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duquniversitymarketing · 4 years

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New Marketing Trends in Response to COVID-19 That Are Here to Stay

By: Alyson Maguire

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The QR code has made a comeback and Steve Madden can register you to vote- what else is new?

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the world of marketing has been shaken and brands have been forced to quickly and accurately respond to stark changes in consumer behavior. With minimal time to adapt, brands are attempting to prioritize consumer concerns revolving around less contact, more online shopping, and the push for brands to speak out and align with their personal values. Many of these new marketing and consumer trends were slowly beginning to take hold, but the fast pace has expedited the process. Of the many new changes in consumer behavior and marketing, which of these trends will stick around for the long haul?

QR Codes in Hospitality

QR codes left a bad taste in many people’s mouth in the past, but with the simplicity of scanning one by opening the camera on a smartphone without first downloading an app, this underappreciated piece of technology has made a comeback thanks to COVID-19. Much of the hospitality industry has taken advantage of these codes to take consumers directly to a menu, register/check-in page, loyalty program, and more.

Not only are they easy to use for consumers, but QR code information is easily updated without having to mess with the code itself.

In addition to hospitality uses, business offices like SAP are using it as a no-touch option for employees to receive daily updates.

The only downside, according to hotel owner Edmund Inkin, is that it limits the personable human interaction in hospitality, which is why they are finding ways to use QR codes to limit interpersonal contact but not necessarily interpersonal human connection.

Contactless Payments

Technically, there is no concrete evidence that COVID-19 can be transmitted through credit cards or cash, but still retailers are responding to consumer concerns of reducing this form of contact anyway.

The National Retail Federation conducted a survey in which they found, “Since January, no-touch payments have increased for 69 percent of retailers surveyed. And 19% of consumers have made first contactless digital purchase since May”.

The only challenge for retailers lies in the cost. Contactless is significantly more expensive because each transaction entails a card processing fee not found in cash transactions.

Despite this fact, well-known brands have already been working to implement this new technology in their stores. Speaking on contactless payment methods Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay: “Since then, each of them has partnered with retail chains for in-store transactions, including thousands of outlets for Walmart, Nike, Costco, Macy's, Starbucks, McDonald's, and Trader Joe's”.

Online shopping with Live Chat

A big piece of in-store shopping that cannot be found online is the interaction between product and consumer, and between consumer and consultant. In order to combat this discrepancy, online shopping sites are working to increase their customer service and interactive capabilities through live chat and social media to induce a similar interactive experience as in store

Online marketing agency, Dotdigital found that 33% of brands have implemented live chat features onto their e-commerce websites and 71% utilized Facebook messenger and Twitter for live customer service.

Even prior to the pandemic, online retailer Design Within Reach developed a new website prioritizing additional customer service resources like live chat. They have discovered that customers who use the chat are 9x more likely to purchase and their purchases are 25% higher. Their online chat features allow customers to ask simple product questions and even receive help and feedback for designing a room.

Social media communities

Digital Market News conducted a poll of 1,000 consumers in the UK and found that consumers aged 16-24 are extremely interested in becoming part of a brand community. This “brand community” allows consumers who feel a connection or attachment to a specific brand to become part of a larger group of people who feel similarly. In this community, they can share their experiences with the products, make recommendations and interact with the brand itself.

On the flip side, brands can also join other private groups related to niche topics that align with their values and/or brand mission. They can do this through Facebook groups which allow pages to join private groups. Brandastic explains this concept simply: “Essentially, this means a brand can act as a person inside of a group.” The only warning to brands is to stray from acting too much like a “brand” or a salesman in these groups and focus on interactions and actively participating in discussions.

Brands Taking Part in Social Change

Increasingly, consumers are becoming more aware of how brands respond to certain movements, including those to improve the environment, using “clean” ingredients and more recently, social injustices.

Over the past several months, racial injustices in the United States have enhanced the need for brands to relate to their consumers, the majority of whom feel a strong responsibility to take a stand against these issues.

According to a study reported by Consulting.US and conducted by Edelman, 60% of consumers feel that a brand should speak out on social injustices. Another 60% said they would NOT purchase from a brand who does not share their personal values.

