Purpose

The Covid-19 pandemic has a strong effect on societies, business and consumers. Governments have taken measures to reduce the spread of the pandemic, such as social distancing and lockdowns. The latter has also resulted in a temporary closure of physical stores for “non-essential” retailing. Covid-19 thus has a profound impact on how people live. The period of relative isolation, social distancing and economic uncertainty changes the way we behave. New consumer behaviors span all areas of life, from how we work to how we shop to how we entertain ourselves. These shifts have important implications for retailers. This paper aims to discuss the potential structural effect on shopping behavior and retailing when Covid-19 measures are no longer needed and society moves back to a normal situation.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper synthesizes empirical and conceptual literature on the consequences of COVID-19 and introduces a conceptual framework along with a set of predictions that can be investigated with empirical data.

Findings

This study suggests that Covid-19 shapes both consumer needs and behavior and how retailers respond to these changes. Moreover, it suggests that this will not only affect market outcomes (i.e. retail sales and market share online) but also firm outcomes (i.e. customer experience, firm sales) and importantly the competition between online and offline retailers.

Originality/value

In the conceptual framework, this study aims to advance knowledge on longer-term outcomes (vs immediate outcomes such as panic buying) and how COVID-19 is changing the competitive landscape of retail.

中文翻译：

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关于 COVID-19 大流行对零售业影响的思考和预测

目的

Covid-19 大流行对社会、企业和消费者产生了强烈影响。各国政府已采取措施减少大流行的传播，例如保持社交距离和封锁。后者还导致实体店暂时关闭以进行“非必要”零售。因此，Covid-19 对人们的生活方式产生了深远的影响。相对孤立、社会疏远和经济不确定性的时期改变了我们的行为方式。新的消费者行为涵盖生活的方方面面，从我们的工作方式到购物方式，再到娱乐方式。这些转变对零售商具有重要意义。本文旨在讨论当不再需要 Covid-19 措施且社会恢复正常时对购物行为和零售的潜在结构性影响。

设计/方法/方法

该论文综合了关于 COVID-19 后果的经验和概念文献，并介绍了一个概念框架以及一组可以用经验数据进行调查的预测。

发现

这项研究表明，Covid-19 塑造了消费者的需求和行为，以及零售商如何应对这些变化。此外，这表明这不仅会影响市场结果（即在线零售额和市场份额），还会影响企业结果（即客户体验、企业销售额），尤其是线上和线下零售商之间的竞争。

原创性/价值

在概念框架中，本研究旨在提高对长期结果（相对于恐慌性购买等直接结果）以及 COVID-19 如何改变零售竞争格局的认识。