How to face the abrupt change of customer behavior after COVID-19

COVID-19 has spread around the world and millions of people have been forced to change their lifestyle habits drastically. This has caused the population to adopt new consumer behaviors and habits. Experts predict that some of these behaviors will prevail once confinement is over. It is likely that the challenges retailers face in the near future as a result of this outbreak will accelerate the use of new and existing technologies and tools, only then will they be able to deal more confidently with the inevitable uncertainty of the upcoming months. How can retailers face the abrupt change of customer behavior and habits in the post COVID-19 era?

It seems clear that a significant part of the consumer habits linked to quarantine can be consolidated once quarantine ends. It will be very important for all retailers to understand this change in their customers’ consumption habits and how this will affect their products demand, in order to adapt their offer and their stores to these new patterns. Focusing on What and How: What products and services your current customer demand, and how they expect the purchasing process to be.

But despite all the uncertainty we face, experts agree and foresee certain trends that may mark our near future.

WHAT: what products customers will demand in the upcoming months

• A more rational, responsible, and sustainable consumption focused on savings is foreseen, at least initially. An immediate phenomenon is the valorization of the local product, a kind of return to the local.
• COVID-19 will further accentuate this dynamic, and health and wellness products have been growing abnormally fast since the outbreak. Before the outbreak, there was already a long-term shift towards healthier products and categories. Even as COVID-19 continues or disappears, consumers are expected to continue to take care of their health and well-being. More than four out of five consumers (83%) are likely to buy health supplements again in the next 12 months, and 58% of consumers will continue to buy hand sanitizers.
• This change in consumer behavior and habits in times of COVID-19, does not only affect food and hygiene products, all retail sectors are affected, and also fashion and apparel included. Sales may increase in categories such as activewear, salon clothing, and “work from home” clothing that may be worn in the near future.
• In the immediate future, it is very likely that we will spend more time at home, enjoying entertainment from home, cooking, spending more time on our indoor hobbies, reading, crafts, DIY, … all this will radically change the mix of products that customers consume and how they consume them.

Such an abrupt change in consumption patterns will pose a huge challenge to retailers. Having the stores properly supplied with the products that customers will demand has never been more complex. And if we predict that it will be gradual and slow to recover customer traffic to physical stores, it will be more important than ever to have stores supplied with products that customers will be looking for.

Amid all this uncertainty and change, what is completely true is that nothing lasts forever, not even the coronavirus crisis. And not all of it is bad news. Today the large volume of data available and technologies such as artificial intelligence, can help enormously on current challenges. Solutions specially designed for the sector, like a smart platform for retail merchandising as NEXTAIL can help enormously, anticipating localized demand and delivering automated, data-driven decisions, turning insights directly into action to boost operational efficiency.

HOW: How customers will change the way they buy

• A more hygiene demanding, and meticulous customer is expected which will prefer to minimize contacts during all the purchasing processes. This will force retailers to change the in-store shopping process, avoiding queues, and crowding in hot points like cashiers or the changing rooms, a common concentration point of customers in clothing stores. In addition, textile chains will also apply a small quarantine to the garments, those that are tried on and not purchased by the customer will be isolated for 48 hours, and the same will be true for those that are returned after purchase.
• Although e-commerce and delivery may live a new boom, growing even above what they were already experiencing, the customer will continue to visit the store, but for buying in a different way.
• Click&Collect models will also experience a boom. Some of the consumers who did not trust these channels have discovered and even tried it. Appreciating their reliability and convenience, so winning in omnichannel will be the best strategy. Using strategically located stores as replenishment centers for nearby stores or for online delivery will be a good option.
• In the last two months, customers have been buying what they need and what they can get. Price remains a key factor in decision making, but quality has also increased recently. Following this trend, consumers can prioritize health, safety, and availability when considering a product.

All of these minor changes in the way how consumers buy are producing profound changes in the customer’s journey, and the experience they expect during the purchase process. These readjustments in the purchasing process produce notable changes in the needs and configuration of the store in terms of physical space and personnel planning and scheduling.

In order to adapt the store resources to the new needs redefined by the new consumption patterns it is important to deeply understand the current store circumstances, and customer priorities.

Again there is also good news, nowadays you can generate valuable data and monitor the store operations and performance as never before Store performance monitoring and analytics solutions such as ShopperTrak Retail Analytics suite scientifically monitors and measures shopper traffic, behavior and conversion data. This provides valuable insight into where retail organizations can improve their marketing, and operational strategies, to deliver the most profitable results.

But you can still go further improving operational efficiency with technologies such as artificial intelligence, which can help enormously to make better decisions. Solutions such as ORQUEST, a smart in-store staff planning and scheduling platform can help you to improve the workforce productivity and efficiency, avoiding cost overruns and poor customer service.

How does it do that? just discovering the insight that allows you to rightly answer the key questions that arise in the following crucial steps in the workforce management.

• Forecast Demand: During the next months and maybe year, predicting future demand will be particularly relevant and complex. Having cutting-edge algorithms adapted to the new post COVID-19 era, that are sensitive to sudden changes in trends, such as those we have experienced, will be key to identifying the real future needs.
• Workforce planning and structure: Identify the appropriate staff structure aligned to the new store demand will be decisive, and with it the associated recruitment plan. Nowadays more than ever it is crucial to have the right personnel structure, avoiding unnecessary labor costs and protecting business margins.
• Instore staff sizing: Calculating the right volume of people at each moment and their configuration in the new store reality, will be another difficult challenge where data and artificial intelligence can help, identifying the optimal in-store staff sizing at each moment that ensure the best customer service at the lowest cost.
• Scheduling and tasking: Generate the perfect schedules and tasks of each employee that guarantee the best coverage will be harder than ever The unpredictability of the next months and the potential absenteeism due to COVID-19, will add even more complexity, which will require agile readjustments in the short, medium and long term planning to compensate uncertainty.

In short, all retailers face the reopening of stores and the search for the desired normality, with total uncertainty, where nothing previously known will make sense in the coming months or perhaps years. Everything will change, the product demand, the volume of customers who decide to visit the stores, how they will visit the store and how they will carry out the purchase process itself. The use of the latest technologies and solutions with powerful algorithms and data analysis models based on artificial intelligence, will be a crucial help to face the uncertainty of the next months with more security and confidence.

And now think, what about you? How are you going to face the uncertainty and abrupt changes in trends inherent in the post COVID-19 era? Do you think that applying previous models and/or intuition will be enough to afford the challenge we will face in the next months?

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