COVID-19 pandemic roles on consumer behaviour towards sustainable transitions: a retail industry survey

In this paper, we offer some initial examination on how Covid-19 pandemic impacted the consumer behaviour towards retail sector in India. We argue that Covid-19 pandemic offers a great opportunity for businesses. We also discuss some potential directions of how consumer sustainable decision making will be shifted to due to the pandemic. In this paper the data is collected from various Indian consumers from different cities who made purchases from organised retail store. In our discussion of consumer behaviour we outline how COVID-19 has impacted retail sector and also the behaviour of the consumers towards sustainable transitions. It has been seen that consumers interest have been shifted towards retailing, online payments, sustainable food habits, and sustainable lifestyle. This study will help the businesses as well the academicians in determining what consumers prefer during this pandemic.

COVID-19 pandemic and behaviour of Indian consumers: a sustainable transition

In this paper, we offer some preliminary examinations of how COVID-19 pandemic affects Indian consumers' behaviour. In this paper, data is collected from various Indian consumers from different cities. 300 consumers are randomly selected to fill the questionnaire. (76 responses are from a semi-urban city in Uttar Pradesh, Aligarh, 70 were from Delhi/NCR, 100 were from Hyderabad and 54 were from Bangalore). We argue that COVID-19 pandemic offers great opportunities for businesses. We also discuss some potential directions of how consumer sustainable decision making has been shifted due to this pandemic. The results show that Indian consumers' interests have been shifted towards online retailing, online payments, sustainable food habits, and a sustainable lifestyle. This study will help the businesses as well the academicians in determining what consumers are preferring during this COVID-19 pandemic. This is the first study conducted in India that addressed the consumers' behaviours at the best knowledge of the authors.

Is Buying Local Food a Sustainable Practice? A Scoping Review of Consumers’ Preference for Local Food

Access to healthy food and the introduction of sustainable nutrition practices are two important issues today. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought new challenges to food security but it has also provided opportunities for local food production. The discussion on local food has been gaining attention in recent years, but there is still a lack of clear understanding of the term ‘local food’ in the literature. The relationship between local food and sustainability issues is still unclear and has various connotations. This discordance leads to further discussions on whether buying local food should be considered a sustainable behavior and whether consumer preference for local food can be perceived as a sustainable practice. A scoping literature review was conducted in order to fill this gap and to shed light on the main tendencies of the scientific literature regarding this topic. The outcomes of the research revealed three dimensions of ‘local food’ definitions in the literature: geographical, geopolitical, and organic;while the problem of a unified local food definition remains open. The studied literature did not show any sound evidence for sustainability attributes in the definition of local food and consumer perception of local food.