How Does Covid-19 Impact Customers’ Motivation For Food Purchases?

Background

Post COVID-19 outbreak, decision-making related to food purchasing have changed very significantly. It has been identified that, consumers have started taking precautions in respect to avoid any contamination and infection related issues. Analogously, in the cases of packaged food purchasing, the customers have started to think twice, especially about the brand, its manufacturing, packaging, and transportation, to receive the food with the best quality possible. Thus, this paper will be a research study for the topic, “how does covid-19 impact customers’ motivation for food purchases.” According to this, the researcher will be using the qualitative research design approach for a research framework, and secondary sources for data collection purposes. In addition, the analysis of the gathered data will be done as per the method of thematic analysis, especially to discuss the finding or collected data as per the prepared themes and to eventually conclude the paper with efficient and progressive conclusion.

Aim of this research will be to evaluate how COVID-19 impacted customer motivation on food purchase decisions, especially in terms of packaged food items.

To achieve the aforementioned aim of the dissertation, it is required by the researcher to set some objectives for the research. Thus, below are mentioned certain specific objectives which will play a role of steps for achieving the aim of the dissertation.

To analyze the impact of COVID-19 on consumer purchasing behaviour towards packaged food items.
To examine the preventions adopted by the people in order to avoid health issues from packaged food items.

How does impact of COVID-19 affects customer behaviour?
How a crisis and pandemic impact customer motivation on packaged food purchase decisions?
How making packaged food purchase decisions can help in fighting the problems offered by the pandemic?

As far as the case of present time of post pandemic is concerned, it is required to mention that the people are taking all possible precautions regarding their safety from the virus or disease. Similarly, while buying any food item also, they are considering several precautions in order to get the appropriate product which is completely harmless. However, all of this eventually is affecting the businesses in a serious manner. As a result of this, businesses or brands have to plan their further proceedings accordingly, especially to keep up with the requirements of the customers as well as the precautions and guidelines provided by the administration and government. All of such concern, intrigued me to study and eventually research about the same. Thus, here in this dissertation, the researcher will be aiming towards the facts regarding how COVID-19 impacts customer behaviour in food purchasing. Lastly, such a study will be helpful for future research papers as well as businesses, in order to get acknowledge about what are the fact and details about how COVID-19 impacts the customer behaviour in food purchasing.

In the following chapter the researcher will be focusing in gathering the existing literature about the following paper, in order to get acknowledged about the completed research over the same topic. It is also required to mention her that the researcher will be focusing here on the themes which will eventually lead the researcher in the right path for achieving the aim and objectives for the paper.

As per Vázquez-Martínez, Morales-Mediano, & Leal-Rodríguez, (2021), the COVID-19 outbreak has changed the intentions, attitudes, and patterns of purchasing of customers, in a very dramatic manner. However, the main reason which made this global crisis prominent all over the globe is globalization, especially the interconnection between countries and markets as well as the proper and unprecedented digital, social and traditional media. In addition to this, as a result of the abovementioned information, it is also necessary to consider that, the COVID-19 crisis has also affected the customer behaviour and customer motivation in a significant manner (Vázquez-Martínez, Morales-Mediano, & Leal-Rodríguez, 2021). Moreover, as per Kim, (2022), the major changes which took place in terms of consumer behaviour were related to products, motivations, and channels. It was also seen that such changes were occurring more because of the perception of consumers instead of because of the actual practical crisis. Although, in some way or the other, since all the changes in the purchasing behaviours of the human being were because of the COVID-19 only; thus, the entire change is being considered as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Aim

Vázquez-Martínez, Morales-Mediano, & Leal-Rodríguez, (2021), also stated that, initially, when the COVID-19 pandemic took place, people or to be precise, consumers were thinking more about how to have sufficient food for themselves, so that they do not get trapped in such a situation where they cannot have food other important things for daily purpose. The situation was very bad and unbearable in the beginning. However, with time, things changed and became better than they were at the initial time. In such a situation, people started getting more interested in the purchasing process as well as the manufacturing process of food. Since the process of manufacturing as well purchasing is directly dependent upon the health issues of the people, thus, after the time of the pandemic people started checking every vital concept that is needed to be checked before purchasing anything. As a result of this, it is also stated that Jones, (2020), companies or organizations have to focus on offering better hygiene while the manufacturing processes as well as quality in packaging processes. The main reason for offering such considerations not only helped the companies in building a required trust with the consumers but also helped the consumers in having better and required services in order to witness proper customer satisfaction. Since customer satisfaction is the key to better growth for the companies; thus, working upon the same could be the best solution for companies no matter what the situation is.

