Journal of Business Research 117 (2020) 280–283

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Business Research

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres

Impact of Covid-19 on consumer behavior: Will the old habits return or die?
Jagdish Sheth
Goizueta Business School, Emory University

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown and social distancing mandates have disrupted the consumer habits
COVID Pandemic of buying as well as shopping. Consumers are learning to improvise and learn new habits. For example, con­
Consumer habits sumers cannot go to the store, so the store comes to home. While consumers go back to old habits, it is likely that
New regulations for shopping
they will be modified by new regulations and procedures in the way consumers shop and buy products and
Customer experience
services. New habits will also emerge by technology advances, changing demographics and innovative ways
consumers have learned to cope with blurring the work, leisure, and education boundaries.

1. Introduction: deconsumption of unhealthy products. For example, consumption of

smoking, alcohol, and firearms are regulated consumption by location.
The purpose of this research paper is to examine the impact of Covid- Of course, public policy can also encourage consumption of societally
19 pandemic on consumer behavior. Will the consumers permanently good products and services such as solar energy, electric cars, and
change their consumption habits due to lockdown and social distancing mandatory auto and home insurance services and vaccines for children.
or will they go back to their old habits once the global crisis is over? Will The fourth and less predictable context are the ad hoc natural di­
there be new habits consumers will acquire due to new regulations sasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, and global pandemics including
related to air travel, shopping at the shopping centers and attending the Covid-19 pandemic we are experiencing today. Similarly, there are
concerts and sports events? Will consumers find that going to a store or regional conflicts, civil wars as well as truly global wars such as the
attending an event in person is much of a hassle, and therefore, it is World War II, cold war, and Great Depression of the late twenties and the
better to let the store or the event come to home? To some extent, this Great Recession of 2008–2009. All of them significantly disrupted both
has been happening for quite some time in sports tournaments and consumption as well as production and supply chain. The focus of this
entertainment by broadcasting them on television and radio. paper is to examine both the immediate as well as the long-term impact
All consumption is location and time bound. Consumers develop of Covid-19 on consumption and consumer behavior.
habits over time about what to consume, when and where (Sheth, 2020).
Of course, this is not limited to consumption. It is also true of shopping, 2. Immediate impact on consumer behavior
searching for information and post consumption waste disposal. And
consumer behavior is highly predictable, and we have many good pre­ As mentioned before, all consumption and consumer behavior are
dictive models and consumer insights based on past repetitive buying anchored to time and location. Since World War II, more and more
behavior at the individual level. women have been working resulting in reduction of discretionary time.
While consumption is habitual it is also contextual. Context matters It is estimated that today more than 75 percent for all women with
and there are four major contexts which govern or disrupt consumer children at home are working fulltime. This has resulted in time shortage
habits. The first is change in the social context by such life events as and time shift in family as well as personal consumption. Monday
marriage, having children and moving from one city to another. The through Fridays, no one is at home between 8am to 5 pm for service
social context includes workplace, community, neighbors, and friends. technicians to do installations and maintenance of appliances as well as
The second context is technology. And as breakthrough technologies repairs of broken heating and cooling systems. The supplier has to make
emerge, they break the old habits. The most dramatic technology appointments with the household to ensure there will be someone at
breakthroughs in recent years are smart phones, internet and ecom­ home to open the door.
merce. Online search and online ordering have dramatically impacted There is also time shortage as the discretionary time of the home­
the way we shop and consumer products and services. maker is now nondiscretionary due to her employment. This time
A third context that impacts consumption habits is rules and regu­ shortage has resulted in consumers ordering online and have products
lations especially related to public and shared spaces as well as delivered at home. Similarly, vacations are no longer two or three weeks

