{"id":578,"date":"2020-09-08T16:11:59","date_gmt":"2020-09-08T13:11:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/?p=578"},"modified":"2020-09-08T16:11:59","modified_gmt":"2020-09-08T13:11:59","slug":"matching-market-and-brand-strategy-to-changes-in-consumers-habitual-buying-behaviour-due-to-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/2020\/09\/08\/matching-market-and-brand-strategy-to-changes-in-consumers-habitual-buying-behaviour-due-to-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Matching market and brand strategy to changes in consumers\u2019 habitual buying behaviour due to Covid-19"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

To the\nextent that the Covid-19 pandemic may change certain fundamental patterns of\nconsumer behaviour, companies must carefully consider how to adjust their\nmarket strategies and tactics accordingly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One classic\npattern of consumer behaviour that seems to be subject to change due to Covid-19,\nis the so called habitual buying behaviour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under\nnormal circumstances, one of the most defining patterns of consumer behaviour\nis indeed the fact that consumer behaviour is to a large extent based on habits.\nWe buy and use the same products and services week after week, month after\nmonth, year after year.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most\nnotably, a very high proportion of consumers\u2019 shopping baskets at supermarkets\nremain the same week after week. This applies to both product categories purchased\nin the first place (what to buy?), and brands selected within product\ncategories (which brand to pick?). It also very much applies to longer-term\nservice subscriptions (e.g., banking services; media and home entertainment\nsubscriptions) and seasonal purchases (e.g., gardening supplies purchased in spring;\nholiday purchases in November and December).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main\nreason for habitual buying behaviour is that it allows consumers to save some\nof the mental and physical effort that reconsidering one\u2019s shopping basket selections\nor brand choices tends to require. It is mentally and physically easier to simply\nshop your goods with an auto pilot on, relying on your established shopping\nhabits \u2013 rather than every time reevaluate your needs and wants, and\/or the\nbenefits and costs of switching products and services or brands in your basket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However,\nthe repercussions caused by a crisis like Covid-19 may cause disruptions to\nsuch habits, shaking and waking up consumers from their conventions \u2013\ndisengaging their auto pilots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Especially\nbig brands and market-leading companies have to be alert with potential changes\nin consumers\u2019 habitual behaviors. This is because it is especially the big\nbrands and market leaders who have a large customer base \u2013 a large proportion\nof which is constituted precisely of such consumers who are normally just\nsticking to their habits and buying the same brand time after time. A\nnon-negligible share of these habitual buyers is even likely to be rather\ndissatisfied with the brand or service-provider. They have just been sticking\nto the brand to save the trouble caused by switching brands or suppliers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this\nsituation, the Covid-19 crisis may act as a wake-up call to many consumers.\nThis is because consumers are in any case pressured to put some more careful\nthought and effort to their everyday shopping practices \u2013 and therefore to\nrecognizing and reevaluating the appropriateness and rationality of their\nhabits, too. If the consumer has to, in any case, much more carefully\nreconsider and plan when to shop, what to shop, and where to shop, it is not a\nbig step or additional effort to also reconsider which  product categories and brands to select into one\u2019s\nbasket, when going shopping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Big brands\ncan fight this challenge in three ways. The brand can (1) identify such\nhabitual buyers of the brand that are actually dissatisfied with the brand, and\neither contact them to ask what the brand can do better, or show them that the\nbrand appreciates them by granting some extra regular customer reward to them.\nThe brand can also (2) think of new ways through which consumers can access,\npurchase, and use its products and services, even if the habitual purchase\nchannels and ways of use would become difficult or impossible due to\nrestrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally,\nbrands can also (3) seize opportunities created by disruptions in habitual\npurchase and usage patterns. Under normal circumstances, brands often find it\nchallenging to introduce new, innovative products and services \u2013 because\nconsumers are so accustomed to their existing, familiar options. Nevertheless,\nwhen reconsidering their consumption habits under Covid-19, consumers may well\nbecome more open-minded towards new kinds of \u2013 non-habitual — products and\nservices, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jaakko Aspara
Gr\u00f6nroos Professor in Marketing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo: Unsplash<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To the extent that the Covid-19 pandemic may change certain fundamental patterns of consumer behaviour, companies must carefully consider how to adjust their market strategies and tactics accordingly. One classic pattern of consumer behaviour that seems to be subject to change due to Covid-19, is the so called habitual buying behaviour. Under normal circumstances, one …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[75,46,55,52],"class_list":["post-578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cers-blog","tag-brand","tag-consumer","tag-consumerbehaviour","tag-covid-19-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=578"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":580,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578\/revisions\/580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}