The Effect of COVID-19 on Consumer Buying Habits in Retailing

THE EFFECT OF COVID19 ON CONSUMER
BUYING HABITS IN THE CONTEXT OF
RETAILING
1

ABSTRACT
The main idea for conducting this present research is to identify the impact of COVID-19
pandemic on the buying behaviour of the consumers. There are several objectives that the
researcher has taken into consideration such as to understand the basic concept of consumer
buying behaviour, to determine the factors effecting the consumer buying behaviour in the time
of pandemic and to examine the strategic ways for reducing the risk of pandemic so that better
growth and success can be gained for the company in the retail market. The researcher collects
information by using both the methods that are primary and secondary in an effective manner.
Questionnaire and survey method is used for gathering and interpreting data in an accurate and
correct way by the researcher.
2

Contents
ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
Overview of the topic..................................................................................................................4
Background of the organisation...................................................................................................4
Problem statement.......................................................................................................................4
Research questions.......................................................................................................................4
Research aim and objectives........................................................................................................4
Rationale of the research.............................................................................................................5
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................6
What is the concept of customer buying behaviour?...................................................................6
What is the effects of Covid 19 pandemic on customer buying habits within Walmart?...........8
What is the ways of mitigations to reduce the impact of Covid 19 pandemic in Walmart?......10
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY..................................................................................................12
RESULTS......................................................................................................................................16
Frequency Distribution Table....................................................................................................16
DISCUSSION................................................................................................................................26
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................32
REFLECTION...............................................................................................................................34
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................37
APPENDIX....................................................................................................................................40
Questionnaire.............................................................................................................................40
3

INTRODUCTION
Overview of the topic
Customer buying behaviour is the decision taken by customers for purchasing product or service
from a particular brand (Kumar and et. al., 2020). There are five types of buying behaviour of
customers such as extended decision making, limited decision making, habitual buying
behaviour and variety-seeking buying behaviour. These are main types that have an impact on
customers while buying a product or service from their preferable brand (Varma, Sangvikar and
Pawar, 2020). Along with this, Covid 19 is a pandemic situation that negatively impacted over
the businesses, individual and many others. Covid 19 has also effected on customer buying
habits by reducing their interest towards offline shopping (Naeem, 2020).
Background of the organisation
Walmart is an American multinational retailer that was founded in 1962 by Sam Walton.
Company is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas and U.S. Company wants to improve buying
habits of customers, and it is only possible by using digital media marketing (Rabbani, Heidari
and Farrokhi-Asl, 2018). For this, company should use various platforms of digital media such as
Facebook, Instagram and many others. These are main platforms that turn to helps them in
improving buying habits of customers. This will also have impacted on the growth and success
of Walmart (Prastiwi and Iswari, 2019).
Problem statement
Covid 19 is a biggest problem faced by Walmart. In this situation, company has decreased
number of customers, reduced their sales and profitability and reduced brand image (Shokouhyar
and et. al., 2021). This is a major problem faced by Walmart. For reducing this problem, current
research is conducted in an appropriate manner.
Research questions
 What is the concept of customer buying behaviour?
 What is the effects of Covid 19 pandemic on customer buying habits within Walmart?
 What is the ways of mitigations to reduce the impact of Covid 19 pandemic in Walmart?
Research aim and objectives
Research aim:
4

The aim of this research is “To determine the effects of Covid 19 on consumer buying habits”. A
study on Walmart.
Research Objectives:
 To determine the concept of customer buying behaviour.
 To identify the effects of Covid 19 pandemic on customer buying habits within Walmart.
 To analyse the ways of mitigations to reduce the impact of Covid 19 pandemic in
Walmart.
Rationale of the research
The rationale behind selecting this topic is to help Walmart by overcoming the effects of
Covid 19 pandemic on customer buying habits (Tyagi, 2018). This research is important for
various stakeholders such as customers, Walmart, students and researcher. For students, current
research assists them by increasing their understanding regarding the effects of Covid 19 on
consumer buying habits (Veeragandham and et. al., 2020). For the researcher, current study helps
them by improving their research skills such as time management, decision making, data
collection and many others. These are main skills that helps them in improvement of its personal
and professional level. For Walmart, present investigation facilitates them by providing accurate
information regarding the ways of mitigations to reduce the impact of Covid 19 pandemic (Yuan,
and et. al., 2019). For customers, this research facilitates them by providing accurate information
regarding the products and services offered by the Walmart. Therefore, above mentioned all
these are main stakeholders that would be benefited from the current research.
5

