Four ways the pandemic has changed shopping behaviors

Sarah Bradley, consumer insights manager, ads marketing, Google

While many people have ended some of their early pandemic behaviors, like scrubbing down groceries or finding pandemic-friendly outdoor or in-home workouts, one activity that many have stuck with is knocking out all their shopping online, whether it be for grocery delivery or for new workout gear.

Still, for many businesses, it’s hard to know which consumer shopping behaviors in particular are fleeting and which are here to stay.

To help retailers navigate that uncertainty, Google examined its search data to create the 2021 shopping shifts guide, identifying four key trends for which all retail marketers should be ready. Here’s what our research revealed.

Digital inspiration powers the journey
Shopping online is no longer just a more convenient way to get goods delivered to the customer’s door. It’s also where shoppers are discovering new products and finding inspiration. When customers roam virtual store aisles, they’re hoping to be excited by what they see, and they are looking for — or stumbling upon — inspiration in surprising places, sometimes when they aren’t even looking.

For example, in our February 2020 Google/Talk Shoppe survey of 2,000 video users ages 18–64, consumers said that they discovered new brands during lockdown, and 70% purchased from a brand after seeing a video on YouTube.
Shoppers’ values steer supportive spending
Increasingly, shoppers are putting their money where their values are — whether it’s sustainability, corporate responsibility or racial equality. Not surprisingly, according to Google Trends data looking at year-over-year growth for search interest in a single week, searches for “ethical brands” and “ethical online shopping” grew 300% and 600% in 2020 from 2019, respectively. Additionally, the number of global searches seeking out “black owned shops” grew by 9X year over year, as Google Data measured in the category of global English from April to June in 2020 versus the same period in 2019.
Consumers count on convenience more than ever
With so many retail operations closed or operating under limited conditions, curbside pickup and same-day delivery became staples for many people. Global searches for “along my route” (+1,000%) and “curbside pickup” (+3,000%) both soared year over year, according to Google Data’s insights into global English searches between March and May of 2020 versus the same timeframe in 2019. Convenience became a key differentiator for retailers who were able to quickly pivot.

Consumers have grown accustomed to having shopping options and will likely continue counting on them even as pre-pandemic behaviors return, creating a new post-pandemic shopping norm.
Unpredictability drives dynamic demand
One thing marketers can definitely predict is that the world will remain unpredictable. As governments around the globe adapt to local changes and work to safely reopen, what shoppers need will adapt with it. Businesses saw this during lockdown, as people rediscovered old hobbies and adopted new habits. For example, year over year, as Google Data found in global English searches for “candle making kits” …read more

Source:: Digiday

Author: Aaron