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Consumer Behavior Amid the Corona Virus Pandemic
Introduction
The coronavirus pandemic has caused a massive disruption in the retail industry. The pandemic has increased the cost of living to consumers since retailers have to incur extra charges of home delivery and speed up inventory orders. This pandemic has considerably shifted consumer behavior in different ways that have forced retailers to make necessary adjustments to meet their expectations (White, Katherine, Rishad Habib, and Darren W. Dahl, 138). The coronavirus pandemic has spread panic in consumer behaviors due to future uncertainties.
Customers Have Focused on basic needs
There was panic spread when the coronavirus cases began to increase, causing impulse and panic buying among consumers. Customers focused on purchasing basic needs products like food and health care products to keep them covered during the lockdown. Products like clothes and travel tickets faced a blow as people were about surviving and less focused on leisure.
Need for affordable and compassionate commerce
The pandemic has brought about hardships as many people have been laid off from their jobs and their salaries reduced. This called for retailers to be lenient in their pricing and delivery charges to cushion the consumers. Retailers need to be compassionate in sending random solidarity and empathy, text messages, and emails to their customers to maintain loyalty.
Increased customer expectations
The pandemic has increased the need for timely delivery for essential products among consumers. Retailers who focus on curbside deliveries and store pickup deliveries have significantly gained a competitive advantage. The appropriate delivery expectation is expected to last into the future as the coronavirus continues to terrorize the world.
How Emotions Contribute to unusual buying
Being the first to purchase
Many consumers are driven by the need to feel special over the rest. There is a need for standing out and putting a superiority perception in the market. These customers are usually focused on the brand needs and would do anything to get the latest version of a product in the market (Dou, Xiaotong, 23). Most of them concentrate on self-actualization with a particular brand rather than appreciating the critical functions of the product.
All-Knowing type of Customers
Some consumers are research-oriented and are driven by the need to know it all about a particular product. Most of them get the satisfaction of being a point of reference for the latest product information available in the market at any time. These types of consumers shop for information rather than the actual need and functions of the product.
The need to feel Special
Some consumer behaviors are driven by the need to feel special and unique over the rest. Most of them crave for classy shopping experiences that best suit in their social class. This type of consumer shares a purchase with their network to get the satisfaction of being unique and special (Dou, Xiaotong, 119). Retailers have the responsibility of making sure that they make their customers feel unique through personalized experiences and membership product specialization.
How online Retailers are combating price gouging
Amazon has recently rejected several offers for sanitizers and facemasks on its website, stating that the prices are exaggerated. Many retailers have taken the benefit of the coronavirus pandemic to increase prices on essential goods, which is against sales ethics (Nicas). The company is also removing existing sellers on its site who engage in price hiking and the hoarding of crucial products. This has helped protect consumers from exploitations.
Amazon has also offered reimbursement fees for returned products on its site, which are overpriced. The ban has also affected legitimate sellers, especially those who sell disposable facemasks and sanitizers. The prohibition of sellers who engage in price hiking on Amazon has been left with a considerable burden of unutilized stock, which has led to losses.
Amazon has also banned ads that promote overpriced product tags. Many traders took the opportunity of the coronavirus to promote their goods as sponsored listings. The sponsored assets represent brand bids for a particular target advertisement, and the higher the bid, the more the products will be found in the top search. The ban of the sponsored ads has helped amazon protect consumers from price gouging.
Efforts to ensure greater customer access to goods and price gouging
Role of businesses
The coronavirus pandemic has led to an increase in online purchasing that deem vulnerable to consumers. There is a need for businesses to take this opportunity to build trust and loyalty by ensuring that they do not participate in price gouging (Vervaeke). Online companies have the role of maintaining third-party sellers’ ethical conduct by monitoring their operations, scamming potentiality, and suspending rogue sellers who overprice their goods.
Role of Policy Makers
The customers’ protection agencies are tasked with the responsibility of alerting consumers on price and quality threats of products during this pandemic. Several governments have also granted laws protecting consumers from fraudulent traders in the fight of balancing the quality and prices of commodities (Jakhrani, Muhammad Idrees, and Noman Raheem Mastoi, 66). Governments have collaborated with retail stores to ensure that high demand products are delivered to consumers timely and of certified quality.
Conclusion
There is a massive uncertainty of the economic market that calls for desperate measures. Businesses need to restructure their marketing and sales strategies and move to online operations to reach a broader market due to the lockdown. However, retailers are urged to remain vigilant in terms of product pricing to assist consumers who are financially unstable at the moment. Policymakers and governments should also formulate strict measures to protect consumers from rogue traders and empathize with them during these hard times.
Works Cited
Dou, Xiaotong. “Online Purchase Behavior Prediction and Analysis Using Ensemble Learning.” 2020 IEEE 5th International Conference on Cloud Computing and Big Data Analytics (ICCCBDA). IEEE, 2020.
Jakhrani, Muhammad Idrees, and Noman Raheem Mastoi. “ROLE OF THE CONSUMER COURTS IN PROTECTING THE RIGHTS OF ONLINE CONSUMERS IN ONLINE SHOPPING–A CASE STUDY OF SINDH PROVINCE PAKISTAN.”
Nicas, Jack. “He Has 17700 Bottles of Hand Sanitizers and Nowhere to Sell Them”. New York Times, 2020, Accessed 26 June 2020
Vervaeke, Abby. “Price Gouging On Essential Items Is Banned in Mass. Amid Coronavirus Outbreak”. 2020. Accessed 26 June 2020.
White, Katherine, Rishad Habib, and Darren W. Dahl. “A Review and Framework for Thinking about the Drivers of Prosocial Consumer Behavior.” Journal of the Association for Consumer Research 5.1 (2020): 2-18.