The Pandemic’s effect on Consumers’ behavior

 

The world has changed since early 2020 when the virus was first discovered. It's now more than a year today and situation has not changed any better. In fact I am in the beginning of the second wave and the situation looks grim. The pandemic has upended life for people across the globe, from how we live, work and the way we socialize. Despite fluctuations in the pandemic the overall level of impact it has on the consumer has remained high. Experts say that the world will never be like before. We ought to change and adapt to the “new normal”. This pandemic has indefinitely altered societies and economics around the world and has hit various sectors of society in different ways.  This unprecedented situation has totally changed the everyday life of consumers and has dramatically changed how businesses act and consumers behave. The current situation has made many consumers reconsider their established buying and shopping habits and even forced many to learn a new one and get used to the ongoing trend. There is now a definite need for retail marketers to watch the changes in consumers’ shopping behaviour and habits. They have to try and learn the changes in strategies that they need to adopt and cater to the needs of their customers.  

A consumers' choice can be can significantly affected when the customers learn about the scarcity of products. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, consumers have showed stockpiling behaviours that are significantly unusual from their usual traditional shopping behaviour. Furthermore, new regulations imposing social distancing have a further vast impact on consumers’ favoured channel for shopping. The surprise addition to this is that the older and less digitally-savvy consumers have started learning and enjoying online shopping, welcoming the safety offered by technology. Consumers are switching to online purchases because it offers the safety and benefits of home deliveries and also cashless payment. The lockdowns have certainly caused disruptions and triggered behavioural responses in the minds of the people.  

In the past we have read about the major transformations that happen during times of crisis. People now are deeply concerned about the impact of this virus, both from a health and an economic perspective. When it comes to shopping, a significant number of people are making online purchases more frequently during this pandemic than they did before, and less than 30% are shopping in person at stores. This shows the drastic change in consumers’ behaviour. Research shows that the virus and its consequences has led to fears, worries and anxiety and has become one of the major factors impacting the health and wellbeing of individuals worldwide. 

Online store keepers have to think of a different approach when they deal with buyers who are not comfortable with online shopping. Especially in their purchase decision-making, fear for health, play an important role. Marketing communication and the retailing process have to address their fears and reduce the risks connected with the shopping process. Retailers have to produce after-sale services in order to have the customer happy. The e-commerce sector has responded rapidly to the challenge of creating positive experiences during this pandemic. Companies have widened their product ranges. This has attracted large numbers of consumers, and this will make many of them continue to buy online for a long period of time. E- commerce retailers  that provide positive experiences are likely to last longer, particularly those driven by a customer-centric approach with good customer service. 

 

The god’s we make

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. I grew up reading the Bible knowing the existence of God based on how it is recorded in the Bible. I believed in a God who was self existing from time immortal. This God whom I know was not created, but I believe is the creator of everything. No one made Him a God, but He is that supreme power that He is.

The perception of this supernatural being called God which I have picturized within me, seems to be so different from what many have in this country. This ‘God’, I now see, seems that He can be easily created. The things I learnt growing up are different from what it is now. I realized now that becoming god is easy in the land where I live in.

Easy steps to become God:

1. Become a master blaster cricketer:

In a nation obsessed by the game of cricket, all you need to do is to become a very good batsman. Score loads of runs even if your team loses the match. All you have to do is to play cricket all your life. Money and fame will be at your door step. You will be crowned ‘The God of Cricket’.  

          Requirement: Have a strong, fit body. 

2. Start acting:

Entering the film industry would be the best idea if you ever thought of becoming a God. If you become a superstar, you become a god. People will build places of worship for you. Most of the actors and actress have these things built for them.

Requirement: Should be born in a wealthy family. Fair/dark skin,                                 fat/muscular body not needed.  

3. Enter politics:

You become popular and powerful when you become a politician. Place of worships are built for politicians and they are worshiped.

