Study Shows Consumer Trends and Expectations in Wake of Coronavirus Pandemic

Wednesday, March 18, 2020 - 11:36 by Graham Miller

The latest survey from RetailX has delved into how consumers are feeling with regards to retail in the early stages of a more elevated response to the coronavirus outbreak in the UK.

Almost 34 per cent of respondents confirmed that they shop online over 30 times a year, with just 4.2 per cent saying that they never shop online. It will be interesting to see whether this proportion spikes in the coming weeks as more consumers work from home and self-isolate to avoid spreading the infection.

Consumers were also asked how long they thought that the issue of coronavirus would remain relevant to the country, with 44 per cent saying that they believed it would have an impact for anywhere between four months and a year. Just over a third said that they expected it to last up to three months, while a tiny group of just 4.6 per cent said that it would be over in 30 days or less.

In terms of shopping habits, three-quarters of respondents said that they had not changed their behaviour in the first week, although almost a tenth said that they were doing more of their shopping for clothing products via the web, and 14 per cent said that their uptake of online grocery shopping had risen because of fears around catching COVID-19.

Just 14 per cent said that they would stick with the current changes to their shopping habits once the threat posed by the virus was eliminated, so it seems like even consumers are expecting that the impact will not be long-lasting. It is worth noting that this survey was conducted on the 9th of March, several days before the UK government advised greater restrictions on social interactions.