According to Kitz, et al., (2022), as far as the case of buying packaged food is concerned, it is necessary to mention that, people started being more precautious, especially in terms of checking the authenticity and validity of the product. More precisely, people started buying the products only from popular and prominent brands, which have been well established since very long. In such cases, advertisement played a huge role in making brands worth noticing. According to this, brands which were focusing on good marketing strategies through advertisement. In simpler words, when a company is using the marketing strategy of informing people about how they are being precautious in manufacturing and packaging products. This, eventually impresses people and they start considering such companies or organization’s products while purchasing their requirements. Besides that, it is also needed to inform that, people also started to take products from the companies which assures about healthy manufacturing and packaging practices, especially through the help of assistance of online advertisements. Similarly, people started avoiding brands which did not had any satisfactory packaging. According to Fuentes, et al., (2022), transparent packaging is considered to be more safe and secure, as compare to other, especially because of the fact that, consumers can see the product they are buying and hence before buying it they can be assured about the quality of the product. According to this, the packaged food should be packaged with transparent packaging, which could help the consumers not just in terms of impressing consumers with quality but particularly to assure them and eventually satisfy them. Lastly, it could be said that this method is beneficial in terms of offering customer satisfaction and should be adapted by the companies in order achieve the required customer satisfaction (Fuentes, et al., 2022).

Objectives

According to Hansen, Percy, & Hansen, (2004), Customer Purchasing Behaviour (CPB) has been found as a very complex thing to understand and work upon. The major reason for this concept being complex is because of the fact that it is depending upon several contexts, especially over the environment as well as consumers. Basically, consumer purchasing behaviour is a result of interaction between the environment and consumers. However, contrary to this, several authors also claim that consumer purchasing behaviour is depending on multiple factors such as food safety crisis, financial crisis, country of origin of the crisis, as well as reputational crisis. Regardless of the type of the product, especially food products attitudes and behaviours of the consumers have modified accordingly. Few modifications grew with time, few got popular instantly only for a certain period, and few disappeared slowly with time.

As stated by Philippe, et al., (2021), particularly, during the time of the COVID-19 outbreak, things were different. People are more aware of the current trends, because of their social media presence of things. According to this, people reacted to things more frequently. Moreover, it is also required to mention here that, just certain negative news or fake news about any food product can influence the behaviours or attitudes of the consumers in a very significant manner, especially by inculcating anxiety among the consumers regarding the concerned product. Since the major matter of concern here is regarding the health of their win, thus the concerns are automatically more personal and important for the people to change their attitudes and behaviour in such a significant manner. In addition to this, all these considerations were in the end affecting the health of the people and eventually making the people trapped in a situation where the changes in attitudes and behaviours were obvious and automatic because of the issues like anxiety and stress. Besides the fact that there are so many such factors which were eventually affecting the consumer purchasing, the major factors which were considered by the researchers were more related to the media coverage, business strategies, pubic interest and other factors and not the ones related to the more considerable ones, especially the ones which requires deep study to get acknowledged.

Generally, as stated by Nguyen, et al., (2020), the main factors which people count as the most important and considerable factors in terms of affecting the attitudes and behaviours of the consumers as a result of the aftermath of any big crisis like the COVID-19 outbreak are information-processing factors, social class, available resources, family, personality, culture, attitude, and demographics. Moreover, recently certain authors or researchers have classified such factors into some considerable types i.e., utilitarian motivation, social motivation, and hedonic motivation.

According to Mbeteh, et al., (2020), it has also been noticed that the factors affecting the attitudes of consumers are also depending upon things which were used to be considered earlier. In simpler words, such factors were not just limited to factors that are being considered now as per the current time. According to this, it could be said that there were a lot of factors which were affecting the attitude of customers towards the behaviour of purchasing. However, the major factor was still the concern of health in order to live a healthy life along with fighting such viruses with proper safety and quality provided by the organization in their manufacturing and packaging process of food. These factors related to health were also including the ones which are also interlinked with the factors related to the financial crisis. In the cases of outbreaks or pandemics, people with lesser wages are not able to earn sufficiently in times of crisis. As a result of this, they are also not able to buy the costly products, which also eventually plays the role in affecting the attitude and behaviour of the customers (Mbeteh, et al., 2020).

Research Questions

Furthermore, according to Kim, (2020), health concerns and financial crises are some ways the other main factors in terms of affecting consumer purchasing behaviour; thus, the government has also taken certain steps in order to mitigate such risks or issues. The main goal of the government was to reduce or minimize the number of people being affected by the virus or disease. Implementing the decision of complete lockdown was also the main part of this mitigation. In parallel to this, the government were also working on maintaining the healthy economy of the country for the better or at least sustainable future of the place.

