Catering to the post-lockdown consumer | WARC | The Feed

Catering to the post-lockdown consumer

As lockdowns have eased in many countries around the world, consumers have returned to high streets, bars and restaurants, but WARC’s Marketer’s Toolkit 2022 notes their behaviour has changed in important ways. 

Major shifts in consumer behaviour

• More time and investment in homes and local neighbourhoods.
• Increased importance given to social issues. 
• More focus on both physical and mental health. 
• Surge in e-commerce usage. 

Key insights

• Brands need to focus closer to home. Research from industry body Radiocentre found a third of consumers who have returned to work are spending more in their local area than they were before the lockdown.
• Brands must prepare for increased scrutiny on social issues. Global professional services company Accenture found 50% of consumers are now rethinking their personal purpose and what’s important, and this is starting to influence purchase decisions they make.
• Demonstrable consideration of mental health issues could help brands, while healthcare brands need to explore hybrid digital/physical approaches. According to James Madara, CEO and executive vice president, American Medical Association, “COVID accelerated telemedicine 10 years in 10 weeks”. 
• Customer journeys are changing and needs are becoming more complex. British supermarket Waitrose found their proportion of online customers aged 55+ grew from 8% to 23% over one year; consumers are also increasingly switching between online and offline during their purchase journey.

Final thought 

“The big lesson, I think, has been around strengthening our digital presence: investing behind that to be there when people need it the most, and also using the physical presence to provide the extra depth of interaction and a level of customer experience that I think only an in-store [environment] can really offer” – Pete Markey, CMO, Boots.