A different world, a new customer

Monday, 4 may 2020 | Redacción CEU

In just a few weeks, ingredients like yeast and flour have gone from being nonessential products in the shopping basket to being highly coveted products. Whether as a result of their sense of responsibility, boredom, gluttony or curiosity, many people have changed bakeries for their stoves. This is probably a temporary behavior, but not insignificant. After this experience, customers will be more familiar with these ingredients, their gastronomic possibilities and the value of the products which are made from them. An isolated event like this growth of the "compulsive" yeast buying may seem trivial, but this is not the only perceived change. The COVID-19 crisis could mark a major turning point in consumers’ behavior.

Brands have always had a special interest in knowing what people really want. Considering that clients are their raison d'être, this should not come as a surprise. Over the past few years, customers’ expectations seem to have become increasingly clear in the marketing sector: personalization, digitization, greater consumer participation, etc. Nevertheless, in the current digital, global and changeable context, we should never take anything for granted. The expansion of COVID-19 has made both some of these trends settle faster and new trends emerge unexpectedly.

What will post-coronavirus clients be like? 

• They will be more digital

Before the pandemic, most Spaniards already owned devices connected to the Internet, mainly smartphones. However, elderly people did not know how to use many of the digital services they offer (a phenomenon called the digital gap). What is more, although they were familiar with the use of technology, a significant number of consumers were suspicious of the use of some of these digital services. Confinement has ended up altering this reality. Many of these people now embrace technology, by using collaborative work apps, participating in video calls or accessing services such as online banking for the first time. The more these differences are reduced, the more impact technology will have on our society.

• They will make more online purchases

E-commerce is one of the industries which has benefited positively from the current situation. According to a study carried out by the consumer business association Aecoc, 20% of people who had never shopped online has now started doing so as a result of this crisis. 17% also claims that they will continue to do so when the period of confinement ends. On top of that, the time we spend making online purchases has grown. This is reflected in the special edition of the report Digital 2020 carried out by We are Social. Specifically, 47% of worldwide Internet users has increased the time they dedicate to this activity. In Spain, although the figure is lower (25%), it continues to be substantial.