Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic on Consumers' Behaviors and Habits

Effects of the COVID19 Pandemic on the Behavior of Consumers
[name]
[school/course]
[professor]
[date]I - Introduction
II - Body
Consumers’ Behaviors and Habits
III - ConclusionIntroduction
With the COVID19 pandemic around, the day-to-day lifestyle and system of people have changed. Due to the pandemic, there have been health protocols and public restrictions. People are now wearing masks whenever they go out, public places are less crowded, and business establishments' operations either shut down or become less productive. These changes are responses to the need to lessen physical contact to avoid the spread of infection.
Aside from everyday activities, the COVID19 pandemic has greatly affected the business industry. As mentioned above, there have been businesses that had to close down permanently because there are not many customers to keep the business running. If not shut down, some establishments operated in fewer hours with fewer sales in a day (Donthu, & Gustafsson, 2020). Because these business establishments need their customers to maintain the operations, they rely on the people who can afford to spend in the time of the pandemic. However, the pandemic affects everyone regardless of the ability to afford anything in the market. The consumers' buying routines and grocery lists are compromised. The world is now getting a change in the behaviors of consumers when it comes to purchasing bet it food or other goods. Let us look at the short and long-term changes in the behavior of buyers.
Consumers’ Behaviors and Habits
The most basic and short-term behavior that emerges among consumers in the time of the pandemic is the hoarding of necessities. This behavior especially emerged at the beginning of the pandemic when strict community quarantines were implemented. In the early weeks to months of the pandemic, people were strictly restricted to roam around without reasonable agenda outside. That is why when grocery shopping, consumers would buy the most basic items good for at least two weeks to avoid frequent grocery shopping (Sheth, 2020). Some of these necessities are food ingredients, body essentials, and home cleaning essentials. People would stock up on these items because of the restriction in going to public spaces. However, this is a short-term behavior because people eventually went back to shopping on their regular shopping schedule with their regular shopping list. Because the restrictions have loosened up a bit, people can now afford to shop at their desired time but still with protocols to follow.
On the other hand, the long-term...