By now you have seen that COVID-19 had and is still having a profound impact on the life of all people. Shoppers are no exception. Faced with the uncertainty of COVID many shoppers have changed their behavior. According to most recent study from AI merchandising firm Qubit, a dramatic shift occurred to online shopping behavior with a quarter of consumers shifting 90% or more of their shopping to online. About half do more than 75% percent of their shopping online. This is a change that may persist into the future.
This radically changed behavior is expected to impact short term 2020 holiday season as well as long-term retail expectations according to several studies. Graham Cooke, CEO of and founder of Qubit, noted that “store closures that are not dictated by demand, but rather by the public health crisis, present an unusual scenario for brands, forcing unexpected and massive overhauls of their marketing and digital commerce strategies this year.”
The immediate impact on brands are that 46.6% of consumers are less likely to be loyal to a brand and more likely to shop with more brands than they did a year ago.
As a response more brands are trying to personalize their experience for their shoppers. In turn, shoppers recognize this and are now shifting their expectations accordingly. Two in three now expect a personized experience once they have shopped with a brand.
This puts brick-and-mortar retailers behind the eight ball. On the hand they have to deliver more personalized experiences and on the other hand they have to make sure that they also appeal to the safety conundrum of COVID-19. Less than 30 percent of consumers feel comfortable returning to stores, with 36.1 percent saying they plan to return in two months and a further 18.9 percent of consumers planning return only in 2021.
Retailers will not survive forever and are under the gun to rethink retailing models with higher personalization and higher convenience while improving safety and cost. This is a challenge that will define the industry for a while. And, we at, XcooBee, have worked hard to developed models that can assist in the endeavor. Please reach out to us to discuss how our shopping models can move the consumer experiences in your favor and address customer needs for personalization with simplicity, safety, and security.