LITERATURE REVIEW
What is the concept of customer buying behaviour?
As per the opinion of Stankevich (2017), customer buying behaviour is a process of taking
action before buying the products and services. It generally depicts about the way through which
customers make decisions for purchasing the goods and services. Customers are the king of
market and they are the only reason due to which business exists so it is important for an
organisation to focus on understanding the buying pattern of customers. The success of company
depends on the reaction of target customers which they show in the form of buying patterns.
There are few characteristics of consumer buying behaviour such as bargaining, quality vs price,
brand, changing consumption pattern, role of women, credit and complaining.
Bargaining is one of the trends which is found within the behaviour of customers. They
prefer to buy the products by bargaining on the price which is told by the company. The buyers
generally like to buy the products by reducing its price. In few markets, this trend is still vogue
due to which consumers prefer to purchase the product by doing bargaining. The other
characteristic of consumer buying behaviour is quality vs price. Customers generally focus on
price of the products rather than focusing on variety of goods. But nowadays, consumers focus
on purchasing the products which are of good quality rather than considering the price factor.
Brand is also a factor which influences the behaviour of buyers. People prefer products which are
branded and of high quality materials that satisfies their satisfaction level. Brand plays an
important role in making decisions related to purchase of products and services. The changing
consumption pattern is another factor which influences the buying decision of customers. Pattern
of consumption gets changed as people are relying on better standard of living due to which they
purchase goods in order to change their living standard. For making decisions related to
purchase, the role of women is increasing. They are the one who makes purchase decision related
to the products and services. The women make all the decision related to purchase of
commodities whereas men earn the bread. In market, credit and guarantee facility is available
due to which the motive of purchasing is increasingly rapidly. These facilities help in developing
trade and commerce. The other characteristic of consumer buying behaviour is complaining. The
consumers are aware of their rights due to which they make complaints regarding the products
6

and services. They can make complaints before consumer forums and also can receive the
compensation against the loss or damage.
It is important for an organisation to focus on understanding the consumer buying
behaviour as it helps in achieving marketing goals and attracting more and more customers
towards the brand. In the competitive market, it is necessary to identify the needs and preference
of consumers and produce the products accordingly in order to make them satisfied with the
brand and its products (Amron, 2018). There is various importance which company can gain
through understanding buyer behaviour are customer needs satisfaction, marketing mix
development, new market opportunities, target market selection and use of efficient resources. It
is essential for an organisation to offer marketing mix in order to satisfy the needs of marketing.
The customers generally look for the satisfaction from the products and services due to which
they buy the products in exchange of money. Thus, it is the responsibility of company to make
their customers feel satisfied with the products and services in order to increase the profitability
and productivity of business. The customer satisfaction helps in making business successful and
competitive in market (Elg and Hultman, 2016). Through understanding the buying behaviour of
consumers, company can better develop marketing mix. Therefore, before developing marketing
mix it is important to develop marketing mix by studying thoroughly regarding latest updates in
market. New market opportunities are also an importance which company can avail by
understanding the consumer buying behaviour. By understanding the consumer’s behaviour,
organisation can locate new market opportunities. Before purchasing the products, customer
analyse the quality, specification and cost of product. If they are unsatisfied with the produces
and services, there are various other options are available in market that sells same product with
better price. Understanding the behaviour of consumers is important for company as it helps in
segmenting the market effectively. The knowledge of buyer’s behaviour helps in making
efficient use of marketing resources. Organisation can focus on their marketing efforts in
efficient manner so that they can perform various marketing duties from overall management
process with greater productivity.
There are mainly four forms of buying behaviour such as complex, dissonance reducing, habitual
and variety seeking. The complex behaviours occur when consumers get very much involved in
purchase and focuses on brands and quality differences (Lahindah and Siahaan, 2018). In this
form of consumer buying behaviour, it is important for an organisation to support their buyers in
7

terms of collecting information and also provide them complete information on comparing
product price and features. It is the responsibility of company to highlight the benefits of product
and also focus on influencing the buyer’s decisions to purchase the products. Dissonance
reducing behaviour is another form of buyer’s behaviour in which customers may face difficulty
to differentiate the brands. The buyers focus on collecting the data but they don’t make purchase
decision on the basis of collected data. They generally purchase the product based on price or
convenience (DEEN, H, 2021). Thus, customers generally don’t know much about the product
category. But after making the purchase, they experience some regret and realise that they have
to collect more information related to the goods. The other form of buying behaviour of
consumers is habitual behaviour. This form of consumer buying behaviour depicts that for few
products customers don’t think to make purchase decision like groceries. Another form of
consumer buying behaviour is variety seeking behaviour. In this form of consumer buying
behaviour, they probably seek for different variety in order to fulfil their basic needs and
requirements. There are five steps involved in consumer buying process such as problem
recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision and post purchase
decision.
What is the effects of Covid 19 pandemic on customer buying habits within Walmart?
According to Mason, Narcum and Mason (2020), COVID-19 pandemic has changed the
world from earlier position where people were more comfortable and comfortable in travelling to
new places and now most of the individuals are scared. The people are living differently,
purchasing differently and thinking differently about many things that are a part of their daily
life. Now consumers are looking for products that are hygienic and healthy in order to build
strong immunity for fighting with the deadly coronavirus. The supply chains of the company are
changing and most of the retailers are closing doors for continuing business in the time of Covid
-19. The coronavirus across the globe is reshaping and changing the consumer goods industry
because of changing needs and demands of customers regarding the purchase of goods and
services from the retail stores. Covid-19 has impacted the growth and profitability of the retail
industry because of complete lock-down situation. With the situation of pandemic people now
are responding in a different ways and possess different behaviours, attitudes and buying habits.
Some people fell stressed, anxious and worried by the fear of getting infected by the virus as it is
transmitted through person to person. Lock-down fundamentally changes the habits of the
8