As the world attempts to navigate the current pandemic, there is a level of unparalleled uncertainty. Consumer behaviour is changing in key ways. A new report from the User Experience Strategies Service (UXS) at Strategy Analytics has examined the likely long-term impact of the pandemic on consumer purchasing preferences. The focus needs to shift to alternative ways of showcasing products to allow consumers to experience products and services outside the store as much as possible.
Key report findings include:
- The pandemic will have long-term impacts on what consumers want to purchase as well as how they purchase them. In addition to the inevitable increased use of delivery services for grocery and food, alternative shopping experiences such as Amazon Go’s contactless shopping experience – where consumers do not have to proceed through a checkout experience – will also see a boost in popularity.
- For consumer electronics, where some devices such as smartphones are typically sold more on ‘in-hand’ experience, this pandemic presents a more challenging situation as consumers’ are less inclined to handle in-store displays.
- The focus needs to shift to alternative ways of showcasing products. Previous Strategy Analytics research has shown that try-before-you-buy is a key use case for foldable phones and augmented reality. Consumers will need to be able to experience products and services outside the store as much as possible.
Chris Schreiner, Director, Syndicated Research and report author commented, “Currently we are still in the very beginning of this pandemic, and the length of breadth of it will greatly determine the long-term impacts on how consumers use technology in the post-COVID-19 world. Based on the current situation, we would expect some long-term changes in consumer preferences.”
Added Kevin Nolan, VP, UXIP, “Consumers will likely gravitate even more to try out new devices from home and augmented reality, conversational UIs, and other interaction methods will need to be further developed to support this.”
