This blog post is a collaboration between market research firm, GlobalWebIndex (GWI) and location advertising and analytics company, Blis, and it reveals the answers to these questions by comparing what people say (in consumer research) vs what they do (in the real world).
The COVID-19 crisis has disrupted the way we live, work and play. It’s also impacted national economies of countries around the world and in turn the personal finances of individuals. Decision making has changed and household budgets are tighter. In the UK alone 40% of the working population is currently furloughed or unemployed.
The COVID-19 crisis has disrupted the way we live, work and play. It’s also impacted national economies of countries around the world and in turn the personal finances of individuals. Decision making has changed and household budgets are tighter. In the UK alone 40% of the working population is currently furloughed or unemployed.
Much of our current movement must be planned and timed specifically. Public transportation is operating with reduced capacity and social distancing measures in most places. Public spaces and leisure areas face similar precautions, limiting the amount of potential for serendipitous encounters. Less meet-ups with friends to grab a coffee and a bite to eat and less opportunities for well-dressed windows to entice us to purchase.
During the periods of lockdown we witnessed dramatic shifts in consumer loyalty. In the US, in late February, brands were experiencing on average 78% loyalty. During the peak period of early April those figures rose to 90%, indicating that most people were going to one store only to pick up their essentials and didn’t “shop around”.
The world as we knew it before COVID-19 is forever changed. But that’s not to say that everything we knew in that world has changed. Humans are still humans and past behaviours can speak volumes about what people will actually do once lockdowns are eased and the rhythms of daily life start to return to ‘normal’.
With lockdowns slowly lifting around the world, the UK began Phase 2 of it’s restrictions last week, with PM Boris Johnson “taking the first careful steps to modify our measures”. Workers that couldn’t work from home were encouraged to return to work, avoiding public transport, where possible. The impact of what this means for employees and businesses alike is yet to be fully seen.
In March 2020 we conducted an online survey with Sapio Research, which asked 2,275 consumers across the UK, Singapore and Australia a series of 25 questions. The aim of the research was to help brands understand customer loyalty from the audience perspective and the factors that influence loyalty.
With one of Australia’s most iconic landscapes as a backdrop, the sight of thousands of beach-goers enjoying the Bondi surf in late-March represented a turning point in how Australians appraised the severity of pandemic life. A month on, the tentative re-opening of the beach is a testament to the actions that followed that weekend.
