Challenge: How can businesses navigate this rapid behavior change to win market share?
Observation: Prior to the outbreak, many companies were focused on how to encourage more online shopping. During the current situation, consumers are shopping and communicating using online channels like never before.
Challenge: How can I make sure these segments find and experience my brand positively?
Observation:
These changing behaviors are bringing not just new consumers to the table, but new segments. Significant numbers of consumers – across ages, genders, ethnicities, and income levels – indicate they are shopping online more now than they did in the past.
Challenge: What role (if any) can we play in helping consumers feel connected?
Observation:
Quarantine, shelter in place, lockdowns and social distancing all breed loneliness and a need for human connection. The moments of connection that we’ve all taken for granted are now being replaced by digitally facilitated engagement with friends and family – and our results show that people are making time for them, more, too.
Challenge: Will these changes continue and become the new normal?
Observation:
People’s activities and surroundings have changed dramatically during this time. More time at home means more time with family, and families are also choosing different activities. Cooking and baking, pleasure reading, online entertainment… all of these in home activities are booming. Simultaneously, many adults are also working from home for the first time, and managing through that change in their lives.
Challenge: How can we help consumers feel secure in a time of dramatic uncertainty?
Observation:
Previous research findings have demonstrated that consumer faith in government and civic organizations has been eroding for some time. During this period, however, consumers are having to rely on these organizations again – a difficult proposition. They are looking for leadership and guidance through this time of unprecedented uncertainty. The expectation is that a wide range of individuals and organizations share responsibility for fixing the crisis, but our data shows that only the CDC is currently getting relatively high marks for trust and performance.
