- The pandemic, the war, inflation, and the energy crisis have all marked the behavior of the online consumer. These contexts dictate the needs in the market today, but they can also show the growth and adaptation trends necessary for your business in a new reality. Knowing them will help you be flexible as a business owner and come up with the right marketing messages.
Thus, a whole avalanche of psycho-social and economic factors determined a new attitude toward consumption in Eastern Europe. In the following, we will analyze the new beliefs and paradigms that have dictated what content consumers consume and what purchasing behavior the customer has in the digital environment:
- Consumers have rethought their spending, through awareness and putting a strong emphasis on personal values – yes, people have related to more responsible brands, with CSR, storytelling, quality content marketing, and those that know how to communicate with empathy.
- Buyers began to look for alternative ways to purchase the necessary goods. Here are just a few of the trends that seem to be here for the long term: virtual concerts, door-to-door delivery by small local producers, and supporting small entrepreneurs. For these very reasons, video content has exploded and continues to be more relevant than ever. And online sales are still on an upward trend.
- Second-hand items are no longer a taboo – it seems that the pandemic has erased the barriers, including in Eastern Europe, on the side of second-hand clothes, so now brands that deal with second-hand are on the rise.
Suburbs and rural settlements are still a haven for the soul – access to green spaces, remote work, products, and services closer to their homes – it seems that all these trends are preserved. - People are learning to anchor themselves more and more in the here and now – the emphasis has been on self-development, learning foreign languages, meditation, well-being courses, etc. Crises are also seen as spaces for opportunities, from another angle.
- Online shopping was, moreover, also an important source of dopamine for internet users, and gathering on social media in communities based on interests was an incentive to buy even more, without reservations or resentment, but from a clear feeling and univocal: "I deserve." Content generated by users, promoting commercial brands themselves, also contributed enormously to this trend.
- More and more good content is being consumed – Video interviews, podcasts, entertainment shows – all can build quality brand content to help companies increase their brand recognition and engage in educating a better society.