONSUMPTION TRENDS SINCE THE OUTBREAK OF COVID-19

Social distancing has brought in many thoughts

in the customers about e-commerce and digital-

driven experiences, and these choices have now

become people's permanent or long-term

options. As a result, businesses should be

imaginative when structuring their proposals and offers to fit the needs of their customers,

allowing them to save money while maintaining the quality and affordability of services

provided during this shift. At the heart of their strategy planning should be a focus on

innovations aimed at providing differentiated services. The following are some examples of

shifting consumer consumption trends.

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Consumer behavior post covid-19

The limits imposed by practically all governments

across the world in the name of public health have

sparked new ways of consuming while complying to

social distance regulations. Many people have turned

to digital shopping to get around these limitations. The

Portuguese, for example, expect to spend more than 62

percent of their time surfing, resulting in a 513 percent

increase in online purchasing searches in a month. It depicts the changes in customer

behavior as a result of the growing demand for consumers to switch from physical to online

shopping. Because more individuals are staying at home, 45 percent of brands have shifted

their spending from offline to online media.

1. Focus On Health and Essential Good:

The pandemic has shifted the focus to improving

health as the foremost priority. As a result, customers'

priorities have shifted to basic requirements, with

demand for hygiene, basics, and cleaning items

increasing while orders for non-essential categories

decreased. Personal health is the top priority for

consumers, followed by that of their family and friends. Other priorities

include financial security, food, personal safety, and medical security. When it

comes to beverage and food products, people are particularly interested in

those that provide health benefits, particularly those that provide immunity

and are natural. We are unsure about the economic future because we are in an

unpredictable period.

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Consumer behavior post covid-19

2. More Spending on Leisure Activities:

most people spend their leisure time. The

majority of individuals became aware of the

pandemic shortly after it began. Individuals

in the United States, for example, spent 215

percent more time reading news online in March 2020 than they did in March 2019.

(2020, Oxford Business Group). Other hobbies, such as watching television, saw a significant

increase in the amount of time spent doing so. The fact that most individuals want to keep up

with current events and knowledge contributed to the drastic shift. Others are focusing on

their families, while entertainment and DIY projects have surged since the pandemic began.

3. More Savings: -
Consumers can adjust their spending patterns in

response to their circumstances. As the cost of

living continues to rise, these adjustments may

become necessary as earnings become more

strained and compressed. At first, insulated

consumers, particularly those in the middle to

upper income brackets who had no job or had

minor covid-19 effects, consumed everything they had and even traded freely, believing that

they would be safe. This group became more careful with their spending, saving, and cutting

back on higher-value expenditures as the horizon narrowed.

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Consumer behavior post covid-19

Impact of Covid-19 on Online Buying Behaviour of a Customer

The Covid 19 pandemic has completely changed the perception of

customers towards online shopping, with the fear of being exposed to

the corona virus people started ordering the products online.

As people shifted their perception to online many major E-commerce

websites like Amazon Flip kart, Myntra started receiving more orders

and their value delivery process is associated with safety measures too.

Besides to these people also started ordering vegetables, fruits, cooking oil, pulses on E-

commerce websites like Big basket, grofers e.t.c.,

From the blog written by Aneesha Khanna the following data is taken for interpretation

• During Pre-lockdown there were 150 and 100 of sales in exponential manner occurred

from Big Basket and Grofers.

• On Day 1 of lockdown people ordered products from Big Basket and grofers and data

is recorded as 30% and 12% respectively

• On day 28 of lockdown there is an exponential rise of sales from 30% to 283% from

Big Basket and 12% to 190% of exponential increase in sales of Grofers.

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Consumer behavior post covid-19

HYPOTHESIS

Problem statement-1:- Consumer behaviour during the COVID-19 period followed panic-

buying mentality, this allowed some businesses to pivot their business models to take

advantage of these behavioural changes.

Problem statement-2:- . Consumers established herd mentality behaviour due to the

COVID-19 pandemic, which has been targeted as business opportunities by some firms

during the period.

Problem statement-3:- Media framing playing a significant role in influencing consumer

sentiment during the COVID-19 crisis.