          Requirement: Should be good in convincing masses. Should be an                              exception in knowing all the crooked ways. If you’re                              good at cheating, then this is the right choice. 

4. Dress less and Meditate more:

Yes, if you dress less, wearing minimal clothes and sit under a tree motionless for some days, you are in for a surprise when you open your eyes. People would have built a place of worship around you and would be performing spiritual rituals to you. This too, like the above is a very enticing way to become god.

The common result for all the above ways is that fame, money and power are guaranteed which come along with a ‘god’ status. So, isn't it easy?

Analyzing this issue:

I pondered on this for many days trying to understand this whole concept of who god is? Why does a man believe that another commoner, the same human as he is, is a superhuman being? The answer is simple. The search for god, is what makes him do all these things.

The quest for peace, joy, love and happiness ends with God. When man realizes this, he starts searching for God. This search makes him go to extends where he ends up doing the same old things as before if, he does not end up on the right path which is, as recorded in the Holy scriptures’, as Jesus said ‘’I am the way, the truth, and the life:’’

*this article is written not to target any religion or community but solely for the purpose of helping a person to analyze his life.   

Save life - Written for Help a child of India

With nearly 20 million homeless children, out of which 10 million are girls, India’s future stands at the brink of a lost path. In spite of several measures and strict laws, safety and security of women continue to be the concern across the country. The episodes of Nirbhayas and Abhayas exposes how unprotected are girl children, particularly those who dream of pursuing education and employment in a city not known to them. Attacks and abuses are unabated. One incident follows another with spine-chilling details. It is a stab through the heart to hear of every instance when a woman has been traumatised.

Some alarming facts:

• 12 out of 100 girls are forced into child labor
• 18 out of 100 girls are married off before they turn 15.
• 1 out of 4 girl children go through abuse (Physical/ emotional/ Sexual)
   before the age of 4.

Many children growing up on the peripherals of the society become victims of various kinds of abuses - sexual, physical and emotional. Unlike few fortunate children who enjoy a decent life, many are deprived of safety, love, affection and supervision of adults. Many children walk around with empty stomachs. All the bad elements in the society misuse such innocent children and they are forced into child labor, abuse, drug abuses and also into anti social acts.

Help a Child of India after intensive research in a quest to address these issues, have identified 10 Urban Agglomerates where we will work for the protection and wellbeing of girl children. They are 

Amritsar  |  Ghaziabad  |  Guwahati  |  Vishakhapatnam  |  Surat
Patna  |  Pune  |  Ranchi  |  Coimbatore  |  Ernakulum

There is a great mission that is ahead of us “Caring for the Girl Child”. Our focus is to help empower underprivileged women and girls in India through personal safety and physical self-defence training. We need your support and contribution for this venture.

No girl – No mother – No life.  So,

Join us and Help a Girl child live in dignity.

http://www.helpachildofindia.org/

Touch one child’s life and inspire a million - Help A Child in India

When I had a cup of coffee it was 4 in the morning. No sun rays had peed out from the clouds yet. The roads were calm and the night had not faded away. But there was this young mother of a 2 year old girl child trying to make herself and the baby comfortable admits the pile of stones that were stocked in front of a construction site. The building next to our home happened to be that place. That evening I walked up to the place where the construction was going on and enquired her whereabouts. Those workers had come from different places of India as daily wages. The next day in the afternoon she and some workers came to my house and asked for water. As I gave them a bottle to drink, she smiled and told that her name was Salim. She seemed to be in her early 20's. 

Many like Salim are burdened of parenting a child at a very young age. These children suffer from malnutrition. They never get the opportunity to go to school as their parents ( In most cases single mothers) leave their home towns and travel distant places for a living. They don’t find a permanent resting place of their own, instead build beautiful luxury homes for others all through their life.

