Responding To Consumer Behavior In The New Normal Period

Illustration - Business actors must implement omnichannel, strategies that combine online and offline so that businesses are stronger. (Between/Shutterstock/Phunkod/am)

Business actors, especially those classified as micro, small, and medium, certainly need to re-evaluate in responding to the current normal age of the COVID-19 pandemic. The main evaluation is to understand the pattern of changing consumer behavior.

During the pandemic era, online businesses did increase sharply. Indonesia's Transaction-commerce grew 51.6 percent from the previous year, until it was projected to reach IDR 403 trillion in 2021 according to a Bank Indonesia report.

Namun, apakah tren tersebut tetap tinggi pada masanew normal? CEO Top Coach Indonesia Tom MC Ifle mengerai tentu ada perubahan.

According to Tom, trade-commerce transactions could increase due to a number of things. First, because it was 'forced' through restrictions on community mobility by the government during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Second, because many people are looking for additional income by becoming resellers and many of the three shop online just want to fill their spare time by utilizing promos.

"Now there are no more restrictions, people are happy to travel, shop at supermarkets and offline shops, then many people are no longer resellers and the majority of them are active again, of course there will be changes even though it is not significant," Tom told VOI on March 17, 2023.

At least around 20-30 percent of the people are starting to stop being fixated on shopping online at e-commerce, especially Generation X and Y.

"But that doesn't mean that people leave e-commerce altogether. It's just that their tendency to shop and eat outside is bigger. Especially now that the promos have been much reduced, many are no longer burning money. This motivation must also be taken into consideration," he said.

Thus, Tom advised business actors to implement an automanichannel, a strategy that combines all channels, both online and offline channels. So that business can be stronger.

Tom believes the trend of online shopping remains an option. Because, indeed, it is more practical to save time and energy. Then, there are more choices, and the general price is much cheaper.

However, it is better not to just rely on die-commerce sales. Business actors must also follow the trend by relying on social commerce.

"Now, many people have switched. They only put die-commerce products as a condition, while selling them on social media, via live Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, or via WhatsApp Group. If offline, you can go through exhibitions, create booths, and others, not just open stores. This method will be done at the moment of Ramadan and Eid," he said.

The trend of selling by relying on social commerce has indeed become increasingly booming in at least the last two years. The most widely used platforms, according to a Populix survey from July 28, 2022 to August 9, 2022, are TikTok Shop (45 percent), WhatsApp (21 percent), Facebook Shop (10 percent), and Instagram Shop (10 percent).

More than 50 percent of the products they buy social commerce are clothes. Then, beauty products, food and beverage products, cellphones and accessories, as well as household appliances.

In terms of users, TikTok Shop is mostly used by 56 percent of women aged 18-25 years and 53 percent of women aged 26-35 years, while WhatsApp and Instagram are mostly used by adults aged 36-45 years.

In a survey report entitled 'The Social Commerce Landscape in Indonesia', Populix also believes that WhatsApp's use for shopping experience will increase by 30 percent in the future. Likewise, Instagram has increased by 35 percent and will become a strong competitor for TikTok.

In the future, TikTok Shop users will continue to be dominated by women, especially those aged 18-25 years. Meanwhile, Instagram Shop will be more evenly distributed for all levels of age from 18-45 years and dominated by the upper middle class. Meanwhile, WhatsApp will be used more by adults aged 36-45 years, as exposed in the report.

The data can be used as a reference, what is the right social media for the products sold. Even so, business actors must also understand, even though they have a number of conveniences, selling online still has certain criteria to be able to compete.

At a minimum, being able to present interesting content that also displays the advantages of the products offered.

It's not just the product description that needs to be polished properly, the image display listed in each product is also good. Also, a good review from the buyers so that anyone who sees is more interested in buying.

"But more importantly, business actors must review first, what do our market targets want," added Tom.