To begin with, the research gap for the aforementioned literature review is that, in the given qualitative data, the majority of the data was generalized. For instance, there were several instances where the authors were talking about either the global level or about the instance that occurred even before the COVID-19 outbreak. Furthermore, the following paper also not included information about the response to the crisis by the big managerial roles working in bigger organizations. Since the reaction of managers was vital to the research concern because such information could have helped the researchers in acknowledging the issues, as well as the mitigation strategies, used by the managers. Moreover, as we know that the main steps taken by the managers are generally in favour of maintaining good and satisfactory behaviour by the consumers. Lastly, it is also required to mention that, the focus of all the people was majorly on the details including media practices and the environment of the market. However, the focus should have been particularly on certain prominent food brands, in order to keep the focus of the research-specific and precise.

It is generally a belief, according to which people can decide how they are going to gather the required data. Research philosophy also helps the researcher to generate an understanding or knowledge regarding the concern of the research. As per the nature of the research philosophies, it is needed to mention that there are three types research philosophies i.e., interpretivism, realism and positivism. The interpretivist philosophy was utilised to conduct this research project because it allowed the researcher to access the perspectives and perceptions of the participants. It aided the researcher in reaching a valid conclusion on the optimal HR methods for gaining employee commitment (Gray, 2013).

Research design is an approach which eventually provides platform or a base for the researchers to look a framework for their further proceeding in the research. According to this particular dissertation, the researcher will be focused on gathering the data from companies which are working in the food manufacturing or food processing businesses and such relatable research papers or articles, so that proper justice to the research could be done. Generally, there are three types of research design methods i.e., quantitative, qualitative and mixed research design. Before selecting any certain design, firstly it is required to go through their nuances, so that an appropriate design as per the dissertation could be selected (Sileyew, 2019).

Rationale

For instance, in the case of quantitative research design, the main focus of the researcher is over the quantity of the responses or data gathered for the research. Here, the data gathered is usually in a numerical and objective format. Such type of data is beneficial for comparison. In addition, in the case of quantitative research design, the data is usually gathered from a survey which is conducted with the help of some samples or participants of the research (Abutabenjeh, & Jaradat, 2018).

Besides that, in the case of qualitative research design, as the name suggests the focus of the research is on the quality of the data gathered or responses collected. Here particularly, the data gathered is in written and subjective format. Moreover, such data is gathered from the process of conducting an interview with prominent people who are in some way or the other related to the concern of the research. In addition, qualitative research design also helps the researcher in gathering the information from secondary or to be precise, previously published papers (Abutabenjeh, & Jaradat, 2018).

Lastly, the third type of research design is the mixed research design. In this particular case, the researcher is having the benefits of bot other types of research design approaches. In simpler words, it is nothing else but a mixture of qualitative and quantitative research design Schoonenboom, & Johnson, 2017).

Here in this, particular paper, the researcher will be using the method of qualitative research design, in order to focus on the quality of the data that will be sued for reaching the conclusion of the paper.

After selecting a suitable research design approach for the research, it is required by the researcher to collect the required information for this research paper. However, to gather such necessary information, data collection method should be used. Generally, there are two types of techniques under the head of data collection method i.e., primary and secondary data collection (Moser, & Korstjens, 2018).

Out of both these above-mentioned methods of data collection, the researcher will be using the method of secondary data collection, especially because of the fact that the data provided by the secondary resources will be authentic and comparatively more valuable. Besides that, another considerable reason for selecting this method is that the primary method of data collection is comparatively costlier than the secondary method. Since the required data can be easily gathered from the secondary resources, especially from books, research papers and journal articles; thus, using the ‘secondary method’ of the data collection will be beneficial for the researcher. Lastly, one more benefit of using the secondary data is that it is comparatively more authentic and valuable, especially because of the fact that these papers are written by certain prominent authors and researchers (Flynn, Albrecht, & Scott, 2018).

Furthermore, while studying about the secondary data collection method, it was found that the data is gathered from previously published papers which are written by well-known authors or researchers. Because of this, the authenticity of the data is comparatively more as compared to others. In addition, the type of papers which are included in such secondary resources is research papers, articles, news articles, journal articles and other relatable and valuable papers (Flynn, Albrecht, & Scott, 2018).

Chapter 2 Literature Review

Lastly, it is also needed to mention here that, the research concern is regarding the change in consumer behaviour after the post COVID-19 era. According to which, while gathering the required information, the researcher will focus on secondary data, specifically for the reason that the data gathered from secondary has more authenticity in comparison to other data collection methods.

Data analysis is a method where the researcher converts the gathered data into valuable and more relatable data, especially into a form which could be further used for concluding the research conclusion as per the aim, objectives and research question of the dissertation. It is also required to mention that, this process of research methodology also helps in evaluating or assessing the consequences of the data used in the research. Generally, there are various methods of data analysis, such as thematic data analysis, statistical data analysis, disclosure data analysis, contextual data analysis and other data analysis methods (Vaismoradi, Turunen, & Bondas, 2013). Here, the researcher will be using the method of thematic analysis, as it will eventually help in focusing on the themes, i.e., prepared as per the objectives of the following paper (Alhojailan, 2012).

