Customer behavior during social-distancing and their expectation in "New-Normal"

CUSTOMER BEHAVIOR DURING SOCIAL-DISTANCING AND THEIR EXPECTATION IN ‘NEW-NORMAL’

SARS-COVID 2 is really a phrase that makes many people feel stressed and scared.

For more than 3 months, major cities in Vietnam such as Ho Chi Minh, Hanoi, Dong Nai, Binh Duong, etc. have had to suspend almost all economic activities just to focus on repelling the dangerous epidemic. Therefore, it significantly affects the attitude and behavior of consumers to live and harmonize in this volatile period of social distancing. CI Research conducted a study to understand consumer behavior during the current period of social distancing and their expectations when entering a new normal.

During social distancing, 'Web surfing and social networking' is the activity that consumers spend most of their time at a rate of 99%. At the same time, 'Web surfing and social networking' is also the most popular activity in both age groups by almost absolute proportions. However, the 'Self and family care’ activity was significantly different with 51% in the 18-34 years old group and 90% in the 35-55 years old group.

Source: CI Research's survey on consumer behavior (June - September 2021)

Thus, we could clearly see the difference between age groups. The older group tends to focus on family care activities more. Meanwhile, the group of 18-34 balances time between work/study and taking care of themselves and family.

Besides, consumers also have certain worries during social distancing without knowing when it will end.

Source: CI Research survey on consumer behavior (June – September 2021)

Consumers expressed the greatest concern about disruption of work and personal plans with a rate of 78%. Followed by self and family safety, reduced income and personal health with the rate of 77%, 64% and 60% respectively. Besides, the difficulty in buying essentials for their families and their reduced quality of life also significantly affects consumer psychology during the current epidemic time.

Source: CI Research survey on consumer behavior (June – September 2021)

With the above mentioned concerns, the expectation of most age groups is to return to work and personal plans so as to increase personal income, job stability and life balance. In addition, for 'Offline activities', the age group 18-34 has a significant difference of 25% compared to the 35-55 year old group which could implies that the pandemic has made the older group to be adaptive to home life.

Source: CI Research survey on consumer behavior (June – September 2021)

At the same time, the Covid-19 pandemic has also made consumers more aware of healthcare. In addition, other factors such as the need to have backup savings and adapt to online working, etc. are also concerned and perceived by consumers.

The outbreak of the Covid-19 epidemic has caused many impacts in the lives of Vietnamese people. Consumer behavior has also changed a lot to adapt to living with the virus in the future. Therefore, it is a crucial factor to help businesses think about products and services that can serve their consumers well under any circumstances.