A broad range of surveys and research initiatives are underway around the world to understand how COVID-19 is impacting society and consumers.
Here we update an earlier article listing some of the initiatives that highlight the enormous need for insight into how consumers are responding in these fast-changing times. New and unprecedented topics include how attitudes have been changed by the pandemic, which changes are more long-term as well as people’s expectations regarding a ‘new normal’.
BASIS RESEARCH has launched a ‘Mood Tracker’: a longitudinal study designed to understand how consumers in the UK and USA are adjusting to COVID-19 and the potential long-term implications for brands. It includes weekly waves of insight, integrating qualitative and quantitative findings on how people’s lives are changing, what’s on their minds, how it is driving other behaviours and attitudes and a deep-dive on how behavioural needs for specific categories are changing, with a different category each week.
BEHAVIOURAL ECONOMY applies behavioural models to data which is available via social, search, traffic, statistical and other data sources, to find out how the crisis affects customers, employees and other stakeholders.
BFA GLOBAL has survey results of over 1,400 respondents in seven countries (India, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa, UK, and the US) showing how people at the bottom of the pyramid are dealing with COVID-19 and its impact on their finances. The survey instrument is available to the public in English and Spanish, so that other researchers may add to this dataset.
BRANDWATCH has an ongoing query on COVID-19 running in its Consumer Research social media listening platform looking at daily and weekly changes in consumer thoughts and feelings with daily and weekly email bulletins. It also has weekly survey data through its mobile survey tool.
CINT has published information on the impact of COVID-19 on supply and demand in market research as at the start of March in Australia, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain, the UK and the US. The company has also published a more recent study looking at which brands responded well during the crisis according to consumers in the UK.
DVJ has been measuring to what extent people in Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK are worried about the coronavirus and which measures have been taken, together with the consequences for people’s purchasing behaviour.
DYNATA’s Global Consumer Trends COVID-19 Special Report: The new normal, help to uncover which changes in consumer behaviors might be temporary and which ones could become permanent with interviews in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Singapore, Spain, the Netherlands, the UK, and the USA between April and May. Reports include Walking a Fine Line: Brand Messaging During the Crisis available here, A Breakthrough for Contactless Payments, Our Changing Work Lives and Telemedicine: Here to Stay?, Healthcare Insider Report: COVID-19, are available here
ENGINE INSIGHTS is conducting regular online omnibus surveys with 1000 adults selected from opt-in panels surveyed each time with results weighted to US census data to be demographically representative. The company provides weekly updates on social distancing, likeliness to visit stores and other locations, as well as key concerns and whether restrictions should be relaxed.
EUROMONITOR INTERNATIONAL is tracking online product availability and price in 40 countries during the COVID-19 crisis with its new Via tool. The data reflects daily updates and is available on a daily, weekly and monthly basis focusing on the FMCG industry. A new COVID-19 scenario tool covering 54 countries is also available to assess the short and long term effects on the coronavirus has impacted the top consumer megatrends.
FINE RESEARCH has run a physician study in Latin American covering over 5000 doctors in 16 countries. The research, completed online, via Fine’s medical community, aims to understand the main challenges faced by doctors in the midst of the pandemic including how the number of patients has changed, how the situation has impacted doctors emotionally and future scenarios healthcare professionals imagine will be likely to happen.
GfK is providing a Resource Centre with a Consumer Pulse report with access to single country reports across 30 markets. Included are weekly updates to understand consumer perceptions and how consumers’ purchasing patterns and media consumption have changed during lockdown with emerging new patterns. The report also covers the immediate as well as short and mid-term impact across major industries with projections on what to anticipate next.
GLOBALWEBINDEX has a fourth multi-market release examining how consumer sentiment is impacted as restrictions continue to ease in some places and more countries enter a recovery phase. Fielded in 20 countries in May, the study takes the pulse in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, South Africa, Singapore, Spain, the UK and the US. The report provides an updated view on many themes covered previously, while examining what the “new normal” could look like.
