Grocery Shopping in UK During the Pandemic and Post Pandemic Time and Consumer Behaviour

Grocery shopping in uk
during the pandemic and post
pandemic time and consumer
behaviour

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
About the topic.......................................................................................................................3
Research Question..................................................................................................................3
Research Aim.........................................................................................................................3
Research Objectives...............................................................................................................3
LITERATURE REVIW...................................................................................................................4
How the pandemic changed grocery shopping and consumer behaviour in UK...................4
Research Methodology....................................................................................................................8
Chapter 4: Findings, Discussion and Analysis..............................................................................12
Data analysis.........................................................................................................................12
Interpretation and discussion of Findings.............................................................................14
Conclusion and Recommendation.................................................................................................21
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................23

INTRODUCTION
About the topic
COVID-19 is a dangerous diseases which infects people and is caused by the SARS-Co-2
virus which effected the life of people adversely. This virus infects the human body and is
considered as a respiratory illness which creates problems in breathing for the people who gets
infected by the virus. This has created a sense of fear in the minds of customers and has resulted
in anxiety and stress among people. Coronavirus has affected the lifestyle of people as they have
to stay at their homes completely and make them following a healthy and hygienic life which
helps them in protecting them from the effect of virus (Filimonau, Beer and Ermolaev, 2021).
COVID-19 has impacted the profitability and growth of the grocery retailers because of
complete lock-down in the UK they need to deliver more grocery items as the demand for
products rise. With the adverse effect of pandemic the retailers need to deliver products online
for easy delivery and to reduce in person contact in order to protect from the infected person. In
the pandemic customers are more interested in buying things online a compare to buy it from
offline stores, so the retailers need to promote online channels for better growth and productivity
in the competitive environment.
Research Question
Q1. How the pandemic changed grocery shopping and consumer behaviour in UK
Research Aim
This research project aims to analyse the impact of the pandemic on grocery shopping in UK and
consumer behaviour: A study on Tesco
Research Objectives
 To determine the challenges of Covid 19 pandemic on grocery shopping in the UK
 To critically analyse the effect of pandemic on consumer behaviour towards the brand
 To determine the ways that would be used by Tesco for overcoming the impact of Covid
19 on their business performance

LITERATURE REVIW
It forms out a vital and essential part of every research project that comprises of analysis and
review of the pre-exiting facts to supports and leads out a base for further investigation. Beside
this, literature review supports a framework for creation and generation of the knowledge
through analysing data and information based on a specific topic. The current literature review is
tending to be based on determining and analysing that how the pandemic has changed the
grocery shopping and consumer behaviour in UK. To meet and achieve this aim, use of review of
various articles is being made to review and analysis the set to objective, a discussion of which
has been provided as below;
How the pandemic changed grocery shopping and consumer behaviour in UK
According to (Jo, Shin and Kim, 2020), The pandemic has changed the buying behaviour
of the customers as they new prefer online shopping for purchase of goods and services from the
grocery stores. To reduce in person contact with, people started doing shopping from online
grocery stores in order to be safe and secure from the effect of coronavirus. Offline and online
shopping both are different as they offers different benefits to the customers in order to increase
their satisfaction and to gain customer loyalty and brand image. COVID-19 has impacted the
performance and profitability of the grocery retailers which creates problem for them to sustain
in the competitive environment. The grocery stores faced various challenges because of COVID-
19 which resulted in reduced growth and productivity in the market. For this, the grocery
retailers has shifted towards online platforms for buying products so that they can fulfil their
basic needs and wants in the time of pandemic. Online grocery stores has came up with several
challenges such as payment mode, health related safety measures, online ordering and delivery,
and unclear product description. These issues are generally faced by the customers at the time of
online purchase which makes the purchase of product difficult and time consuming. With the
changing situations and conditions at the time of pandemic globally has increased the risk of
virus and also creates a sense of fear in the minds of people. Challenges faced by the grocery
stores in UK with the surge of COVID-19 in the economy are explained below:
 Protect customers and employees – Ensuring the health and safety of employees and
customers is one of the major challenge faced by grocery stores in UK which creates
problem for them. As the COVID-19 prevails in the economy the demand for basic

