Post-Pandemic shift in

consumer shopping behaviour

Exploring the trends contextualised to Indian Consumer

Group Project - Consumer Behaviour

Group Number: 4
Names: Deepak Maheshwari, Pawan Kumar, Sourabh Yadav
As part of this study we are going to explore the Post-Pandemic shift in consumer
shopping behaviour.
The pandemic has had a profound impact on all facets of human existence, but maybe
none more so than on how the global economy functions. Movement restrictions and
constraints had a definite impact on how businesses and households operated, and this
in turn had a demonstrable impact on consumer behaviour and purchasing habits.
A lot has changed globally since the onset of the Pandemic in 2020. The initial shock on
the global supply chain was on such a big scale that it took all the major organisations by
surprise amid so many uncertainities as it was not a typical risk event. While most of the
organisations around the world were left struggling and pivoting their strategies to digital
first for the first time, India had been unintentionally preparing itself with the digital wave
that has been revolutionising the Indian consumer market since 2013-14. Having said
that, the impact on the Indian market was also substantial because of its dependency on
the global supply chain.
While this impact stands true due to the supply chain crisis, it also stands true due to the
changes in the consumer behaviour which drove organisations to take strategic steps
towards meeting the expectations of consumers.
Although the post pandemic phase has set in, with many countries ending the mandatory
protocols and most of the world population being vaccinated, we are hearing the news of
more variants coming in increasing the risk of another pandemic setting in which makes
it seem like a cyclical process in the near future. This makes one wonder if these changes
in the behaviour will stick post the first pandemic or will change again after the next one.
The stickiness of behavioural changes depends a lot on how well the new experiences
are received and, thus, by no means, is linear.
The new consumer habits affect all aspects of life, including how we work, shop, and have
fun. These quick changes have significant effects on the retail and fmcg industry.
Organisations have the chance to influence the Next Normal since many longer-term
shifts in consumer behaviour are still developing.
Hence, it makes for an interesting topic to:
1. Understand how the shopping behaviour of the Indian consumer changed post-
pandemic, exploring trends in mainstream consumer industries like fmcg, apparel
etc. along with key statistics supporting this behaviour.
2. Analyse the issues/challenges for organisations surrounding the adoption of these
changes giving examples of issues/challenges some of the major brands in India
faced
3. Suggest actions from marketing lens which can help brands address the
challenges and bring more value and convenience to consumers
We will try to touch both offline and online consumer behaviour in this study just so that
we can cover the majority of the touchpoints that a consumer has with brands.