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Consumer behavior post covid-19

METHODOLOGY

Panic Buying:- During natural disasters or

man-made crises, panic buying of storable

consumer goods is common. Never before has

there been such widespread panic buying on a

global scale as there was during the COVID-

19 outbreak. Despite the fact that there has

been little research into panic buying, the current epidemic presents a unique chance to

examine panic buying due to the abundance of statistical data and the range of severity of its

presentation. Because of the wide range of policies established around the world, government

reactionary policy and its impact on consumer behaviour may be studied in more depth. This

raises the question of whether coronavirus users are immune to the virus. The COVID-19

pandemic has had a significant impact on consumer behaviour around the world, as increased

uncertainty has resulted in illogical and irregular consumer behaviour. To determine whether

the panic buying seen during the COVID-19 outbreak is similar to that seen during earlier

crises, a thorough assessment of the true impact COVID-19 has had on consumer behaviour

is required. To investigate changing consumer behaviour as it relates to panic buying, we first

established spending patterns that could be used to identify panicked and irrational purchases,

i.e., our independent variables, while regular spending patterns observed outside of crisis

times were used d as our comparative points of analysis, i.e., control variables. After

comparing our independent variable to the control variables from the COVID-19 period, we

were able to extrapolate whether our hypothesis about panic buying was satisfied or not by

comparing the results to consumer behaviour after historical shocks.

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Consumer behavior post covid-19

Herd Mentality:- People tend to follow the herd rather than pursue a more logical,

personalised strategy in situations where information is scant and a perceived imminent threat

exists. This tendency reinforces collective social fears in the context of purchasing behaviour

during a crisis, where customers are more inclined to pay attention to the purchase behaviours

of their peers than what is suggested by scientific or governing authorities. According to

scientific neuroeconomic consensus, the current pandemic's unpredictable circumstances

raise consumer dread and panic, making them vulnerable to herd mentality behaviours. Herd

mentality displays itself in numerous crucial areas, including (1) collective societal fear, (2)

consumer buying behaviour, and (3) stock prices, as previously mentioned. These are

intricately linked, with collective societal anxiety influencing consumer purchasing decisions,

corporate activity, and stock prices. Firms will adjust their business models in response to

changes in consumer behaviour.

We have minimal empirical evidence for a causal association specific to the COVID-19

pandemic because there have been few pandemic episodes since the onset of behavioural

finance and behavioural economic research. In the event of collective hardship, such as

natural disasters or financial crises, a study of this relationship is theoretical and dependent

on consumer behaviour literature, which identifies similar herd-like behavioural patterns.

Consumer behaviours that come from herd mentality—panic buying =hoarding, and stock

price volatility—support the existence of herd behaviour. As our independent variable in

determining the presence of herd mentality is consumer purchasing behaviour, we identify a

proxy for this in consumer expenditure. Spending data from ANZ and Commonwealth Bank

is used here to look at three main consumer goods: toilet paper, long-life food, and cleaning

supplies. A significant increase in consumer spending from pre-crisis levels will prove the

existence of increased discretionary spending and hoarding behaviours fuelled by

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Consumer behavior post covid-19

herd mentality during the COVID-19 epidemic, allowing us to confirm or refute our

hypothesis.

Role of the Media in Influencing Consumer Behaviour:- A variety of quantitative and

qualitative data were gathered to examine the media's role in affecting consumer attitude. An

investigation of web traffic to mass media broadcasters during the period—variable data set

1—was done to substantiate the notion. Pars.ly, the analytics provider for US media sites like

the Wall Street Journal and NBC, compiled this information using web-analytics data. Self-

reporting techniques from particular mass-media platforms were used to collect data similar

to that seen on Australian websites. This information was analysed to support the idea that

mass media outlets were given significant attention during the early stages of the crisis.

Data was obtained and analysed using secondary sourcing of peer-reviewed data in order to

assess how these platforms framed the COVID-19 situation and impacted consumer

behaviour. This study examined media framing primarily through the use of keyword and

phrase data mining. The quantitative analysis of inputted key phrases was given by the data-

mining platform Brandwatch Consumer research, on which the results and discussions of this

hypothesis were based. As a result, the traffic experienced by news sites about the pandemic

created our independent variable, which led to the acceptance or rejection of our final

hypothesis.