grocery items rise as customers want to fulfil their basic needs and expectations. The
grocery stores must provide online trainings to their employees to work with taking al the
safety measures to run the business operations effectively. Offering products online to
customers helps in enhancing their experience and helps in making orders easily available
(Marinković and Lazarević, 2021).
 Adopt technology to forecast demand – As the demand for products and services is
changing in the time of pandemic, the grocers must maintain full visibility of their
technological networks so that online delivery of products is enhanced. As the customers
are now preferring online shopping to reduce the effect of coronavirus and to protect
from getting infected the grocery stores has to adopt online platforms for purchasing
grocery items. This helps the grocery retailers in gaining more market share and customer
base in the time of tough competition and increased demand.
 Evolve business model – Developing business model according to the changing
situations and conditions like COVID-19 has forced the grocery retailers to place
optimum changes for attaining demand of products and services in the market. The
grocery retailers has top prepare themselves to work according to the changing demands
and management of supplier. The changing demand of customers in the time of pandemic
has raised the consumption of grocery items as people were packed at home and cam not
go anywhere.
 Payment mode – As the customers are moving towards online shopping for the purchase
of products and services in the market, the major challenge that grocery retailers and
customers face is the problem of payment. While ordering products online the customers
wants to do payment properly so that they receive products on time at the doorstep of the
customer house. The grocery retailers need to offer easy modes of payment online which
makes the process of payment easy for customers.
 Health and safety measures – With the surge of COVID-19 globally has changed the
buying behaviour of the customers which is a major challenge faced by the grocery
retailer. Following proper and effective safety measures is important for the grocery
retailers as people now a days are more hygienic and healthy to protect themselves from
the effect of coronavirus (Panzone, Larcom and She, 2021). So grocery retailers needs to

follow proper sanitization and vaccination process to build trust and sense if safety while
buying grocery items from the store.
Challenges of Covid 19 pandemic on grocery shopping in the UK
According to the viewpoint of Sehgal, Malviya and Dubey, 2021 it has been analysed that during
the outbreak of COVID-19 there is a significant shift in the consumer behaviour. Covid-19
transformed grocery shopping and disrupted this sector in adverse manner. It has been underlined
that in United Kingdom COVID-19 impact behaviour of consumer segment and change their
attitude. It has been analysed that the trend of online shopping significantly increased in the
provinces of United Kingdom due to public health restrictions as well as a social distancing
measures (Pantano, Scarpi and Dennis, 2020). This lead most of the grocery stores to emphasise
more upon digitalization in order to provide services to consumers. Furthermore it has been
evaluated that grocery sector in United Kingdom is playing important part of the economy and
its contributing in effective manner in the country GDP. This industry has been affected in terms
of drastic change in the attitude of consumers and it’s facing challenges associated to
implementing digital technology and updating them on regular basis in order to satisfy needs and
demands of consumers in an effective manner.
Effect of pandemic on consumer behaviour towards the brand
According to the perception of Zulauf, Wagner and Cechella, 2020 it has been analysed and
there is a huge impact of the outbreak of COVID-19 on the impact of consumer behaviour as
individuals for more emphasise upon digital buying. In addition to this it has been identified that
there is also change in the attitude of consumers in terms of healthy buying as they emphasise
more on health perspectives. This pandemic spend make also change the purchasing behaviour of
consumers as they were more focus on hygienic and cleaning products (Naeem and Ozuem,
2021). Furthermore it has been analysed and due to the outbreak of this pandemic many
consumers shifted their purchasing pattern towards digital shopping and are more attracted
towards free delivery and flexible purchasing offer (He and Harris, 2020). Thus it has been
analysed that in order to duly satisfy leads and demands of consumers it is essential for
organizations in grocery sector to focus on understanding the change in consumer behaviour as
well as attitude this will help them to implement effective measures in order to overcome the
challenges in a well defined and effective manner (Valaskova, Durana and Adamko, 2021). From
the trend analysis it has been identified that majority of customers are seeking for online