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Consumers drawn to hygiene products, online fitness as pandemic spreads
A consumer survey in Indonesia shows that people are buying more health and hygiene products and trying online fitness classes as the coronavirus continues to spread.
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Indonesians have been buying more hygiene products since the outbreak of the coronavirus in the country, according to a survey. (Shutterstock/KonstantinChristian)
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consumer survey in Indonesia has shown that people are buying more health and hygiene products and trying online fitness classes as the coronavirus continues to spread.
In the survey, conducted recently by Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) and SurveySensum, 85 percent of respondents reported doing more handwashing while 46 percent said they took vitamin supplements.
The survey is backed by data from Nielsen showing that the value of liquid hand soap, for example, saw a 285 percent increase in March compared to the first two months of 2020. People are also buying more hand sanitizer, liquid antiseptic and wet tissues.
“In the first week after COVID-19 spread to Indonesia, we saw people stocking up. But now we are not seeing that as much,” said SurveySensum founder and CEO Rajiv Lamba at a webinar on Friday.
People are buying products from markets in bigger packages as they continue to stay at home more, Lamba said, in line with retailers’ report of a shift in consumer behavior to buy in bulk.
The survey findings were also in line with retailers’ report of an uptick in demand for hygiene products as Indonesia declared a public health emergency over COVID-19 on March 31, imposing large-scale social restrictions. COVID-19 cases in Indonesia soared within a month from zero to 2,273 cases with 198 dead, among the highest death rates in the world.
Read also: Staple foods safe, but masks, sanitizer gone from markets as consumer behavior shifts
Twenty percent of the survey’s respondents also said they had tried online grocery shopping for the first time in March.
“Online sales of fast-moving consumer goods are usually low, but more people tried it. I think it can be the new normal to buy groceries online,” Lamba added.
The survey also showed that 18 percent of respondents also reported doing sports or fitness activities more during the quarantine, while 13 percent of respondents said they tried an online fitness class for the first time during quarantine.
“This is a good opportunity for fitness service providers to tap into online classes or to further promote their online products,” Lamba said.
A consumer shift toward a more hygienic and healthier lifestyle is concurrent with Google Trend’s data, which show an upward trend in searches for the “immunity” keyword since early March after the President announced the first two cases of COVID-19 in Indonesia.
As people try to stay active and healthy to maintain good immunity, they are also staying indoors to comply with the government’s call for physical distancing. The survey also reported that weekend traveling had declined by 77 percent in March, while going to malls for leisure and watching movies in cinemas was down by 76 and 65 percent, respectively.
The MMA questioned 500 people in five major cities across Indonesia from March 20 to 21 for the consumer survey while it is also monitoring 80 business to business respondents for the business sentiment survey.
