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

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.