The Changing Patterns of Consumers' Behavior in China: A Comparison during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Xiaoling Yuan,Kai Zhao,Xiaoyu Xu,Caijuan Li

doi:10.3390/ijerph18052447

Xiaoling Yuan, Kai Zhao + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18052447

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Abstract

This paper has an opportunity to collect questionnaire-based data regarding respondents’ life choices in China at the peak of COVID-19 outbreak (i.e., around 9–11 March 2020) and in a relatively stable period where the national pandemic was over and the lockdown policy was halted (i.e., around 25–30 March 2020). Comparing respondents’ answers about their most fundamental aspects of life during and after the pandemic, including income level, expenditure structure and level, purchase method, study method, food price and quality, and dining habit, both the descriptive and econometric models reveal that Chinese consumers’ life patterns were not significantly changed. These findings may imply a “new normal” where consumers stick to their new living habits that were forged during the pandemic. Therefore, policy makers have to envisage such an implicative socio-economic change (cost) brought by the implementation of a lock down policy in a long run, in addition to direct and explicit economic losses. However, improving food quality and controlling food price appear to be the strong and stable safety signals to reassure consumers in this complicated environment.

Highlights

The COVID-19 pandemic so far is the most serious global public health event in the 21st century [1]; it has posed drastic threats to public health, and to various essential aspects of human society and the global economy [2]
A T-test is employed as a complementary measure for confirming whether the difference by comparing the results based on the waves 1 and 2 surveys can be attributed to the influence of external factors such as the lockdown policy
Respondents with a decreased income expectation of more than 3000 Chinese yuan accounted for 20% of the total number, and from the perspective of occupational characteristics, private owners, private enterprises and freelancers believed that their income levels were most negatively affected by COVID-19

Summary

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic so far is the most serious global public health event in the 21st century [1]; it has posed drastic threats to public health, and to various essential aspects of human society and the global economy [2]. Stage patients may only have mild symptoms but with large amount of virus in their upper respiratory tracts, and droplets and aerosols are viral vectors which let the virus be bioactive outside the body for a long period of time. It is evident the survival time of COVID-19 on hard and plastic surfaces is at least up to three days [6] and even longer in an environment with low temperatures [7], infection control measures are necessary [8] such as pandemic forecasts [9] or population mobility monitoring [10]

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