If we’ve learned anything this past year, it’s that change is the only constant — but the pandemic both accelerated change and brought on whole new consumer behaviours, priorities and needs that will impact how we innovate for years to come. During 2020, the global pandemic forced consumers, businesses and entire sectors to rethink their priorities and needs in the blink of an eye to meet their short-term needs. While here in the UK a vaccine programme is helping us see the light at the end of the tunnel, there is certainly more change on the horizon for the post-Covid consumer-facing economy.

The pandemic created a perfect storm of factors — the acceleration of already-brewing change and the creation of an entirely new set of consumer behaviours, needs and priorities… and we’re still not sure which of these changes will stick.

This puts most consumer-facing businesses in a difficult position: they will face the dual challenges of both recovery and reinvention — while change is still spinning around us. The need for new propositions with ‘pivot potential’ will be key to thriving in the post-Covid economy.

With this Pivot Potential in mind, tomorrow’s Magnetic Exchange will focus on two key areas: 1) Adapting to accelerating forces of change and 2) Thriving in a reshaping economy.

1. Adapting to accelerating forces of change

Prior to the pandemic hit, seismic change was already bubbling below the surface — and businesses across sectors were already grappling with challenges around a reshaping consumer journey, the digitisation of commerce, the role of technology in our lives, a growing wealth divide, climate change and so much more. In March 2020, these challenges could no longer be ignored, forcing some businesses to make more change in three months than they had in three years to adapt to consumer and colleague needs…including:

The World becomes Digital-first

The pandemic served as an inflection for digital commerce and convenience culture as Amazon thrived, while UberEats, Deliveroo, Tiktok, Netflix and DisneyPlus became a way of life. While retailers of all sizes struggled to reach true digital seamlessness, Shopify triumphed. In May 2020, new stores created on Shopify’s e-commerce platform rose 62 per cent compared with 2019 and now this giant is worth more than £82 billion. While hospitality, airlines and fitness gyms floundered, Peloton brought high-end fitness into the home to the tune of a £3.3 billion valuation. Now that consumers across generations and geographies have come to expect full digitalisation and convenience, how can traditional brands and retailers keep up? What should they leave behind to leapfrog into this new economy?

The Evolving Consumer Mindset

Lockdown life also had a big impact on consumer needs and priorities, with more consumers rethinking their spending, buying less and buying more sustainably, and demanding transparency and ethical commitments from their favourite brands. Sales of organic foods rose both in the UK and the US and Accenture found that 60% of consumers worldwide were reporting making more environmentally friendly, sustainable, or ethical purchases since the start of the pandemic. With consumers demanding both convenience and ethical practices, how will brands be able to balance these two priorities post-pandemic?

2. Thriving in a reshaping economy

C-19 has also created a whole new set of social movements, economic shifts, reprioritisation of time and spending which will shape the consumer-facing world for years to come. We will discuss which shifts we believe to be ‘permanent’, and how organisations have created new propositions to thrive in this emerging new economy.

Pivots become Permanent

As retail, food and beverage, hospitality and events companies scrambled to adjust to new consumer behaviours in 2020, many of those pivots are becoming a permanent part of many organisations’ business models. As an example, both Crosstown Donuts and Pizza Pilgrims in the UK experimented with home kits and delivery in 2020 and are now rewiring their operations to meet newfound demand. Crosstown Donuts has experimented with ‘dark retail’ delivery hubs in Walthamstow and Cambridge as they saw online orders in 2020 rise by 600% — they now plan to open delivery hubs across the country. Similarly, Pizza Pilgrims restaurant created ‘Pizza in the Post’ at-home cooking kits in lockdown, and has now opened a permanent production facility in Herne Hill to ‘meet the evolving demands of the UK population.’ With these in mind, which facets of a brand’s business model should be sidelined to make way for this new economy?

Fickle Consumers, Uncertain Demand

While the pandemic saw a huge rise in personal hygiene products, toilet rolls and a host of other coveted products, as soon as lockdown eased, the market saw demand and predictability recede. Supply chains have suffered, customer loyalties have waned and country by country, brands from bread to luxury handbags are struggling to see where consumer sentiment, attitudes and demand will land. With a broad set of uncertainties, how can we make our offerings more flexible, agile and responsive to changing needs, whims and attitudes of consumers while wrestling with supply chain struggles in a post-Covid world?

We’re looking forward to an exciting discussion and can’t wait to hear your perspectives on this changing consumer landscape of 2021 and beyond. Join us and add your voice to the discussion!