Behavioral trends of Consumers during the Pandemic

The market is always in terms of diversity; consumers’ preferences play more importance in determining the flow of services and goods. Majority of the decision-making power go to the hand of the consumers, which determines the sale of a particular product. Interestingly, the trends of the economy have changed the pattern in terms of the goods that are being produced and sold in the economy. Understanding the pulse of the market by the producers, have taken a back seat. With the internet accessibility in the hands of many, mostly in the lower and the middle-class section of the society, the ability to assess the kind of goods that are being sold in the markets and its performance in the world market is said to be in their fingertips. Access to the information is said to be more of a boon, to assess the longevity and its performance in the market. The popularity of the products is more in line with this kind of basic instinct in the consumers in the market. The markets are now more consumer-driven in the modern-day scenario. Since the beginning of the last decade, the pursuing consumers have become more conscious of the goods they procure. Reduction in terms of the carbon footprint, more environment friendly products being produced. The research and the urge of the consumer to know more of the products, drive the consumers to make the choices. Interestingly, the portfolio of the products provided also adds to the change in the preferences that one purchases a particular service or a good. Gradually this became a norm and with the strength of the consumers, there ‘re instances where certain manufacturers have left their operations of producing their goods. It does have other reasons as well, which may be lack of new product releases, lack of marketing of new products, delay in conducting market surveys to understand what the consumers want in the market, and the list continues. It is this lack of quantum nature of the behavioural understanding that the mismatch of expectation tends to the departure of the majority of the producers in the domestic market of a nation. Change in the scenario – Pandemic analysis

‘Artificial intelligence’-key drive to potential businesses

A drastic change in terms of consumer behavioural trends is the key highlight of the pandemic. Its significance is should be appreciated and should be taken as the way forward on how the markets of the future would function, and respond to crisis-based scenarios. The justification of the change in the pattern of the behaviour is more in line with the accessibility of the technology and the incorporation of AI or ‘artificial intelligence’ which help in catering to the needs of the consumers in the market. This has changed the aspect of the purchasing experience for the consumer entirely. This is more inclined to the normal goods like our groceries to the high-end luxury items like cars motorbikes and so on. The change is said to be massive and continues to be a learning experience for people who want to introduce something new to the market.

Mindfulness is -a quality developed in consumers

One of the interesting findings in this regard is that people or consumers want to be more conscious in terms of the money spent. When we look back before the pandemic started, one can see the expenses of households were more of a conspicuous one- more of a ‘spendthrift’ kind. This was seen in the general sense in the middle-class and rich families in the societies. But with the pandemic, there is a trend that has been observed that more, ‘value-based ‘spending habits have been developed. Many of the consumers have become conscious about the brands they purchase, which tend to have some kind of value-added. This can be in terms of the value-added in terms of social causes, also can be in terms of climate change. All these aspects can change the perspective of the consumers which in turn alter the purchasing pattern which is more evident since the beginning of the pandemic.

Technology creating a realistic experience for prospective buyers

The use of ‘Artificial intelligence’ or AI has seen major prominence in terms of the purchasing decisions of individuals. This is one of the important highlights of the pandemic which has changed the aspect of the purchase of motor vehicles and electronic items. Instead of entering the showroom for physical inspection of the new products, the use of AI has made things a lot more real in terms of a complete showroom experience. A complete view of the product with real-time query analysing facilities being provided by web portals has helped in bringing some amount of business to different business houses. Firms have gone in terms of taking the help of technologies and software to bring back the sense of normalcy in terms of running regular business activities. Increasing awareness-based consumption People have started to move closer to society-based initiatives. Since this pandemic has led to the prevention of close human interactions, the craving for some kind of a human connection is seen more common, as per many researchers. Though in a limited sense of human interaction, the way of marketing products could be seen done via human interaction. It's more of a traditional way of marketing products, which now came to be more effective in terms of getting certain new brands into the market. Many studies have shown that it did bring a decent amount of business to the new entrepreneurs. Innovation with the use of technology along with the use of traditional marketing techniques has got some amount of success, which seems to be a promising start for many.

Need for more ‘transparency’ – complete disclosure of information.

People or consumers, in general, do not like information being hidden from them, regarding any product or service. It is important to note that the aspect of information has a lot to do with the decision-making aspect of potential customers of the product. The increased number of news findings in terms of scandals and misinformation being provided by some creates more of a cautious approach of purchase by the prospective consumers. This trend is said to have gone strong since the start of the pandemic and one must keep a close watch on this trend on how it pans out once the pandemic subsides and normalcy returns.

Need for attention to consumer preferences and choices

These changes being more significantly observed in the economies across the globe, the trends would continue to move onwards to the new direction. A new age of consumers would become the ‘key’ to the markets where the potential manufacturers should be more prepared to be successful in the markets. The need for quality-based services and goods in the marketplace is more evident since the knowledge obtained by various sources have made people more aware of what is available in the economies across the globe. The need for a partnership with the governments and the industries to lay down the essential groundwork- like the facilities, tax rebates, general facilities for the production, tax consideration and many more such aspects could help the country to show more progress.

The future of the markets lies in the hands of the consumers. This is one of the most important reckonings the industries must understand. Since the widespread base in terms of the income of the consumers that's being present in many of the countries, products should be more inline where it caters to all of their needs. This pandemic has again reemphasized the beginning of a ‘new age of consumers’ which has started its revolution. The change is here, the opportunities are immense to deliver what is best for the entire economy