Where Will People Shop When Businesses Fully Reopen? [New Data]
By pbump@hubspot.com (Pamela Bump)
For the last year and a half, many of us have gotten used to doing everything — including shopping — from home.
Now, it seems full reopenings are closer than ever in the U.S. as the CDC now says that fully vaccinated Americans no longer need to wear masks or social distance unless there is a federal, state, local, workplace, or tribal mandate requiring them to.
But as cities, offices, stores, and restaurants reopen to full capacity, many of us are beginning to think about how life will be after the global pandemic ends.
As an individual, a post-pandemic world might be quite exciting to think about. But, as a marketer, entrepreneur, or manager, you might be wondering, “Will shopping go back to normal after reopenings?”
To help brands in the U.S. navigate and plan for reopenings, we used Lucid to ask more than 300 North American consumers, “Which best describes how you’ll shop once businesses fully reopen after COVID-19 shutdowns?”
The results might or might not surprise you.
Just over one-third, or 35% of respondents say they’ll “shop almost completely online.” Meanwhile, 21% predict they’ll do an even mix of online and in-store shopping, while 18% will primarily shop online but go to stores when they’re convenient.
If you’ve built a strong brick-and-mortar brand, don’t panic. First of all, this is just one general consumer survey with a small pool of respondents. Additionally, aside from the respondents who plan to do a mix of online and in-store shopping, 21% of respondents plan to shop primarily or completely in physical stores after economies fully reopen. Had we asked about specific products or polled people in another country, the results might have been different.
While this is just one data point to think about, it’s worth noting because it shows that there will likely be a strong interest in online shopping — even when every physical store re-opens to full capacity.
So, how can you navigate changing future shopping behaviors? Whether you run or work for an online or physical business, here are a few tactics to embrace.
How to Reach Shoppers After Reopenings
1. Launch or expand on your website.
Even if you can’t launch a robust online store yet, a basic website can allow potential customers to discover you online, learn more about your business, and find your contact information.
Once you have a basic website that explains what your brand does, how they can reach you, and where you’re located, you can continue to optimize it for audiences by adding:
- Pricing pages that explain the price range for each of your services or higher-priced products.
- Images or videos of your team providing a service, your store, new products people can find there, or customers who consent to be featured on your site.
- A few blog posts that give more information about your brand, topics related to your brand, …read more
Source:: HubSpot Blog