ACCELERATED TRENDS AND NEW BEHAVIOURS
ACCELERATED TRENDS AND NEW BEHAVIOURS
What existing trends were accelerated under COVID-19 and what new behaviours have emerged?
What existing trends were accelerated under COVID-19 and what new behaviours have emerged?
1. Five years of digital adoption happened in just eight weeks
With the need to reduce contact, people have flocked online around the world to find products and services. McKinsey expects e-commerce’s huge adoption to stick, given the efficiency in terms of both time and cost. This, however, presents as many challenges as opportunities for marketers who will have new access to vastly more information will need to build systems capable of using it.
2. E-services catch up
For marketers, this increasing consumer confidence in the use of e-services suggests a potential surge in demand and an opportunity to create new connections with people. As services proliferate, it will be important for marketers to think through the role of their brands in interconnected service platforms.
3. Finding a new place in the home
As consumers spend more time at home, certain categories have retained a “net intent to spend,” and they include not only groceries and household supplies, but at-home entertainment; the focus on the home makes it incumbent upon marketers to find ways to leverage home-based smart devices without being intrusive.
4. Local experiences matter
As people focus more on their local businesses and communities, marketers need to provide a more granular presence at scale, by, for instance, supporting local businesses, community centres, and events. Managing this hyperlocal activity and engagement will require marketers to rewire their operating model to provide a more granular presence at scale and will likely build on work undertaken to achieve digital personalisation.
5. Health and affordability
Physical and financial health are top of mind concerns for people around the world. Marketers will not only have to rethink shopping experiences that respect physical distance and personal hygiene standards, but also capturing lower-budget segments of the market. Sensitive data will be extremely important to keeping customers safe, but so will keeping that data secure.
6. Brands will be held to higher standards
Brands will need to back up bold statements with real action. Some brands that are perceived as taking advantage of a cause or situation have already suffered a backlash. Brands will need to make clear commitments to causes they believe in or risk newly empowered consumers calling them out.