engleski

DOES CORONAVIRUS CHANGE BUYERS’ PREFERENCES AND INDUCE CONSUMER ETHNOCENTRISM – THE NEED FOR STRATEGIC REORIENTATION?

The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has affected global supply chains and usual flow of goods and services. Also, buyers’ behavior seems to be affected as well, what implies the need for strategic reorientation of both domestic and multinational companies. This paper explores whether the buyers’ preferences in Croatia have changed and how coronavirus did affected their attitudes towards foreign products and did it induce consumer ethnocentrism. Also the buyers’ awareness of the benefits for the local economy when buying domestic products is analyzed. We have conducted online survey among Croatian buyers and done frequency analysis and Pearson´s Chi-square test. Finally, we have analyzed data on type of shopping structure considering given group of products. Our results show that buyers are aware of benefits of buying domestic products and awareness rises with the level of education. However, no signs of consumer ethnocentrism development due to coronavirus can be observed. Considering change of habits, results of our analyses show that there are no general changes in habits. Still, regarding demographic characteristics women tend to change their buying habits due to coronavirus. Finally, data on structure of retail turnover in stores by type imply that buyers’ prefer more online shopping, especially regarding clothing and footwear sector. The obtained results can be used by firm’s decision makers to better adapt their business model to the needs of their consumers.

coronavirus, buyers’ preferences, consumer ethnocentrism, online shopping, strategy

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