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.05.059
Received 25 May 2020; Accepted 29 May 2020
Available online 4 June 2020
0148-2963/© 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
J. Sheth Journal of Business Research 117 (2020) 280–283

at a time but are more minivacations organized around major holidays and online education. Once again, there is no systemic empirical or
such as Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Memorial Day, and Labor Day scientific research on improvisation. The closest research is on impro­
extended weekends. visation is Jugaad in India. It means developing solutions that work by
With lockdown and social distancing, consumers’ choice of the place overcoming constraints imposed by social norms or government policy.
to shop is restricted. This has resulted in location constraint and location Jugaad also means doing more with less, seeking opportunity in
shortage. We have mobility shift and mobility shortage. Working, adversity and thinking and acting flexibly and following the heart
schooling and shopping all have shifted and localized at home. At the (Radjou, Prabhu and Ahujo, 2012).
same time, there is more time flexibility as consumers do not have to 3. Pent-up Demand. During times of crisis and uncertainty the gen­
follow schedules planned for going to work or to school or to shop or to eral tendency is to postpone purchase and consumption of discretionary
consume. products or services. Often, this is associated with large ticket durable
Shortage of space at home is creating new dilemmas and conflicts goods such as automobiles, homes, and appliances. It also includes such
about who does what in which location space at home. As homo sapiens, discretionary services as concerts, sports, bars, and restaurants. This
we are generally more territorial and each one needs her or his space, we results in shift of demand from now into the future. Pent up demand is a
are all struggling with our privacy and convenience in consumption. familiar consequence when access to market is denied for a short period
Fig. 1 summarizes eight immediate effects of Covid-19 pandemic on of time for services such as parks and recreation, movies, and enter­
consumption and consumer behavior. tainment. While economists have studied impact of pent up demand on
1. Hoarding. Consumers are stockpiling essential products for daily the GDP growth, there is very little research in consumer behavior about
consumption resulting in temporary stockouts and shortages. This in­ the nature and scope of pent up demand.
cludes toilet paper, bread, water, meat, disinfecting and cleaning 4. Embracing Digital Technology. Out of sheer necessity, consumers
products. have adopted several new technologies and their applications. The
Hoarding is a common reaction to managing the uncertainty of the obvious example is Zoom video services. Just to keep up with family and
future supply of products for basic needs. Hoarding is a common practice friends, most households with the internet have learned to participate in
when a country goes through hyperinflation as it is happening in Zoom meetings. Of course, it has been extended to remote classes at
Venezuela. In addition to hoarding, there is also emergence of the gray home for schools and colleges and to telehealth for virtual visits with the
market where unauthorized middlemen hoard the product and increase physician and other health care providers.
the prices. This has happened with respect to PPE (personal protection Most consumers like social media including Facebook, WhatsApp,
equipment) products for healthcare workers including the N95 masks. YouTube, WeChat, LinkedIn, and others. The internet is both a rich
Finally, the temporary extra demand created by hoarding, also en­ medium and has global reach. The largest nations in population are no
courages marketing of counterfeit products. We have not done enough longer China and India. They are Facebook, YouTube, and WhatsApp.
empirical research on the economic and the psychology of hoarding in Each one has more than a billion subscribers and users. This has
consumer behavior. dramatically changed the nature and scope of word of mouth advices
2. Improvisation. Consumers learn to improvise when there are and recommendations as well as sharing information. One of the fastest
constraints. In the process, existing habits are discarded and new ways to growing areas is influencer marketers. Many of them have millions of
consume are invented. The coronavirus unleashed the creativity and followers. Impact of digital technology in general and social media in
resilience of consumers for such tradition bound activities as weddings particular on consumer behavior is massive in scale and pervasive in
and funeral services. Sidewalk weddings and Zoom funeral services consumer’s daily life. It will be interesting to see if technology adoption
substitute for the traditional location centric events. This was also true will break the old habits. While we have studied diffusion of innovation
for church services especially on Easter Sunday. for telephones, television, and the internet, we have not experienced a
Improvisation to manage shortage of products or services is another global adoption of social media in highly compressed cycle.
area of future research. It leads to innovative practices and often leads to 5. Store Comes Home. Due to complete lockdown in countries like
alternative option to location centric consumption such as telehealth India, China, Italy, and other nations, consumers are unable to go to the
grocery store or the shopping centers. Instead, the store comes home. So
does work and education. This reverses the flow for work, education,
health and purchasing and consumption. In home delivery of everything
including streaming services such as Disney, Netflix, and Amazon Prime
is breaking the odd habits of physically going to brick and mortar places.
It is also enhancing convenience and personalization in consumer
behavior. What we need is to empirically study how “IN-home every­
thing” impacts consumer’s impulse buying and planned vs unplanned
consumption.
6. Blurring of Work-Life Boundaries. Consumers are prisoners at
home with limited space and too many discrete activities such as
working, learning, shopping, and socialization. This is analogous to too
many needs and wants with limited resources. Consequently, there is
blurring of boundaries between work and home and between tasks and
chats. Some sort of schedule and compartmentalization are necessary to
make home more efficient and effective.
7. Reunions with Friends and Family. One major impact of the
coronavirus is to get in touch with distant friends and family, partly to
assure that they are okay but partly to share stories and experience. This
resembles high school or college reunions or family weddings. What is
ad hoc event to keep in touch is now regular and scheduled get togethers
to share information and experiences. Symbolically, we are all sitting on
our porch and talking to our neighbors globally. The global reach of the
social get togethers through social media such as Zoom and WhatsApp is
Fig. 1. Immediate Impact of Covid-19 on Consumption Behavior. mind boggling. We need to study sociological and cultural assimilations