The worst affected are these toddlers. They are born on the streets and live life like a vagabond with a high risk percentage of becoming into a notorious criminal or fall prey to poverty and hunger. These little victims of bad destiny, for no fault of theirs except for being born into a poor undesired, marginalised society, suffer without proper shelter, food, clothing, education and a decent upbringing. For a crime they are not part off, these children are exposed to pollution, all kinds of diseases, sexual harassment (Which is common in our country now a days), torture (In case of child labour which is also a major concern in this country), unclean drinking water and many other threats. In these, some of which like sexual harassment and child labour, continue for generations where a select community of people are underlined and branded that they are born to undergo these kinds of inhumane brutalities. 

   

Are we all not born with the same blood as those innocent infants are? Is it not our responsibility to bring a change in the lives of our fellow brothers and sisters?

Help a child in need and enjoy the smile on its face. There are many not even able to find a daily wages job. Their life ends in their small unapproachable village where only poverty laughs loud in those lands. Touch one child’s life and inspire a million. You can do so by contributing just Rs.500/- per month.

please visit the below web site

http://www.helpachildofindia.org/

 http://www.helpachildofindia.org/donate-money-gifts.html

Are we Mourning or Dancing?

I wanted to write on this issue a long time back, but I just dint get the right words to express my inner most feelings as it was hurt by a lot of cruel and unhealthy criminal contributions by our whole national system towards women who are considered the sacred identity of God.

There are a large section of people who stood up against some evil doors demanding justice for poor Nirbhaya. But what happens to the other thousand Ms X, Mrs Y’s? With a deliberate intention I coated the other victims of this cruel act with different prefixes. Yes, the young and the old are all sufferers of such viciousness and their cry gets disappeared into thin air even before it could reach their roofs. Some die even before they could cry. Their identities are lost and gone for ever.

Marry young, escape rape: Haryana ex-CM, Om Prakash Chautala backs Khap Panchayats call to lower marriageable age to 16. – Hot news making rounds in all the media.

If such is the mind set of these political leaders of this worlds largest democratic nation, then how can justice be without bias?

This is the anger of a real living soul. An rage suppressed by power and money. This has become a place where law is covered under a haystack and burnt to ashes.

Dr. Anita Shukla, Lions Club Secretary has said: ‘The victim should have surrendered when surrounded by six men, at least it could have saved her intestines'.

I want to end here with a question, a suggestion and a promise …..

Is India mourning the death of an innocent victim of brutality and animal behavior or is it celebrating its cricket victory over its rivals? If here, the later part wins, then India will never see a CHANGE. Celebrities from every field should stand up for this cause. Even they are humans and citizens of this country. Its cricket and films that drive Indians crazy. Why cant celebrities (Demi God’s) raise a hand against abolishing this cruel act from our society. Where has the IAC, the Hazare’s and the kejriwal’s gone? No matter who supports, I will stand up for this. A commoner like me will fight it out. 

Justice is inevitable.

A serious thought

Last month the state of Haryana saw more than 15 rape cases and the Government says that rapes in Haryana are consensual a statement given by Haryana Pardesh Congress committee (HPCC) member Dharamvir Goyat. 

Earlier, opposition leader chief Om Parkash Chautala is sincerely seeking to lower a women's marriageable age to prevent rape cases. He wants to introduce "Child Marriage". What a solution to prevent rape.... 

Suggestion to lower the marriageable age of boys and girls to bring down incidents of rape points to the utter failure of our society to protect a girl child. Instead of strengthening her protection, our leaders want to confine the girl child indoors. They say child marriages should be legalised to ‘rescue’ girls from such crimes. Is there any evidence to show that married women are not sexually assaulted or that married men do not commit the heinous crime? Why are solutions to crimes against women in the form of restrictions like ‘don’t go to school, don’t go to work,’ etc? Instead, why not teach our sons to respect girls?

Child marriage is a crime against society, especially girls.  These reckless statements given by our leaders only show the pathetic situation in which the nation is. Our politicians are not only corrupt but also irresponsible.   

