How lockdown has impacted consumer trends

It’s now been almost 8 months since the UK first went into lockdown back in March, and since then, we’ve all started to adapt to what is often referred to as ‘the new normal’. This has been reflected in consumer behaviour, with clear habits and trends beginning to emerge. 

For marketers and brands, understanding these emerging trends offer the opportunity to keep in touch with what consumers are looking for during these ongoing challenging (and different!) times.

Google has recently released some insights into these new consumer trends and behaviours, so let’s take a look.

We’re focusing on our space at home

With us all spending more time than ever at home, it’s no surprise that consumers are spending more time and money on improving their space at home. Whether that’s creating a home office, or sprucing up the kitchen, interest around home making and interior decor is on the up.

What does this mean for brands?:

Brands should focus messaging and content around the home. Even if your brand doesn’t offer decor or home accessories, providing inspiration on how consumers can make the most of their space at home is likely to be of more interest at this time. Maybe that’s how to work more effectively at home, or how to entertain children at home – think about how your brand can help to facilitate a positive home experience.

We’re spending more time in our outdoor space

Did you take up a new hobby during lockdown? If so, you’re not alone, with many people turning their hand to gardening. Search interest around ‘gardening’ increased massively in the UK compared to 2019.

What does this mean for brands?:

Whilst we may not be spending as much time in the garden as we head into the Winter months, it’s clear that lockdown has inspired many of us to try something new. We have the time to focus on expanding our skills and interests, and so brands should adapt content marketing strategies to reflect this – more ‘how to’ blogs or video tutorials are likely to benefit consumers at this time.

We’re focusing on health and wellbeing

With gyms closed during lockdown, we’ve seen consumers look for new ways to keep up their health and fitness regimes from home. Consumers are also looking to stay healthy, perhaps as a way to protect themselves from illness. 

Many of us went outside for more walks, set up home workout spaces or practiced yoga from our living rooms, and this is reflected in a growing interest around activity trackers. 

Mental health has been a huge talking point of the pandemic, as many of us are experiencing some form of anxiety or stress in recent months. We’ve seen people being more open about mental health struggles across social media, and support around the subject looks to be on the up.

What does this mean for brands?:

The pandemic has shown that now is a time for brands to focus their offering and messaging that reflects the need for compassion, self care and well being. Think about which of your products can benefit consumers overall wellbeing, adapt your content strategy around looking after ourselves and one another, and be supportive on social media.

We want to do good

Consumers are starting to look for brands who ‘do good’. Ethical, sustainable and strong brand values have become more important to consumers, with search interest around ‘ethical brands’ increasing this year.

We’re also interested in how brands have reacted to the pandemic in general, and what they’re doing to help their teams, customers, and the wider community to recover from the impact of the pandemic. 

What does this mean for brands?:

How your brand communicates and reacts in times of hardship can directly influence your sales performance. In fact, 65% of people say that a brand’s response to the pandemic will hugely impact their likelihood to buy its products. So now is the time to be mindful of this, particularly when it comes to your social media messaging. Communicate what you’re doing to be helpful, think about what your brand can do to support others.

Whilst things are changing on a day to day basis throughout the pandemic, some of these trends will be here for the foreseeable future, and so it’s worth baring in mind how your brand can react to these trends to adapt to the needs of consumers.

If you’d like to talk to us about your digital marketing strategy and offering, get in touch, we’d love to chat!