GONGOS has expanded its consumer sentiment microsite by partnering with DISQO to analyze online behavioral data through the lens of 10,000 Americans’ browser activities. The aim is to gain human sentiment and behavior through combining behavioral data (via passive online tracking technology) with primary research data (via surveys) in nine categories, work and school, finances, hobbies and entertainment, social connections, health & fitness, knowledge and information, food an cooking, home, auto and discretionary goods and travel.
HOTSPEX interviewed 100 insight leaders in 100 days since the crisis started in six markets including Brazil, France, the UK and US, to understand the impact of the pandemic on different businesses and how insight leaders are responding. More information here.
Ignite 360 is running Navigating to a New ‘Normal’ – a hybrid longitudinal study with weekly 1-hour IDIs with 14 US consumers that are cross-demographics and geographies, coupled with an ongoing detailed quant tracker reporting out on a 1, 3 and 7-day basis with a nationally representative sample of n=1,250 adult 18+ respondents per week including Spanish-language augment. The study covers how people are adapting to the impact of the pandemic, as well as what ‘normal’ looks like – from shopping and leisure activities to trust in information and media sources, and views of recommended safety measures.
INSITES CONSULTING launched a global qualitative online community with 102 consumers from 13 countries at the beginning of April. Throughout the lockdown period, consumers have discussed how their thoughts, feelings and behaviors have changed, on topics including shopping, self-care, the environment and everyday life. They also highlight their expectations for the coming months and the impact of newly ingrained social distancing habits.
IPSOS is tracking public perceptions and behavioural response in 14 markets. The weekly ESSENTIALS data includes behaviours, financial impact, counter measures and attitudes to help businesses anticipate the future stages as markets go through the different phases including the reopening of businesses. The study is conducted on the Global Advisor online platform among 28,000 adults in Australia, Brazil, Canada China, France, Germany, Italy, India, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Vietnam, the UK and US.
JP MORGAN has published Eye on the market, a report detailing credit and debit spending, national spending, mobility data, hotel occupancy rates, mortgage applications and other key indicators for the US. The data is drawn from select internal anonymised Chase transaction data, JHU, JPMAM as well as the US Census Bureau and Redbook Research.
KANTAR is running a COVID-19 Barometer – a syndicated study on how the pandemic is influencing consumer behaviour, attitudes and expectations. The research surveys over 100,000 consumers in more than 60 markets. The study looks at the impact on purchase behaviour, and when and how will people return to pre-COVID activities and the impact on brands and purchases. The company also launched an opinion survey of 7,000 participants in the G7 nations, exploring how citizens view their governments’ actions.
KASI INSIGHT’S COVID-19 survey tracks African consumer attitudes and behaviours, what changes they are making to their lives and how it will impact brands and businesses. The company is conducting over 3,200 interviews across Cameroon Ghana, Kenya, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania. Survey findings are available in a free monthly report.
KOKORO’s CoronaWatch sentiment tracker covers France, Germany, the UK and the US. It measures overall sentiment towards the virus, actions taken to prevent it, changes in consumption patterns, brands being turned to/ignored and why plus responses to how brands are communicating with consumers.
LEGER is conducting a weekly survey of Canadians on topics such as whether the government has done enough to respond to the situation, and how common behaviour has been impacted including travel, the practice of social distancing and shopping habits to help governments, businesses and citizens better understand attitudes and behaviours during the crisis.
MARKET CUBE has launched national-wide insights research to capture the views of over 350,000 people in the USA and the UK. Weekly reports include how people are coping during the pandemic with shopping and spending patterns, fears and concerns, challenges and worries on the work front and views about health insurance and voter opinion for the upcoming US election.
MARU ‘s COVID-19 tracker looks at changing consumer behaviour in Canada, the UK and the US. Results are available daily or weekly and include views on the economy, personal finances, mental and physical health and daily activities including media consumption.
MERCER is tracking how businesses are responding to the pandemic. Questions cover current and future impact on business, how are companies returning to the workplace and continuing to manage the impact of COVID-19, preparing for return to work, compensation and incentives. The global surveys are updated with new questions on a monthly basis.
LUTH RESEARCH is running a weekly tracker from its community of panelists, based on a sample weighted to the demographics of the US online population. Topics include expectations for how long it will take for the virus to start declining in the US, return to normal spending patterns and categories where spending is higher, less or the same.
