Will Coronavirus Change Consumerism Forever?

Lately, my father and I have been discussing the impact of Coronavirus in all industries from consumer goods, healthcare, technology, global shipping and many others.  If you think about it, it nearly has impacted every industry and not just domestic, but globally. It’s a frightening thought but it’s the new reality that we are living in. We are quickly adapting to the new changes by using technology to stay connected: having online classes, working from home, having virtual coffee chats/happy hours and zoom calls with family members/gym trainers.

Since we operate a consumer good’s business, we were discussing how the virus will impact the retail/wholesale business. I found an article that shed some more light on our discussion. Currently, as consumers we now find ourselves “as a crossroads”. We are worried about how we will sustain our livelihood and are constantly checking up on our friends and loved ones virtually. Instagram has even started a “Stay At Home” community where you can share your videos and stories with your followers to get a sense of what people are doing at home. This helped to create a strong sense of community for us as we are all staying indoors to protect ourselves and stay safe. We are longing for protection and a strong sense of community as we live through this pandemic.  

As soon as this pandemic is over, consumers will watch how they spend their money. Brands should consider that consumers are evolving and as a result are asking themselves questions: “Why am I spending this dollar? Who am I spending it with, and what greater good will it serve?” This could quite possibly be the future of consumerism. I feel that now more than ever brand’s messaging is extremely important as consumers are watching how brands are responding to this pandemic and are watching how they are helping out their communities. As we move forward, it will be interesting to see how brands continue to respond. But I do believe that consumers will change how they shop. I believe that in order to gain loyalty, brands should continue to find authentic ways to spread their message and engage with customers. Those brands that have stepped up to help their communities have gotten positive responses from the public. So I do believe that brands need to give back to their communities and create a bigger sense of purpose in order to gain the loyalty of their customers. 

This will be interesting to see how this plays out in the future.