281
J. Sheth Journal of Business Research 117 (2020) 280–283

of consumption practices. Similar to the classic studies such as The population worries about personal safety and the safety of their pos­
Lonely Crowd (1950), Harried Leisure Class (1970) and Bowling Alone sessions. Finally, their interest in recreation (both active and passive)
(2000), we should expect dramatic changes in consumer behavior as a changes as compared to the younger population. Similarly, as more
consequence of speedier and universal adoption of new technologies women enter the workforce, the family is behaving more like a room­
accelerated by the Covid pandemic. mate family. Eating meals together at home every evening is no longer
8. Discovery of Talent. With more flexible time at home, consumers possible. And the dinner together is more of a chore to be completed as
have experimented with recipes, practiced their talent and performed fast as possible. Right after the dinner each family member goes to their
creative and new ways to play music, share learning, and shop online own private room or space and engage in text messages, YouTube, or
more creatively. With some of them going viral, consumers are watching television. Shared consumption is giving way to individual
becoming producers with commercial possibilities. YouTube and its consumption at the convenience for each family member.
counterparts are full of videos which have the potential for innovation There is also a growing trend of living alone by choice. More than one
and commercial successes. third of the U.S. households today are single adult households. This is
due to delay in first time marriage from age eighteen to age twenty-nine.
3. Will old habits die or return? And with aging of the population, many senior citizens (especially
women) are living alone by choice. As a single person household, new
It is expected that most habits will return back to normal. However, it habits are formed about what to buy, and how much to buy and from
is inevitable that some habits will die because the consumer under the where to buy. In conclusion, changing demographics, public policy and
lockdown condition has discovered an alternative that is more conve­ technology are major contextual forces in developing new habits as well
nient, affordable, and accessible. Examples include streaming services as giving up old habits.
such as Netflix and Disney. They are likely to switch consumers from
going to movie theatres. This is similar to ride sharing services such as 4. Managerial implications
Uber which is more user friendly than calling a taxi service. Due to
coronavirus, consumers may find it easier to work at home, learn at There are three managerial implications from the impact of Covid-19
home and shop at home. In short, what was a peripheral alternative to on consumer behavior. First, just as consumers have learned to impro­
the existing habit now becomes the core and the existing habit becomes vise, business also has to learn to improvise and become more resident
the peripheral. during the pandemic crisis. Unfortunately, companies are governed by
There is a universal law of consumer behavior. When an existing formal processes and they are often unable to change them quickly. This
habit or a necessity is given up, it always comes back as a recreation or a has been evident in the government’s inability to process the PPP
hobby. Examples include hunting, fishing, gardening, baking bread, and (payroll protection program) loans in the U.S. as well as applying for
cooking. It will be interesting to see what existing habits which are given unemployment benefits.
up by adopting the new ways will come back as hobbies. In other words, Fortunately, as more large enterprises have transitioned to cloud
will shopping become more an outdoor activity or hobby or recreation? computing, it has been easier to improvise. This has been the case with
Modified Habits. In most cases, existing habits of grocery shopping supermarkets and large retailers such as Walmart and Target. The latter,
and delivery will be modified by the new guidelines and regulations in any case, were converging their brick and mortar stores with their