Ethics are the standards of doing any activity, without causing any type of harm to anyone. In the case of this research, the researcher will be focused on maintaining the guidelines of the paper provide by the university (Arifin, 2018). Moreover, to provide the proper credits to the sources which provided data for the research, the researcher will offer proper in-text citations and citations in the given paper. Moreover, this will be done in order to make the resources feel their worth in the participation of the research (Arifin, 2018).

In this portion of the research, the researcher will be discussing the themes mentioned above in order to focus over the themes prepared for the research.

To begin with the discussion, it is initially needed to consider the theme of Impact of COVID-19 on customer behaviour. According to which it is required to mention that, the COVID-19 outbreak has changed the intentions, attitudes, and patterns of purchasing of customers, in a very dramatic manner (Vázquez-Martínez, Morales-Mediano, & Leal-Rodríguez, 2021). The main reason which made this global crisis prominent all over the globe is globalization, especially the interconnection between countries and markets as well as the proper and unprecedented digital, social and traditional media. In addition to this, as a result of the above-mentioned information, the COVID-19 crisis has also affected the customer behaviour and customer motivation in a significant manner (Vázquez-Martínez, Morales-Mediano, & Leal-Rodríguez, 2021).

Besides that, the most significant changes in customer behaviour occurred in the areas of items, incentives, and channels. It was also observed that such adjustments were occurring more as a result of customer perceptions than as a result of the real practical situation. Although, in some way or another, since all of the changes in human purchasing behaviour were caused only by the COVID-19 pandemic, the whole shift is being attributed to the COVID-19 outbreak (Kim, 2022).

Impact of COVID-19 On Customer Behaviour

Further, in the other theme, Impact of COVID-19 on customer behaviour in case of food purchasing, it was noticed that, when the COVID-19 epidemic hit, individuals, or more precisely, consumers, were more concerned with how to obtain enough food for themselves so that they did not become caught in a scenario where they couldn’t access food or other essentials for daily living. In the beginning, the situation was dire and intolerable. However, as time passed, things improved and became better than they had been previously (Jones, 2020). People become increasingly interested in both the purchasing and producing processes of food as a result of this circumstance. Because the production and purchasing processes are both directly influenced by people’s health concerns, individuals began double-checking every essential idea following the outbreak (Jones, 2020).

Further, Customer Purchasing Behaviour (CPB) has been discovered to be a difficult concept to grasp and implement. The fact that this idea is dependent on various circumstances, particularly the environment and customers, is one of the main reasons for its complexity. Consumer purchasing behaviour is, in essence, the product of interactions between the environment and customers. Several scholars, however, argue that consumer purchasing behaviour is influenced by a variety of issues, including food safety crises, financial crises, the nation of origin of the crisis, and reputational crises. Consumer attitudes and behaviours have changed as a result of this, regardless of the kind of goods, particularly food products. Few changes developed in popularity throughout time, and others gained popularity quickly but only for a short period.

Chapter 5 – Conclusion

After going through the entire paper, especially the discussion about the considered themes, for the following research, it could eventually be concluded to a point that COVID-19 has very significantly impacted the customer behaviour, especially in terms of the food purchasing practices regarding packaged food. The main reason for the same is that they have realised the need of their own safety, because now the matter fact is if customers still do not consider such cases, then it will lead to more problematic scenarios i.e., death or some serious diseases. In simpler words, earlier people were not aware of such serious issues and hence were not taking such precise care while buying or purchasing any packaged food items. But, as a result of post pandemic affects, especially after facing several significant challenges within a short span of time, people started considering precautions, and preventions at the top most priority.

Moreover, In the case of purchasing packaged food items, a major factor was still the concern of health in order to live a healthy life along with fighting such viruses with proper safety and quality provided by the organization in their manufacturing and packaging process of food. These factors related to health were also including the ones which are also interlinked with the factors related to the financial crisis. In the cases of outbreaks or pandemics, people with lesser wages are not able to earn sufficiently in times of crisis. As a result of this, they are also not able to buy the costly products, which also eventually plays the role in affecting the attitude and behaviour of the customers.

Impact Of COVID-19 On Customer Behaviour In Case Of Packaged Food Purchasing

Lastly, it is also needed to mention that, Customer Purchasing Behaviour (CPB) has proven to be a tough subject to learn and put into practise. One of the key reasons for this idea’s intricacy is that it is dependent on numerous factors, notably the environment and customers. The result of interactions between the environment and customers is consumer purchasing behaviour. Several experts, on the other hand, claim that food safety crises, financial crises, the crisis’s origin country, and reputational crises all impact consumer purchasing behaviour. As a result, consumer attitudes and behaviours have shifted, regardless of the kind of items, notably food products. Few modifications achieved popularity throughout time, and others rose to prominence fast but only for a brief time.

Chapter 6 – References

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