The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated innovation among companies in the consumer, retail and tourism industries, and 95% of consumers have made at least one permanent change in their lifestyle in the last year, according to the latest study by Accenture, remiss Friday AGERPRES.
“Working from home, changing travel habits and a growing desire to shop locally are a challenge for companies, which need to rethink how they approach the consumer adapted to the pandemic,” the survey authors said.
A survey of more than 9,650 people from 19 countries supports Accenture’s previous findings that many behavioral changes will be long-term.
“The effects of the pandemic will be felt for a long time and will be a testament to the need for consumer-oriented companies to be agile, resilient and responsive to change. Out of disaster and need, opportunities arise. The pandemic has triggered a new wave of innovation. As companies rethink fundamentally business plans to generate growth, many use advanced analytical capabilities to identify, respond to and target changing consumption trends.For example, the British brewing company Brewdog responded with agility and creativity throughout the crisis – moved to hand sanitizer production, created virtual bars, set up Brewdog Drive-Thru and redefined physical locations to create workspaces in collaboration with Desk Dog, “said Oliver Wright, senior executive and director of the global Accenture group for consumer goods industry.
According to the study, the COVID-19 pandemic led to a “compressed transformation, with companies simultaneously changing several departments and retraining people into what were previously longer-term step-by-step programs.”
“Many consumer-oriented companies have moved their business to the cloud, resolved cost pressures and continued to strengthen their resilience and security, fine-tuning infrastructure to enable innovation and position themselves for success,” the study said. .
At the same time, the pandemic meant a quick transition to working from home, with many employees expressing a desire for flexibility in how and where they continue to work. Thus, more than three-quarters (79%) of respondents said they would like to work occasionally from a “third space” – a location other than home or work – and more than half said they would willing to pay up to $ 100 a month out of their own pockets to work at a cafe, bar, hotel, or retailer with a dedicated space. This highlights a potential opportunity to increase revenue for those working in the hotel and retail industry.
“The desire to work from a ‘third space’ is accompanied by a change in attitudes towards business travel. Half (46%) of respondents said they have no plans to travel for business after the pandemic or intend to to halve this type of travel “, the survey also shows.
At the same time, current prospects indicate that return to travel will resume mainly in the recreational segment, pushing the industry to adapt and become even more efficient in recovering lost revenue.
“The pandemic has forced ‘creative pragmatism’, especially for tourism and hospitality companies struggling to find additional revenue streams during the crisis. Some hotels have turned rooms into pop-up restaurants, while others have experimented with offering temporary offices for customers looking for a ‘third space’ to work in. Although there have been some experiments, companies need to expand these new services and address renewed traveler attention to health and safety, for example, using the cloud to help to contactless interactions, “said Emily Weiss, executive director and head of Accenture’s global tourism industry group.
Not only do people believe that some of their work habits and travel plans have probably changed permanently, but many also believe that their shopping habits have evolved over the long term. The latest research supports Accenture’s previous findings that significant growth in e-commerce will remain or continue to accelerate. For example, the proportion of online purchases of products such as food, home decor, fashion and luxury products by users less accustomed to e-commerce – defined as those who used online channels for less than 25% of pre-pandemic purchases – increased by 343%.
According to the quoted source, the online purchases of new users have increased as follows: 333% for home cooking food, 347% for alcoholic beverages, 319% for interior decoration, 375% for clothing and footwear, 360% for electronics, 314% for food at package or deliveries from restaurants, 350% for personal care and cosmetics, 341% for DIY tools and materials, and 315% for luxury products.
“Retailers have quickly adapted to the growth of e-commerce and are using technology to serve customers in new ways. Many have adopted new technologies, such as augmented reality, to recreate the store’s physical experience and help shoppers see better. a room of furniture or an outfit, while others have converted closed stores into local warehouses with collection and packaging technologies.Even in a post-pandemic world, companies will have to satisfy consumers ’appetite for fast-paced online shopping. become more anticipatory of the investments they will make in their people, supply chains, physical stores and digital channels to be well positioned to drive growth, “said Jill Standish, CEO and head of the group. global Accenture retail industry.
Accenture Consumer Research COVID-19 tracks the changing attitudes, behaviors and habits of consumers around the world as they adapt to a new reality during the COVID-19 pandemic. The last stages of this survey were conducted between November 28 – December 10, 2020 and February 25 – March 5 on samples of 12,487 and 9,653 consumers from 19 countries on five continents: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UAE, United Kingdom, USA.
Accenture is a global professional services company with top capabilities in digital, cloud and security.
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