The pandemic that broke out last year has changed a lot of things for a lot of people and altered not just the way they live, but even the way that we see the world. Our daily environment has also changed as meeting and catching up with people, public events and entertainment and even restaurant dining has gone online thanks to social distancing protocols and contactless transactions being heavily advocated.
The majority of the damage the virus has passed, but the aftermath and side effects of what is left will still continue to be felt and it will still take time for people to re-adjust to a sense of normalcy that was experienced before the pandemic. In most cases, people will stick to the changes that they had to adapt during the pandemic and will continue to evolve from those bases. The most sensible thing to do right now as a business is to begin to also adapt your consumer strategy by knowing and understanding how consumer spending could change in 2021.
Luxuries vs Essentials
The one thing that the pandemic taught most people is what they should spend their money on. Before the lockdowns and quarantines, most consumers were lenient on their budget and were more susceptible to being persuaded on buying luxury items in general.
But with the effect that the pandemic had on the economic environment globally, it changed everyone’s perspective. People were either retrenched, laid-off or furloughed and pay was inconsistent. This forced people to rethink their budgets and what they should prioritize with their spending power.
In the coming years, we should expect people spending less and less on expensive luxuries and more on basic necessities like healthy food, simple clothing and comfortable housing. Medical and life insurances will also trend as people are becoming more and more aware of their health. Luxury products will still be a viable market but it will become the last priority on the list for most consumers in 2021 and possibly the coming years.
Digital Market
The pandemic forced a lot of business to temporarily close down their physical stores and to look for other methods to help them survive the quarantine and lockdowns. For most of the 2020 pandemic, contactless deliveries and online shopping was highly encouraged to the point it became a trend where people have turned it into a habit of dining in. This is one aspect that most people will keep doing for years to come.
Consumers have seen that ease of use and convenience that digital marketing offers and it would take a lot of time and effort to persuade them to go back to dining out and buying through a physical store. 2021 will be the year of digitally based businesses. Most establishments will either add or change into an online store for their brand.
Consumer Experience
Being quarantined starved a lot of people from a basic psychological need, which is social interaction. We are social beings and that is a natural phenomenon, but the pandemic has hindered us from any easy access to other people. This is why how you treat you customers and continue to interact with them has become vital now more than ever. People are now sensitive as to how they treat people and how they are treated by others. Good consumer experience will guarantee you loyal customers as negative consumer experiences will deter future costumers from coming back. People crave now more than ever for authentic connections with the businesses they’re transacting with.
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