Where is the nation heading??? God have mercy...... 

"Rape is a reproach on Haryana"....

FB – A new nation

I asked a friend, Hey buddy where r u? and he replied, Iám on FB man. I’ll catch you there.  You are in a lost world if your not hooked up with fb.  Some people say that they spend more time in fb than elsewhere. They don’t find you cool if you aren’t a fb man. 

Social networking has brought in a whole new change in this society. It gives a wide range of exposure all under one roof.  

To be continued soon.......

Driving – A nightmare in Chennai

It took one and a half hours to cross one kilometer at around 7 in the evening on old Washermenpet road. Such is the nightmare caused by these broken roads and the construction of the metro rail for the people. The men on their bi-cycles could not move either. I switched off my engine and so did I see many doing the same. I was lucky to take my friends that day as we had some long interesting conservation. But when I looked around, I found many interesting people. A lonely man inside his luxury Skoda car was struggling to keep awake as he was in total frustration. Then I saw a family of 4 on a motorbike struggling to give place for each other but finally as usual the mother’s love was triumph full. That was a beautiful screen to watch as I saw love and contentment overtake comfort and struggle.

Then, after a while of talking with my friends I again looked through my car window and I started to observe the people on a bus. People were cramped into that bus and I found many not even finding a place to hold anywhere. For a moment I thanked my Lord for giving me this privilege of sitting in an air-conditioned car. The people sitting were not comfortable at all. Humidity and the smoke coming out from the vehicles was chocking them as many had their face covered with a cloth. Many had their earplugs connected to their handsets enjoying their favorite tunes. Some, after a good look I realized that they were busy talking with someone.

With all these things happening around me I was able to forget my frustration and slowly the traffic moved on. But sadly it was just for a few meters before it came to a standstill and I had to start over from where I left my observations.

Roads in Chennai are virtually becoming hell for drivers as most of the roads are blocked and made into one ways. To top this all, the roads are hardly seen with the way filled with only loose stones and mud. The metro rail construction has swallowed more than half the roads in most of the places. Usually our roads would be just 70 to 80 feet wide. Now with the intrusion of the metro rail construction these roads have shrunk to about 40 to 50 feet in width and with a two way traffic lane. With the increasing population and the rapid increase of vehicles (Both four and two vehicles) in spite of the hike in fuel prices, these roads have become unpleasant for driving. It would take another five years to breathe freely on these Chennai roads.

Is our traditions forgotten or lost?

India is known for its traditions and its cultures. Many different kinds of people live in this great land following their own traditions, well molding themselves in one accord with their fellow neighboring states respecting and also participating in their cultures as well. We have our own set of identities which keep us unique from the rest of the world. As we all know that we are being highly influenced by the western world, our own traditions are slowly fading away. So what effective measures can we take to save this culture of ours?

The IPL cricket sensation which is happening in our country could be used as a platform to not only show the world our cricketing talents but also as a stage to show case our own talents and exhibit our cultural traditions. Instead, we have hired models from foreign lands and showing them as a tool of generating business and as a mere crowd puller. Will not there be a crowd to watch the folk dancers perform in that same stage or a Bharatanatyam dancer perform.?

Evoking our unconsciousness

I recently came across this ad in the internet. With a simple visual , a beautiful message is delivered.

Newton’s third law

To every action.........


There is an equal and opposite reaction ......

A biker’s curse – Part 2

We all know that a high speed vehicle is meant to be driven at a speed above the average one. But as I have already agreed, that does not mean that these vehicles are to be driven less than 60 km per hour all the time. There are of course limits to this and caution should be taken in the crowded city roads such as school zones, industrial area, residential area etc.

To facilitate the driving of these high speed vehicles, I strongly suggest that the government improve the quality of the roads with clear demarcation of lanes for these vehicles. It is also recommended that dividers be provided to avoid collision with on-coming vehicles.

