Study of consumer buying behaviour during Covid-19 and the implications for online, offline and omnichannel marketing channels

Abstract

A significant shift from traditional marketing channels towards online marketing channels was already being observed before the advent of Covid-19. For example, earlier when we used to travel in the car on a highway, we tend to look outside the window, and there is a chance of an Out of home (OOH) banner of a brand catching our attention. But, nowadays, in the same scenario, instead of looking outside the window, we are wired to our mobile phones or other electronic gadgets to spend the time. This trend in consumer behaviour is questioning the survival of traditional marketing channels like TV Ads, Newspaper Ads, OOH banners etc. Now with the advent of Covid-19, many brands whom we thought would never come into the digital space have been investing heavily in it. For example, Pothys, a famous garment retail store in Tamil Nadu, has video call feature to showcase the clothes and deliver to people at home. Another example would be the increase in partnerships of FMCG brands with last-mile delivery agents like Swiggy, Zomato and Amazon. There is a shift in consumer preferences from purchasing offline to purchasing online during the pandemic for some products and for few other products, the consumers have stalled their purchase plan to wait for Covid-19 to get over. Right from students and officials using Zoom and Microsoft Teams for their day-to-day meetings and classes till the groceries being purchased online, Covid-19 has caused a significant change in the consumer behaviour and their purchase habits of Indians across all age groups. So, we would like to study this change in the consumer behaviour and the implications for online, offline and omnichannel marketing channels in general and also to come up with a marketing strategy by taking two examples, Zoom and Swiggy in the video conferencing and online food delivery industries respectively to increase the adoption and usage after Covid-19 gets over.