Retail & consumer behavior in the post-Covid era

Some retailers like Macy’s and Footlocker

are scrambling to leave their big stores in malls behind and find space for smaller outlets in open-air locations or even strip malls, while beauty retailers like Sephora and ULTA are opening shops-in-shop within big-box retailers like Target and Kohl’s.

On the other end of the spectrum, DTC brands

are by nature more agile and ready to adapt to new market conditions. Some are trying to access a new customer base through big-box retailers, like Harry’s at Target and Modern Fertility at Walmart, while others are thriving by thinking outside the box.

Furniture start-up Outer got dubbed ‘the Airbnb of retail’ when it used customers’ homes as showrooms. In order to overcome the lack of retail space amidst the pandemic, the brand invested in technology that connects prospective customers with existing customers who can show them the products in their own space and get compensated for it. The result? $ 12 million in sales.

Consumers,

on the other hand, are now forced to spend a bigger percentage of their day behind screens in order to do everything, from grocery shopping to connecting with work colleagues and everything in between.

As a result, the adaptation of dark mode has accelerated across all devices and apps in a bid to protect their tired eyes and help them endure longer exposure to blue light (cue the blue light glasses).

Being online for more hours per day means that they’re also discovering more DTC businesses as they have more time to explore, and they make more purchases! But that doesn’t mean they like being ‘sold to’.

Consumers continue to avoid being bombarded with multiple messages from various brands and have leaned heavily into Amazon, where they can shop cross-categories in a straightforward, fuss-free environment.

If these behaviors will remain after a sense of normality is restored remains to be seen.