CEO Richard Edelman back in 2018 even, said “Brands are now being pushed to go beyond their classic business interests to become advocates. It is a new relationship between company and consumer, where purchase is premised on the brand’s willingness to live its values, act with purpose, and if necessary, make the leap into activism”.

Most brands will take the side that the majority of their target audience aligns with. Specifically, politics plays a major role in this idea. Only 40% of Republican consumers versus 80% of Democrat consumers urge brands to take a stand on these social issues.

With the upcoming election, many brands are also encouraging consumers to use their own voice in the voting polls. Steve Madden earlier this year launched an in-store campaign to register young people to vote and have since moved these efforts online.

Not only do brands need to speak out, they need to start taking action to prove to consumers that they can uphold their promises. Lisa Ross of Edelman believes this change is here to stay: “This is a moment, but it’s not just a moment in time. It begins what will likely be a sustained and systemic shift by companies and brands, in partnership with their employees and consumers”.

The COVID-19 pandemic has wildly shifted marketing and brand priorities as they try to keep up with the ever-changing needs and values of consumers. Many marketing trends that have emerged since that pandemic are temporary (think trendy masks, loungewear, and increased email marketing), many of these new changes are here to stay. If one positive thing came out of a worldwide pandemic, let’s say it was the effort between brands and consumers to maintain a personal relationship despite these challenging times.

#NEWTRENDS

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duquniversitymarketing · 4 years

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Is The Fear of COVID 19 Justified?

By Valarie O’Neill

In this blog post I am comparing past pandemics to the current Coronavirus. The Pandemics I will be discussing are the Swine flu, the Spanish flu, and Influenza. How does COVID-19 compare to each and would you be able to say that the fear factor for COVID is justified?

Swine flu

Went from 2009-2010

The virus infected 4.1 billion people across the globe and killed between 151,700-575,400 people overall

In the US 60.8 million people were infected and about 12,469 people died from it. (.001-.007 percent of the population)

Spanish Flu

This pandemic lasted from 1918-1919/20

The Spanish Flu infected about 500 million people during this time

The flu killed about 50 million people world-wide and about 675,000 people in the United States.

Influenza

(Stats from 2018-2019)

An estimated 35.5 million getting sick from the virus and about 34,200 deaths from it.

COVID-19

COVID-19 started in 2019 to date (2020) so far

This pandemic has had 6.5 million cases in the US and 194,000 deaths

Worldwide 28.9 million people were infected and 922,000 have died from it.

Comparisons

This I feel should give people confidence to not be afraid to deal with COVID and to know that life goes on.

CONCLUSION

Fear is false evidence that appears real; we have never had this much testing associated with pandemics as we did with COVID. A positive COVID test does not equate to a death and I feel that people are seeing it that way. There is no scientific evidence that proves wearing masks and shutting down stops the spread. Although I agree that people should be as safe as they can and protect themselves, I think that being in fear of something out of a person's control can be damaging to mental health.

So the question still stands, is the fear of COVID justifiable? In my personal opinion I disagree. Because not even 1% of the population has died from it puts into perspective how a virus can be taken out of context either in the media or any other outside source of information to the public. This does not take away from the fact that people have died from it, of course, but to constantly live in fear of something while a good majority of the population hasn’t experienced it causes unnecessary worry and fear. This is a virus that is most likely going to take more lives that is out of our control. Every year people die from influenza and various other viruses that are out of our control. We do the best we can by washing our hands and taking vitamins, but it doesn’t prevent everyone from getting a virus. We are taking even more precautions with COVID but people are still dying. This just proves that you could be the healthiest person on the planet but still contract COVID for unknown reasons. This shouldn’t instill fear in people, I think it should be a reminder to people that bad things are going to happen in life and that we need to handle it with care but keep on going and live life. If you lived in fear of everything for the rest of your life how would you be able to live?