such as wearing masks and keeping the social distance. This is evident in online shopping and even capable of omnichannel delivery. In short,
Asia where consumers wear masks before they go for shopping or use the companies can learn how to make their infrastructure, systems and
public transit systems. Modified habits are more likely in the services processes to be more resilient; and in the process, manage global crises
industries especially in personal services such as beauty parlors, physical such as the Covid-19.
therapies, and fitness places. It will also become a reality for attending A second managerial implication is matching demand and supply. At
museums, parks and recreation centers, and concerts and social events, each retailer ranging from the supermarkets to hyper stores to drug
just to name a few. stores, there were chronic shortages due to hoarding and “run on the
New Habits. There are three factors which are likely to generate new bank” mentality of consumers in a crisis. Supply chain, logistics, and
habits. The first is public policy. Just as we are used to security checks at warehousing operations are critical functions which need to be inte­
the airports after 9/11, there will be more screening and boarding grated with the volatile fluctuations in demand. In other words, unlike
procedures including taking the temperature, testing for the presence of the current practice of stocking the products on the shelf with a backup
the virus and boarding the flight. All major airlines are now putting new inventory in the back of the store, it will be increasingly necessary to
procedures for embarking and disembarking passengers as well as meal encourage online procurement and reverse the process from the
services. As mentioned before, government policy to discourage or merchandise waiting on the shelf for the customer to customer ordering
encourage consumption is very important to shape future consumptions. first and the supermarket warehouse assembling the order and deliv­
As mentioned earlier a second major driver of consumer behavior is ering it to the customer. As mentioned above, customers coming to the
technology. It has transformed consumer behavior significantly since store is not the same as store going to the customer.
the Industrial Revolution with the invention of automobiles, appliances, A third implication for management is that consumers will go back to
and airplanes. This was followed by the telephone, television, internet their old habits unless the technology they learn to use such as Zoom
and now the social media and the user generated content. The digital video services and online ordering brings significant changes in their
technology is making wants into needs. For example, we did not miss the lives. Customers experience in the virtual world as well as post purchase
cell phone but today you cannot live without it. Today internet is as services (customer support) will be strategic investments.
important as electricity and more important than television. How
technology transforms wants into needs has significant impact on 5. Research implications
developing new habits such as online shopping, online dating, or online
anything. More importantly it has equally significant impact on the As the lockdown and social distancing disrupted the whole range of
family budget between the old necessities (food, shelter, and clothing) in consumer behavior (ranging from problem recognition to search from
the new necessities (phone, internet, and apps). information to shopping to delivery to consumption and waste disposal),
The third context which generates new habits is the changing de­ it has generated several new research opportunities anchored to
mographics (Sheth and Sisodia, 1999). A few examples will illustrate anchored to the real world. These areas of empirical research with some
this. As advanced economies age, new needs for health preservation theoretical propositions on hoarding, blurring the work-life boundaries,
(wellness) and wealth preservation (retirement) arise. Also, aging use of social media in a crisis are good opportunities to enrich the