Number of Articles Published Mentioning Coronavirus “Stockpiling”

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Consumer behavior post covid-19

INTERPRETATIONS FROM QUESTIONNAIRE

A questionnaire was made and circulated among the WhatsApp groups, the questioner

focused on age, gender, online platform which is used to buy products online, major buys

from online services, frequency of buying, research people do before buying the products and

impact of Covid-19 on shopping preferences.

I have got 46 responses for the Google form.

1 Age and Gender:

• People of age of 22 have given more responses with percentage of 23.9%.

• People of age 21 and 20 have given second greatest number of responses with

percentage of 19.6% and 15.2%.

• People of age 24 and 25 have given third greatest number of responses with percentage

being 13% and 10.9%.

• People of age 23 and 26 have given equal number of responses with 6%.

• People of age 19 and 28 responded least with percentage of 2.2%.

• Out of 46 Responses recorded majority of them are Female with 63% of responses

followed by men with 37% of responses.

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Consumer behavior post covid-19

2 Mode of shopping and Website used for Online Shopping

• 54.3% of people have chosen both online and offline mode of shopping where as 34.8%

of people have chosen online shopping followed by offline shopping freaks with 10.9%

• People love shopping on Amazon and Myntra as the survey has shown people buying

products from those websites

• 47.8% of people love to do shopping on Amazon and 43.5% of people love shopping

from Myntra.

3 Type of Products purchased and how often customers purchase products online:

• 54.3% of people purchase dresses online followed by Electronics with 21.7%.

• 10.7% people have purchased books and 8.7% of people purchased Grocery Items.

• According to Reports 50% people purchased once in every 2-3 months.

• 30.4% of people purchased once in evey month.

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Consumer behavior post covid-19

• 13% of people purchased once in every week.

• 6.6% of people purchased items for every 6 months.

4 Preference of offline store and ROPO Research before buying a Product:

• 82.6% of people love to shop at Retail Outlets followed by Factory outlets with 13%

of people.

• 5% of people love to shop at Shopping malls and for rest it depends on their mood.

• 54.3% of people Prefer to do ROPO Analysis where 8.7% of people donot prefer to

do ROPO research and 37% of people does reaserch based on the product they

purchase.

5 Effect of Covid-19 Pandemic on shopping Preference:

• A mind boggling 56.5% of people changed their shopping preferences because of

Covid-19 and 37% of people havent changed their preferences.

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Consumer behavior post covid-19

Conclusions

As the coronavirus pandemic has been categorized as a broader healthcare crisis than has

been experienced in recent history, it is not possible to immediately anticipate that all consumer

behaviors typically demonstrated during common shocks or crises, to apply here. The main

complication in analyzing consumer behavior during the COVID-19 period is the international

scope of the pandemic, as opposed to the more typical, localized geographic regions, creating

this pandemic to be a truly unique one in scope of historic crises. In reaction to the growing

COVID-19 pandemic, governments have implemented various measures such as social

distancing and lockdown to fight this against spreading further. Correspondingly, the World

Health Organization (WHO) has announced some measures to prevent the spread of deadly

COVID-19 virus. Everything has created significant changes on consumer behavior, especially

in purchasing and consumption behavior. Consumption have changed to be location and time-

bound, time being flexible and location being rigid, consumers have acquired different ways

to do things. The different things include house arrest for a period, social distancing, living at

no or reduced income, prioritizing hygiene, and purchasing essential goods first. Not only this,

consumers have learned the importance of e-commerce stores primarily amid such a pandemic

where you must stay at home and keep the social distance. The contagion is likely to come with

innovative and creative ways of operating, such as brand digitalization that will modify the

existing behavior. Discovery of new technologies may arise which would facilitate work,

consumption, and study conveniently. New policies may be introduced for consumption

behavior, particularly in social places like concerts, airports, and public parks.

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Consumer behavior post covid-19
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