Initial impact assessment of Covid-19 on retailing: Changing consumer behaviour and retail trade sales

As a result of concerns about the long-term sustainability of globalized retail trade and the stronger presence of health conscious consumer behaviour, governments and groups of conscious consumers worldwide are increasingly focusing on the promotion and development of local food systems and small-scale retail chains and the production of quality local food products to promote the market. In our paper, we would like to give an overview of community-led alternative types of local food systems, with particular attention to shopping community-type consumer and consumer communities. We also describe the main results of our primary research in the population and the shopping community. During the questionnaire we revealed general consumer behaviour and the demand and attitude of local food, the popularity of the customer communities in the settlement of the respondents. In the survey conducted among members of the consumer community, we looked at the analytical areas designated as a target in the population questionnaire for the purpose of comparability and our aim was to explore the sociometrics and lifestyles of communities as well as their community experiences and possible developments. Our hypothesis is that there is a close correlation between the respondents with higher education and income and the preferences of local food. Furthermore, it is assumed that there is a significant difference between the food consumption behaviors of the two samples examined.

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Small Shops and Department Stores

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199561216.013.0014 ◽

2012 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Heinz‐Gerhard Haupt

Keyword(s):

Consumer Behaviour ◽

Consumer Preferences ◽

Consumer Attitudes ◽

Retail Trade ◽

Department Stores ◽

Global History ◽

Process Of Urbanization ◽

Self Service ◽

The Impact

Recent studies have carefully analysed the role of small shops and department stores, placing the emergence of department stores within the context of the broader changes that took place in the retail trade. This article looks at changes in the constellation of the retail trade, stressing the importance of consumer behaviour as both a factor influencing the trade and as a product of changes in the trade itself. It draws attention to the influence of the organization of shops upon consumers, and the effect of consumer attitudes upon the structure and appearance of the retailing trade. Furthermore, the article examines how much consumers adjusted to changing conditions of trade and the development of new retailing regimes, as well as the degree to which the trades themselves reacted to conditions in the labour market, the process of urbanization, and changes in consumer preferences. Finally, it discusses the triumph of self-service and supermarkets, the impact of retailing on time and space, the politics of retailing, and retailing as part of global history.

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