IBM Survey Finds Consumers ‘Not Going Back’ to Pre-Pandemic ‘Normal’

When consumers around the world are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, “the daily routine that came screeching to a halt in 2020 will not be reprised, but rather, rearranged,” an IBM study found. Though crowded trains and concert halls were an accepted part of pre-pandemic life, “many people have a new threshold for public interaction and expectations of personal space,” said the company Thursday.

IBM canvassed 15,000 adults in Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India, Mexico, Spain, the U.K. and the U.S. in February, finding 52% said they will change “the extent to which they interact with people outside of their household after they are vaccinated,” said the company. Three in 10 plan to interact with others less than before the pandemic, while slightly more than a fifth (22%) saying they will interact more. People who said they were in crowds or large groups “almost constantly” before the pandemic want to change that lifestyle, with 40% planning to scale back that interaction.

Consumers around the world aren't “open to change” about their work lifestyles even after they’re fully vaccinated, said IBM. It found 62% of employees “want to keep their current work arrangement even after they’re immunized,” it said. For people who work from home, 44% want to continue doing so after they receive the vaccine, and 35% want to move to a hybrid model. For those working in a hybrid model, 57% want to continue and 43% want to try something new.

The survey found “the tides are turning” for the struggling brick-and-mortar retail sector that was hard hit during the pandemic, said IBM. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of respondents who typically visited shopping malls and centers before the pandemic “indicated that they will return to those stores once vaccinated,” it found. Though consumers won’t abandon the online shopping options they became accustomed to during COVID-19 lockdowns, “they expect to buy items in-store and bring them home much more often,” it said. The biggest shifts toward in-person shopping will be in toys, games and hobbies, plus apparel, footwear and accessories. People expect to use curbside pickup “less frequently after they’re vaccinated,” IBM found.

Though the survey results foretell a possible decline “in the proportion of people using online shopping as their primary purchasing method once the vaccine is readily available,” at least one in five consumers plans to continue buying primarily online, said IBM. Convenience is the main reason global consumers will continue to shop online, followed by value and “the wide variety of products available,” it said. In a possibly troubling marker for the return to brick-and-mortar shopping, said IBM, nearly a quarter of consumers in the U.S. and U.K. said “they don’t feel safe shopping in-store and that they don’t find the in-person shopping experience enjoyable anymore.”

For businesses, the survey results signal “a need for more customized customer experiences” once the global population is fully vaccinated, said IBM. “With so much uncertainty and variation involved, a one-size-fits-all approach will most likely miss the mark,” it said. “Organizations need to craft more tailored, segment-specific messages and solutions -- understanding that individual consumers will want different things in different contexts.”

Regardless of how business models may shift in the next few months, the “bottom line” is that consumers are not “going back to normal” as it was pre-pandemic, said IBM. “We’re going forward with different rules, personal preferences, and social norms. And the sooner companies start adapting, the better.”