NIELSEN is tracking the impact of COVID-19 on consumer sentiment and behaviour in FMCG, retail and media in over 70 markets. Areas covered include market sentiment, changes in shopping behaviour, travel behaviour and the impact on leisure and business travel and categories on demand as different markets are planning and testing their exit strategies from restrictions.
NPD, which provides sales tracking data covering stores and e-commerce, has a web section dedicated to COVID-19 analysis on topics such as merchandise and restaurant transactions, retail in sports and DIY projects in the US. It also includes a consumer sentiment study in China comparing spending patterns before and after the crisis and channel preference in a range of segments.
OMI is conducting measurement of public opinion and attitudes regarding COVID-19 and its influence on the life of Russians. The data represents an online audience in cities with a population of over 100,000 people by gender and age, and looks at topics such as the impact of the economic crisis, responses to the lock-down including support for measures taken.
PULSAR has a #NewNormal dashboard identifying and tracking emerging trends in consumer behaviour in response to COVID-19. The analysis is based on millions of online conversations across social media, search, forums and news websites The company publishes weekly snapshots in the new normal trends dashboard highlighting cultural shifts and insights using data from social media, search, news and web analytics.
RAKUTEN INSIGHT has conducted research using its own panel with approx. 2.2 million members to understand the impact of COVID-19 in Japan.
RESPONDI’s #stayhome diary series depicts, in real time, the consequences of the pandemic using quantitative and passive metering methodologies. Data sources include polls on confidence in government measures, browsing data and surveys to compare how habits are changing, whether website topics have returned to pre-COVID levels, and changes in online and working behaviour across France, Germany and the UK.
RTI RESEARCH is running a twice-weekly study of American attitudes and behavior to track how attitudes and spending behaviors are changing, including consumer choices as things open up again.
SAVANTA is offering a survey and trackers on changing shifts in attitudes and behaviours during the COVID-19 crisis. These include a daily tracker of UK adults, a weekly tracker of UK and US consumers, trackers covering businesses in the UK (bi-weekly) and US (weekly), and a quarterly omnibus focused on wealthy people in the UK, US and China.
SKIM conducted pricing research to determine the differences in consumer preferences and price sensitivities before and during the crisis, re-fielding large pricing studies in Europe and the US. The studies sought to answer whether and how price elasticities changed during the pandemic, are consumers making purchase decisions differently and how does price sensitivity vary across categories and countries? The meta-analysis combining eight pricing studies across CPG (consumer packaged goods) categories covers 87 brands in Europe and the US.
STREETBEES is running a COVID-19 Human Impact Tracker which looks at 45+ countries to help brands compete in the post COVID-19 world. The Return to Life Monitor looks at potential growth opportunities as consumers settle to a new normal with a bi-weekly dashboard updates and monthly customer reports plus access to historical data since the start of the outbreak.
SYSTEM1 has a weekly 15-country tracker to capture how people are responding to the pandemic around the world including some markets which are beginning to come out of lockdown. Metrics include national mood, issues such as routine changes and perception of government action as well as ads and initiatives that ‘are getting it right’ using data from the company’s ad testing service. The company has tested and analysed 500+ Coronavirus ads.
TOLUNA, HARRIS INTERACTIVE & KURUNDATA are running a bi-weekly online Coronavirus Barometer with consumers in 18 countries to understand the impact of the virus on daily life. Topics include levels of concern over getting essential supplies, caring for dependents, the impact on wider society, support from employers, governments and local communities and expectations in entering the new normal. Industry specific reports are also available.
YOUGOV is conducting an international tracker interviewing more than 27,000 people across 29 markets, with results forming part of a larger survey series covering various topics ranging from brands to politics including perceptions of how well governments have handled the crisis. The company is also conducting research in France, Germany, APAC, the UK and the USA, on how the pandemic is affecting businesses.
ZAPPI has conducted research on how COVID-19 is impacting consumer responses to advertising and innovation testing in across CPG categories in 11 countries. This includes questions to understand what consumers are finding offensive in advertising, to better understand if there are issues stemming from the pandemic.
For more studies, especially those covering single markets, go to ESOMAR’s COVID-19 Reports site.
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