I’ve just read a report, dated 9 March, 2021, and rather intriguingly entitled ‘New Shopping Behaviours in Post-Pandemic UK’. You’ve probably guessed it’s predictive. The method it used was to ask a little over 1000 shoppers what their intentions with regards to shopping were once lockdowns were lifted.

A lot of the conclusions are positive for email marketing. The percentage of UK consumers who did at least half of their shopping in person prior to Covid dropped a remarkable 17% during the pandemic. The demand for options, such as local pickup, seems likely to increase and consumers have promised to research availability before attending a physical store.

There will be, the research suggests, a demand for safeguarding options, such as hand sanitisers, contactless payment and social distancing. Perhaps this indicates concern in the minds of consumers as to the efficacy of bumping shoulders and forming tight queues in stores. If so, there is likely to be a number of disappointed customers.

All in all, there is little to surprise, but it’s useful to know how consumers themselves believe post-Covid shopping will develop. Should you consider these replies by shoppers when planning the design of an email marketing campaign? Whether the predictions will materialise is open to question. In the main, the report is indicative of how consumers believe the post-Covid world of shopping will evolve.

It is not too soon, despite the government’s retrenchment on easing lockdown, to start highlighting the benefits of email marketing with regards to their concerns. If you have local stores highlighting local pickup or choosing in-store delivery might be a useful emphasis now. Don’t leave it too late.

The largely accepted prediction on how shoppers’ behaviour will change post-Covid is supported by this report. Email marketing needs to encourage shoppers to use its facilities, so an emphasis on lack of crowding, no unhealthy queueing, paying by card and delivery of the products might prove helpful. After all, it seems this is what they want. Help shape their future conduct now.

The report is available with a simple search using the quoted text above.