Post-Covid Consumer Shopping Habits Survey

Introduction: Participant Demographics

In an effort to better understand the impact of the pandemic on local small business consumer shopping habits, Nodat surveyed a cross-section of potential local small business patrons in a number of regional markets to determine how consumers have adjusted their purchasing patterns in response to the changes in their lives imposed by the pandemic.

Respondents were solicited via email and asked to share with their contacts. The survey was also advertised on Facebook. We received responses from more than 120 participants around the country, representing a wide group of consumer demographics. There was an especially strong response rate from markets in Tennessee, Georgia, and Texas, but we also heard from consumers across the country, from California to New York, and even as far as Hawaii. Respondents ranged in age from teenage to retirement age. A strong majority (80%) of our respondents were in the prime consumer target age range of 25 to 54 years old, with the largest group (34%) between 35 and 44. There was also a wide distribution of yearly income, with the largest groups earning $25,000 to $49,999 (32.3%), $50,000-$74,999 (14.2%), and $75,000 -$99,999 (14.2%). Despite the pandemic’s effects, 65.4% were employed at least part-time, and over 40% were still working full time. Only 9.4% were unemployed at the time of the survey.

More than 75% of our respondents identified themselves as the primary decision-makers for their household’s grocery, personal care, and health care purchases. The majority also made the decisions for fashion items, eating out, home maintenance, and travel, while they tended to divide responsibility with others on pet care, and lawn and garden maintenance.

Disclosure: Our respondents were given the chance to win one of four $50 Amazon gift cards as a reward for their participation. Because respondents were asked to assess their own behavior and purchase likelihood, there are inherent limitations to this type of research. But their attitudes and preferences were often quite clear, and considerable insights were gleaned from their responses.

Results:

Purchase Influences:

Respondents cited word of mouth as their most significant influence in making purchase decisions, with over 72% mentioning it as a factor. But in terms of factors that can be influenced by marketers, coupons and discounts led the way, and were the second largest influencer of purchase decisions, with 66.9% citing it as important. Additional influences included social media (61.4%), Google searches (48%), company websites (37%), and commercials (32.3%).

When asked whether they made brand decisions in advance or at the time of purchase, respondents indicated that they made advance decisions about which brand to choose 63.8% of the time, showing the importance of advance messaging to consumers.

Online vs. In-Person Shopping:

When asked which categories they purchased online versus in-person, our consumers indicated a preference for purchasing fashion (64.6%) and personal care (62.2%) items online. However, they tended to purchase groceries (34.6%), healthcare (31.5%), pet care (18.9%), home maintenance (14.2%), and lawn and garden items (8.7%) online only a minority of the time. As you’d expect, the same was true for eating out (26%).

When asked how often they shopped online prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the largest group of respondents said either sometimes (45.7%) or usually (33.9%), with 14.2% indicating that they always shopped online. Fewer than 6% said they rarely or never did. Meanwhile, 42.9% of those surveyed said that they always shopped at physical store locations before COVID-19, with 34.9% saying they usually did, and 17.5% saying they sometimes did.

However, when asked which items they normally purchased at a physical store or branch currently, they indicated a strong preference for buying groceries (85%) in person, and also still tended to buy personal care items (52%), fashion (41.7%), home maintenance (41.7%), health care (39.4%), lawn and garden (35.4%), pet care (26%), and eat out (44.1%) at least some of the time in person. Despite the pandemic’s strong effect on behavior, the respondents made it clear that they still make significant purchases in person.

We asked our audience how comfortable they felt visiting a physical store or restaurant today, considering their perceived risks, and found that more than 43% were somewhat confident, and 28.8% were “not so confident”. Smaller numbers were very confident (11.2%) or extremely confident (9.6%), and only 7.2% indicated that they were not at all confident. So it seems that despite the setbacks many retailers have faced, many consumers are still willing to do a measurable amount of their shopping in person.

Numbers were very similar when we asked consumers how comfortable they’d feel about visiting a physical store or restaurant in three months. 42% indicated they would be somewhat confident, 29.1% were not so confident, 12.6% felt very confident, and 10.2% were extremely confident about doing in-person purchasing in three months. 7.9% felt they’d be not at all confident about doing it, which was very similar to how they felt now.

Coupons and Discounts:

We asked our audience about a number of behaviors related to coupons and discounts. Their responses suggested that coupons and discounts were a significant part of their purchase behavior. Importantly, 69.3% of our respondents indicated that they used their mobile devices when searching for coupons, deals, or special offers, making it by far the most used platform for finding them. Home computers were next, at 25.2%, and 5.5% indicated that they used weekly print circulars to find offers and coupons.