282
J. Sheth Journal of Business Research 117 (2020) 280–283

discipline of consumer behavior. As consumers adapt to the house arrest for a prolonged period of
A social major area for the academic research has to do with con­ time, they are likely to adopt newer technologies which facilitate work,
sumer resilience and improvisation. It is a new field of research and the study and consumption in a more convenient manner. Embracing digital
Covid-19 crisis has surfaced it as a great research opportunity. For technology is likely to modify existing habits. Finally, public policy will
example, are there cultural differences in improvisation across the also impose new consumption habits especially in public places such as
globe? What are the different techniques used by consumers globally to airports, concerts, and public parks.
isolate themselves from the infection?
Finally, Covid-19 has increased the use of social media on Facebook, References
Instagram, WhatsApp, Twitter, and Zoom. They are generating enor­
mous amount of data on word of mouth. Current analytic techniques are Linder, Steffan B. (1970). The Harried Leisure Class. New York: Columbia University Press.
Radjou, Navi, Prabhu, Jaideep, & Ahuja, Simone (2012). Jugaad Innovation: Think Frugal,
not as useful with video conversations. Just as we developed Natual Be Flexible, Generate Breakthrough Growth. London, UK: Jossey Bass.
Language Processing (NLP) to analyze the text data, we will have to Reisman, David, Nathan, Glazer, & Denney, Reuel (1950). The Lonely Crowd: A Study of
develop other techniques to analyze the video content probably the Changing American Character. Yale University Press.
Putnam, Robert D. (2000). Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American
anchored to machine learning and artificial intelligence (Sheth, 2020). Community. New York: Simon & Schuster.
The virtual world is becoming more interesting to consumers compared Sheth, Jagdish N. (2020a). The Howard-Sheth Theory of Buyer Behavior. New Delhi, India:
to the physical world as we have seen in video games and virtual sports. Wiley & Sons.
Sheth, Jagdish N. (2020b). Next Frontiers of Research in Data Driven Marketing: Will
Will artificial become real? For example, is a relationship with a chatbot Techniques Keep Up With Data Tsunami? Journal of Business Research. in press.
girlfriend more comfortable and enjoyable as compared to a real girl­ Sheth, Jagdish, & Sisodia, R. (1999). Revising law like generalizations. Journal of
friend or boyfriend? In a recent article in Wall Street Journal, Parmy Academy of Marketing Science, 27(Winter), 71–87.
Olson describes several anecdotes of how individuals are interacting
with chatbots. According to the author, Microsoft XiaIce social chatbot Jagdish N. Sheth is Charles H. Kellstadt Professor of Business in the Goizueta Business
School at Emory University. He is globally known for his expertise in consumer behavior,
has more than 660 million users in China alone. In short, the artificial relationship marketing, competitive strategy, and geopolitical analysis. Professor Sheth
has become real. has over 50 years of combined experience in teaching and research at the University of
Southern California, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Columbia University,
MIT, and Emory University. Professor Sheth is the recipient of all four top awards given by
6. Conclusion the American Marketing Association: the Richard D. Irwin Distinguished Marketing
Educator Award, the Charles Coolidge Parlin Award for market research, the P.D. Converse
The lockdown and social distancing to combat the covid-19 virus has Award for outstanding contributions to theory in marketing, and the William Wilkie
Award for marketing for a better society. Professor Sheth is the recipient of an Honorary
generated significant disruptions on consumer behavior. All consump­
Doctorate in Science, awarded by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2016),
tion is time bound and location bound. With time flexibility but location and Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy, awarded by Shiv Nadar University (2017). Pro­
rigidity, consumers have learned to improvise in creative and innovative fessor Sheth has authored or coauthored more than three hundred papers and several
books. His latest book is Genes, Climate and Consumption Culture: Connecting the Dots
ways. The work-life boundaries are now blurred as people work at home,
(2017). He is the co-founder, with his wife Madhuri Sheth, of the Sheth Family Foundation,
study at home, and relax at home. Since the consumer is unable to go to which contributes to many charities both in India and in Atlanta.
the store, the store has to come to the consumer.

283