Changed Buying Behavior in the Corona Pandemic: Perceived Risk and it Effects

Resumo

The COVID-19 pandemic hit the retailing sector unprepared and hard. Some customers are beginning to hoard and panic buying, while others are going to less frequented stores or shopping online more often. Others do not change their behavior and seem not to be affected.

This study examines the buying behavior and risk perception of customers. The execution of qualitative in-depth interviews in Brazil provides insights into the perceived risk and buying behavior of customers. The results are compared to the customers responses of a similar study conducted in Germany.

Only a very few studies focus on customer behavior in an extreme situation such as the
COVID-19 pandemic. This study deals with the question how buying behavior is influenced by the perceived risk and vice versa. We gain insights that explain the changed buying behavior during the challenging Corona crisis and different behaviors and motives in Brazil.

The consideration of the risk perception and the buying behavior of the customers from countries in different stages and with strategies in future studies will help to derive a deeper knowledge. Especially the consideration of the different types of consumers with their individual risk perception helps to explain why current buying behavior partly contradicts theoretical findings. Especially when buying in stores, it is important to identify the mechanisms that provide a sense of security in the background to encourage customers to buy locally rather than online. This study provides some pointers on how precautionary measures can be used to create a positive shopping experience.