The current shopping sentiment of consumers

Sensory marketing company, Mood Media, has conducted a research study with 8,000 people across China, France, the UK and US to better understand the current shopping sentiment.

The return to non-essential shopping

71 percent of consumers are starting to feel “somewhat” or “very” comfortable returning to physical stores as the coronavirus lockdown begins to ease.

In regards to the return of non-essential stores, 67 percent of global consumers have gone back to the way life was pre-pandemic, this number lowers to 60 percent in the US and it drops to 50 percent in the UK.

49 percent of global consumers believe in the possibility of catching the coronavirus while visiting physical shops.

Importance of safety measures

In-store, the requirement of face masks, availability of hand sanitiser, plastic screens, cashless payments and temperature taking, make 80 percent of consumers feel more reassured.

Shift in consumer behaviour

31 percent of global consumers are spending less money and time shopping post-pandemic, compared to 3 percent of respondents who stated they are spending more time and money than they did before the pandemic.

Hope of a return to normalcy

Over half of those surveyed globally said they predict their shopping habits to return to normal by or before summer 2021, and half expect for normalcy to resume by the end of 2020.

Ten percent of global consumers believe that their shopping habits will never go back to the way before the pandemic.

Why in-store shopping matters

47 percent of consumers prefer being able to feel, touch and try the product in-stores physically.

Depending on the type of store

There are 60 percent of respondents who deny having certain kinds of stores they feel more comfortable visiting than others, while 40 percent can agree to feeling more comfortable in some shops rather than others.

Scott Moore, global chief marketing officer of Mood Media, believes that the opportunity for retail lies in the customer experience to help make customers feel as comfortable as possible.

This survey took place during the month of August 2020.

Photo credit: Mood Media, Facebook