In terms of finding coupons, consumers noted Google searches (55.9%), company websites (50.4%, Groupon (39.4%), RetailMeNot (33.1%), Coupons.com (26.8%), and weekly print coupon mailers (26%) as their primary sources. 15.7% also said they used Facebook, and app/web utility Honey was used by 9.4%. Yelp ranked surprisingly low with coupon hunters, at just 5.55%.

When asked how easy it was to find offers that were valuable and relevant to their needs, more users found it easy or very easy than not, but responses were quite mixed. Some complained about offers being depleted, or not relevant, and others found the standard coupon sources to be confusing. Experienced shoppers expressed a higher success rate, and many indicated that some effort was required to find the coupons and discounts they wanted. There were also complaints about the reliability of coupon aggregator sites. When asked what would make the experience of finding coupons and discounts better, the most common suggestions were just to make the process simpler and less time consuming, and to eliminate the preponderance of bad or non-functioning coupons on third party sites. They simply wanted reliable sources that worked, and to find them in a centralized place.

When asked how often respondents wait for sales or coupons before making a purchase, 41.3% said that they sometimes do wait, and 29.4% indicated that they do so most of the time. 12.7% of respondents stated that they always wait for coupons of sales, making it more than 83% of respondents that waited at least some of the time for a coupon or sale. Clearly, coupons and sales have a significant effect on consumer behavior, with only 16% of consumers indicating they waited only rarely or never. When purchasing a product, the vast majority (90.6%) said they looked for sales or coupons at least sometimes (29.9%), with 33.9% searching most of the time, and 26.8% searching always.

Impulse Purchases and Time Sensitivity:

Over 70% of respondents stated that they sometimes or most of the time purchase things impulsively, and over 25% made impulse purchases most or all of the time. Clearly, it’s important to be able to serve and tap into this time-sensitive and impulsive shopping behavior. Many respondents indicated an awareness of the urgency that time-sensitive offers created, indicating that they presented special opportunities, and felt that they often represented good values that might not be available later. These responses point to the effectiveness or time-sensitive offers in driving impulse purchases. In fact, over 83% said that a time limit on a coupon or discount would influence their decision to make a purchase at least a moderate amount, and 52% said that such an offer would influence their decision a much more significant amount. Only 16% felt it would have just a little or no effect on their behavior.

Preference for Local Merchants:

There was a significant expression of loyalty to local businesses and an interest in supporting them during the pandemic. More than 90% of those surveyed indicated that they like to shop with local merchants in their home areas, and 60% indicated that they shopped with local merchants a lot. Further, 53% indicated that their desire to shop with local merchants had increased a lot due to COVID-19, and more than 91% said their desire to do so had increased at least a little bit. They also indicated that they planned to shop with and support local merchants after the pandemic as well, with over 62% saying they planned to shop with local merchants a lot or more after COVID-19. This strong level of intended support represents a clear opportunity for local merchants to tap into the positive feelings and eager support coming from area customers.

Brand Preference and Loyalty:

Most of the people surveyed indicated that they at least sometimes switched brands, with just 24.4% asserting that they rarely did so. Their willingness to try new brands indicated that brand loyalty can be hard to come by, and must be cultivated in an ongoing way. More than 91% of the survey group said that daily surprise sales or time sensitive offers either probably would or definitely would increase their loyalty to a brand. And only 8.7% indicated that such offers and sales probably or definitely would not affect their loyalty. While brand loyalty is based initially on the quality and satisfaction the product delivers, time-sensitive offers and sales seem to be an important part of maintaining that loyalty among consumers who seem very willing to switch brands or try new things.

Conclusions:

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the respondents in our survey showed significant interest in supporting local merchants whenever possible. There was a strong bias towards favoring local stores and restaurants, and a relatively high comfort level with visiting local businesses even now. Potential customers seemed very interested in taking advantage of time-sensitive offers and opportunities to explore new local merchants, and indicated that such offers could be very useful in creating and maintaining brand loyalty. While some categories were more affected by the pandemic than others, and some specific types of purchases were more likely to be made in person than others, there are significant opportunities to connect with consumers eager to support their local retailers in many categories. Generating good word of mouth was the clear defining factor in terms of influencing purchase decisions. But time-sensitive coupons and special sales offers seem to be an especially attractive way for retailers themselves to drive interest and spark purchase behavior among potential local patrons.