New consumption orientations in the COVID-19 era: Preliminary findings from a qualitative investigation

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is changing consumers’ behavior (McKinsey, 2020). However, no studies have explored how such changes might have changed due to lockdown. The present qualitative research explores how consumers’ consumption orientation may evolve during a pandemic as a consequence of the COVID-19 shutdown. Through a series of semi-structured interviews, the study explores consumers’ behavior before, during, and after the COVID-19 lockdown period. The study was conducted in Italy, the first Western country to be heavily affected by the pandemic, in April 2020, thus during the lockdown period, with a sample of young consumers. Results show that the lockdown experience aroused a sense of resilience and nostalgia in consumers, which activates a desire for a “new normalcy”, characterized by some distinctions from the past. Essentially, the results indicate that, while striving to keep their established habits and lifestyles, consumers have become aware of the importance of engaging in more responsible consumption behaviors. This study contributes to the marketing literature in two different ways. First, it helps to better understand how consumers reacted during a lockdown period by highlighting potential changes in terms of desires, consumption preferences and priorities. Second, it contributes to the literature on nostalgia and resilience by shedding light on the meaning that such constructs assume during health crises like the current pandemic. Managerially, our results offer implications on how to improve marketing strategies after a health crisis.