How Consumers Buying Behaviour has Changed in 2020 to 2021

While some economists predicted that Covid-19 would only have a short-term effect on consumer’s shopping habits, the opposite is true and the events of 2020 have permanently altered consumer’s shopping habits in a study done by CallCare. To discover some of the key ways that consumer buying has changed in 2020 to 2021, simply continue reading.

How consumers buying behaviour has changed in 2020 to 2021:

Online shopping has dramatically increased in popularity:

One of the largest changes in consumer behaviour that has taken place is that the majority of shoppers now prefer to do their non-essential shopping online. In fact, in 2020 67.50% of survey respondents had a preference for purchasing their non-essential items online. With only 25.37% of respondents responding that they preferred to purchase their non-essential items in physical stores. In total, online shopping as an industry grew by 35% in a single year.

Prior to 2020 and the impact of Covid-19, a far larger percentage of consumers still preferred to purchase their non-essential items in brick and mortar stores. When it comes to essential items such as groceries, the majority of consumers, 51.38% still revealed that they preferred to shop for their items online. As consumer habits are changing and online shopping has quickly become the number one way for consumers to shop.

Businesses have to adapt well and need to ensure that they can provide easy-to-use online shopping experiences and fast delivery, in order to retain or grow their market share. In a consumer survey, 61.38% of respondents revealed that they plan to shop online more often than in 2020 which shows that overall consumers are happy with the online shopping experience.

Bad customer service can derail businesses:

Another consumer habit that has changed relates to customer service. Increasingly when customers receive less than stellar customer service, they will leave negative reviews about the company online. As most online shoppers and traditional in-store shoppers check for reviews before shopping with a business that they haven’t dealt with before, shoppers will not shop with businesses that have terrible online reviews. As a result, the businesses that value good customer service are flourishing, while businesses that don’t care about their customers’ experiences are quickly losing market share.

Consumers value competitive prices above all else:

The survey also revealed that value for money is the primary driving force of consumer behaviour. With 52.25% of respondents citing value for money as their main concern as shoppers. As most online shops offer exceptional value for money due to their low operating costs, it’s likely that customers are going to continue shopping online to take advantage of low prices in 2021 #2021customers.

Consumers are worried about their digital privacy:

However, 7 out of 10 survey respondents have remarked that they are worried about their digital privacy. Especially as they are shopping online more frequently. As a result, online retailers are becoming stricter about digital privacy in order to retain their customers.

So if 2020 is an indicator of how consumer shopping habits have changed, it’s safe to say that online shopping will only become more popular and commonplace in 2021 and beyond.

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