COVID-19 Generation: A Conceptual Framework of the Consumer Behavioral Shifts to Be Caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

This paper reviews the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 on global consumer traits, buying patterns, global interconnectedness and psychographic behavior, and other marketing activities. Eschewing the branding of generational cohorts by their birth segments (Baby Boomers, Millennials, Centennials, etc.), this paper focuses upon major historical milestones (JFK assassination, Vietnam War, Iran Hostage Crisis, Terrorism, 2008 worldwide economic contraction) and how those milestones had more effects upon future behavior than simply being born during a certain segment of years and labeling entire cohorts in that manner. The implications of this paper are to suggest to marketers the long-term behavioral shifts we could see from the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, and the resulting shifts in consumer behavior.