50% Of U.S. Consumers Expect Brands To Retain And Improve Upon Pandemic Conveniences
Friday, May 28th, 2021
While post-ish pandemic discretionary spending continues to ramp up across apparel, domestic travel, experiences and luxury, the consumer's high-bar expectations for fast, free delivery and returns, along with seamless omnichannel experiences are here to stay. A Year of Agility—What Post-ish Covid-19 Consumer Behavior Looks Like Right Now produced by Coresight Research in partnership with media, analytics and strategic consulting firm January Digital, identifies exclusive new research on consumer behavior and retail priorities.
- As the world comes out of the pandemic, 50% of US consumers expect fast, free delivery to remain when choosing a retailer or brand to shop, while nearly 50% say the same of easy, free product returns for online orders. The ability to view and purchase the same products in-store and online was the other feature that was considered "very important" by more than one-third of consumers (Figure 1).
- When broken down further by age demographic, over 34% of US consumers under the age of 45 ranked buy online pick up in-store (BOPIS) and curbside options as "very important" over the ability to view and purchase the same products in-store and online.
- According to this report, 33.4% of US consumers find the ability to view and purchase the same products across online and offline channels "very important" when determining which brands and retailers to shop with, with another 17.4% saying that it is "somewhat important" to them.
- Low-income consumers plan to spend 18 percentage points more on retail products this summer than they did amid the pandemic, as opposed to mid to high-income consumers, whose retail spending remains flat to mid-pandemic behavior.
- Experiential spending is slated to skyrocket with 42% of high-income consumers planning to travel and eat out after they receive vaccinations (a trend which will start to show as early as this month).
- The proportion of consumers purchasing clothing products in stores has risen by more than 7 percentage points over the last three months showing a shift back towards pre-pandemic spending.
- However, online grocery - the poster child for pandemic spending shifts - has remained steady and continues to be as relevant as it was during the pandemic with no sign of slowing down.