3 key shifts in customer behaviour and how you can respond

The pandemic has hastened customers’ behavioural changes. Can your business cope with the three key shifts and take advantage of them?

Unlike the slow reopening of economies, consumers’ tastes and preferences are changing fast, making it increasingly difficult to meet and satisfy their demands. This change also impacted brand loyalty. As high as 80% of consumers who started using a private brand during the pandemic indicated they will continue using it post-Covid. Can your business adapt and use this opportunity to grow? In this article, we share the three key shifts in consumer behaviour and how you can tailor your strategy to stay ahead.

Demand for convenience and speed

Over the past year, consumers have demanded increased convenience and speed while shopping. Almost 1 in 2 consumers say they prefer online grocery shopping, and 91% of online shoppers expect to receive their purchases within a week. Consumers working from home in the new norm today also prefer a more convenient omnichannel experience.

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Prefer responsible brands

Consumers today have a preference for ‘clean’ brands. They are more willing to select brands that align with their personal values and “walk the talk” when it comes to sustainability. Nearly 6 in 10 consumers surveyed are willing to change their shopping habits to reduce environmental impact. Between 30 - 50% of them also indicated an intent to buy sustainable products.

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Make informed decisions
Due to the ease of obtaining information, consumers generally do their research and make an informed decision before purchase. 53% of them say they always do research before buying to ensure they are making the best possible choice.The prevalence of e-commerce also makes it easier for them to compare across brands online.

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With these trends, how can you build a long term growth plan to gain traction and stay ahead? Here are 3 key methods you can adopt.

1. Understand your customer again
It’s time to listen to customers, especially if you had done so a few years ago. You can conduct user surveys to collect qualitative data to understand when, why and how your customers change their behaviours. Using these findings, create new customer segments and more purchase context such as working hours when they work from home. Some will necessitate major changes, while others only require minor tweaks. What we do at Binomial during our strategic planning work is to adopt a 360-approach to getting perspectives from all stakeholders, so we can re-understand them and find out what changed vs. what stayed the same. This grounds us in the new context and allows us to come up with an up-to-date strategy that works.

2. Build a customer-centric growth strategy
Tapping on consumer preferences will allow you to base your strategy on a customer-centric approach. It’s also critical to ensure your brand resonates with the new audience. This includes getting your brand communications attuned to their sentiments, and innovating your existing products to create new experiences for them.

For us, having a customer-focused approach is key to staying ahead. That’s why we start with customers and then analyse the landscape, threats and opportunities to ensure product-market fit for clients. From there, we can then sharpen the brand and devise Go-To-Market (GTM) strategies, particularly for expansions into other geographic regions and consumer segments.

3. Integrate digital power into your core business
It is not simply about bringing your products online. Beyond eCommerce, making full use of digital technologies such as SEO, CRM, SaaS, etc. allow you to better engage customers and optimize your operations. The key with digital transformation is to not start (and get lost) with technology, but to start with business goals and growth strategy.

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A long-term growth strategy is key to coping with changes. At Binomial, we advocate a customer-centric design thinking approach that laser-focuses on customers - from customer value, journey, experience, to touch points - in order to give your business clear and sustainable competitive advantages.

Binomial is an innovative consulting firm. We combine practical growth strategies, design thinking, and agile execution for your company to be disruption-ready and stay ahead of the curve.

‍Want more practical and detailed advice directly related to your business? ‍ Schedule a 30-minute consultation with Binomial. It is free and worthwhile.