#COVIDFEAR

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duquniversitymarketing · 4 years

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5 Companies that are Growing During the Covid-19 Pandemic By: Madysn Tusick

While the economy is a mess, and the majority of companies are experiencing extreme losses, there are a handful of companies still succeeding in growing and making money during these uncertain times.

IKEA

The company is going through with making a $260 million investment into their first U.S. shopping mall location in San Francisco. This could provide the push needed for people to start going out again, because the demand for personal shopping and leisure outside of home will continue to exist.

Ulta Beauty

While the company was forced to shut its doors and lost around 26% of sales compared to last year, the company just released a new marketing campaign titled “Where Dreams Begin.” Ulta is also opening 30 new stores by the end of 2020. This looks like a great leap out of the pit that Covid-19 has put companies in.

Samsung

This company sees Covid-19 as an opportunity for Samsung to add warehouses and bring their popular products to more markets. The appliance industry has grown through the pandemic with items such as steaming closets that cleanse your clothes or more high-tech refrigerators. The company has been working on an expansion of this department that wouldn’t have happened without Covid-19.

Amazon

Despite the global pandemic, Amazon is expanding its physical offices in six U.S. cities and adding thousands of corporate jobs in the surrounding areas. Even though the company didn’t take the hit as bad as others, Amazon is still continuing to expand throughout the uncertainty.

Target

While the company is not physically growing, they are digitally growing. Target has started investing in their e-commerce, and it has paid off tremendously. Target has increased their online sales by 195% during the pandemic.

#covidcantstopus

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duquniversitymarketing · 4 years

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2020: The Movie Theater Terminator? By: Arielle Frederick

#movietheaterterminator

There is something truly special about seeing a movie on the big screen. Right when you walk in through that grand entryway you are engulfed in the smell of freshly popped, buttery movie theater popcorn. It’s a smell that follows you into the theater and all the way home. Now, all that’s in jeopardy.

As a business built to hold large crowds seated with little room between each guest for 2-3 hours at a time, movie theaters immediately noticed a drop in attendance when the United States saw its first confirmed cases of COVID-19. Since then the movie industry has completely changed. Movies such as Universal Studio’s Trolls and Disney’s Mulan have even opted out of a theatrical release and gone straight to online streaming services instead. This leave us movie fanatics to wonder what movie theaters can offer us if they have no movies to show.

Many theaters have adapted as well as to be expected, most offering showings of classics such as Jurassic Park and heavily reduced concessions pricing. Some are even allowing guests to rent out a theater at a capacity of 20-25 guests for as low as $99. Personally, my family and I rented out a theater to watch Jumanji: The Next Level and found the experience both safe and incredibly enjoyable. Instead of the typical setting of silence we were able to laugh as loud as we wanted and take our phones if we wanted to text someone back. While these deals are enticing, who knows how long guests will keep coming back to see older films over and over in the theaters.

Until they are able to offer new movies and a more exciting environment for movie lovers, movie theaters need to focus on being a safe, cheap, and adaptive way for people to get out of the house amongst a pandemic. Most movie theaters have adapted to the new cleaning procedures required by both the states and their customers and are able to make it as safe as possible for guests to return. They have their welcome back prices in concessions at the moment, though some are not going to have them for much longer. If they continue to offer lower prices on food, especially during a time of economic loss, they are going to retain more customers who come to the movies for their movie and their popcorn. Most movie theaters have a set list of movies that they are offering at the moment and are only changing the showtimes each day. I think movie theaters would greatly benefit from expanding their titles and giving people more and different options each week. While this will cause more costs in paying for the rights to play these movies, it will ultimately bring in a diverse crowd that will spend money on both their ticket and the delicious snacks to go with.

As a frequent movie theater guest, I do not think this will be the end of an era. Now more than ever, people need to leave their house. The movies are an experience that not much can match. It is probably very likely that we will see a change in ownership, especially given that movie studios can now legally own movie theaters. COVID-19 is a hiccup in the road, but with the right marketing tools movie theaters can and will survive.

References:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/25/opinions/movie-theaters-covid-19-social-distancing-wellness/index.html

https://www.dallasobserver.com/arts/studios-can-now-own-movie-theaters-11934927

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