Accidents do happen. We cannot avoid them. But proper and careful driving can definitely reduce the number of accidents. As I mentioned earlier, if there are proper roads laid, accidents can be avoided. In most countries there are roads for different speed limits. Bikes under a certain category can only be driven in these lanes. Even in some of our highways where there are four and six lane roads, we seldom hear of such accidents. That is because the traffic is regulated and they are less prone to hit each other.

Converting roads into race tracks is totally out of question and irrelevant if the Government takes proper precautionary steps as mentioned above and allows high speed vehicles to enjoy driving their vehicles on the roads meant for high speed driving.

A biker’s curse

Today, Chennai city has emerged as a hub of IT companies and multi-national companies. In this ever-expanding metro the life has become hard for people traveling long distances to eke out a living. Many people travel from one end of the city to other to reach their workplaces. And time has become a crucial factor in the fast moving world. Dinesh, a young professional working in an event management concern, says that he has to travel at least 150 km a day to meet his clients. According to him, public transport is congested and unreliable. Journalists, medical representatives, marketing professionals and many others share this opinion. Hence, the two wheelers have become the most preferred and most convenient mode of transport.

They are faster, cheaper and convenient. While many go for the high speed bikes, the 40 km speed limit is not to be exceeded inside the city. So the purpose of purchasing such bikes takes a back seat.

It is a paradox that the manufacture of 150cc and 200cc bikes is sanctioned though the restrictions on the driving speed limit is not relaxed or removed. High speed bikes are meant for driving at a speed of not less than 60 km per hour. Is it not a mockery to restrict the speed? Or is it another foolish gesture on the part of the government to enforce a rule mindlessly? Will it not be more appropriate on the part of the government to bring about a more stringent rule on the speed limit of the lorries, trucks, share autos and the like?

Moreover, the roads are generally not fit for riding at high speeds. In comparison to the roads in Delhi or other metros, the roads are not compatible here. Four lanes and flyovers have to run through the main areas for ensuring safe and stress-free ride. Otherwise, low budget cars like Nano will also vie for space in the already overcrowded little roads, making the bikers’ life miserable.

Death Cant Get Closer Than This

I received these photographs by mail from my friend. Some breath taking moments captured at the right time by some excellent photography skills coupled with bravery and courage. Just think for a second , what would be in the minds of those people who took these photographs and those who were involved in those situations...

Rising up the head

Summer has started; the higher grounds (hill stations) are becoming crowded. Chennai is experiencing the worst heat waves in recent years now. Two months back it was winter time but now suddenly we can all feel the heat catching on us. The heat was so great that I was not able to go to a shop near by at 12 this noon. The temperature is slowly rising up towards the 50 degree mark. Our roads can even melt at this heat and this is sure to rise a few more degrees in the next couple of weeks. Water scarcity in the city is the next major forecast that everyone in looking up too. How are we going to fight this life threatening issue this time? Chennai has seen many such situations before. But how many times has it recovered form the losses dumped in by nature? If the people and the government do not wake up to this alarming situation, there is going to be dreadful time ahead.

Who are the sufferers?

In fact all of us. But the roofless, the destitute are the people who get effected by this. They have no place to hide themselves from these demonic heat waves. The scenario is worst in villages, where there is no proper water supply when all their sources of water had already gone dry. Most of us work in air conditioned offices. We never experience this heat once we enter our work place. Times have changed now, where people work when others sleep. We never bother about this, as we don’t see the world once we are in office. If we don’t take care to wake up to this situation. This will eat us and our surroundings. Everyday there is millions of tones of water being wasted by all of us. If we could only save half of that we could make a difference. At least the poor can live on it and the farmers could survive from that. The government introduced the water saving schemes but how far is it effective in serving the needs of the needy. People like us can buy water. But the poor are left even without that choice. Every single drop of water is worth a penny. And every single penny is worth a million for a poor. They can’t afford to buy water. So let us save water. Use it scarcely.