We’ve watched the progression of the COVID crisis, and its impacts on consumer behavior at every stage, but a post-mortem (almost) review can help brands and marketers figure out where we’re heading, and how to optimize their strategy.
Experience management firm First Insight has produced a highly detailed COVID-19 timeline infographic which depicts how consumer sentiment and the retail sector were affected by wider external events such as the spread of the pandemic, government mandates, closures, stimulus checks, the rise of the Delta variant and other COVID-19-driven milestones.
The firm’s longitudinal study of more than 11,000 respondents is the only one of its kind. It started at the very beginning of the pandemic with data collected through August, 2021, as COVID-19 cases continue to rise due to the Delta variant. These studies have measured consumer sentiment around shopping in-person and online, safety precautions in-store, spending on big-ticket items, traveling, and other consumer behaviors.
This infographic shows in detail how various external events directly affected the American public’s overall likelihood and interest in returning to normal day-to-day activities, as well as the impact of the pandemic on retail.
The findings were based on data from First Insight’s ongoing series of consumer sentiment studies entitled, “The Impact of Coronavirus on Consumer Purchase Decisions and Behaviors.” The company has been tracking consumer data since February 28, 2020. The findings are based on the results of U.S. consumer studies of targeted samples of more than 500 or 1,000 respondents per survey, balanced by gender, geography, and generation. It was completed through proprietary sample sources amongst panels who participate in online surveys.
