How the pandemic has shifted our shopping habits towards a more conscious world
Being locked down for 4 months has completely disrupted the way we live our lives and how we spend our time and money. With the shutdown of local shops and our favourite retailers, we have had time to reflect and reset, questioning our consumerist choices, buying behaviours, and the brands we buy into.
Spending the majority of our days at home, we have had time to get to know our local areas and local businesses, rallying together in the crisis, making us question our place in our community rather than just focusing on our individual needs. And just as our eyes have been opened to a more community-focused way of living, so have our shopping habits, with a new sense of gratitude and interest in local and global brands who supply products, services and experiences to be shared and enjoyed together, and those that are giving something back to our community and our planet.
With this, there has been a new-found appreciation for purpose-driven businesses, with consumers having time to discover brands who champion and promote a ‘future purpose for the world’ and use their business as a force for good, rather than simply selling a product or service. For many, the global pandemic has shifted outlooks on the brands they buy and how much stuff they really need, putting brands under pressure to be more transparent, sustainable, and forward-thinking with how they operate and sell products.
For the tech challenger brands in the fashion, and gifting industry, they have had a significant advantage in appealing to these consumer groups, and with their streamlined direct to consumer business models and innovative data processes, they have been able to deeply understand these consumers, and quickly respond to their changing demands. And whilst online shopping may have been the go-to choice for Gen Z’s and millennials, after the global lockdown, e-tailors and digital businesses have gained the trust of new consumer groups, seeing monumental mainstream growth outperforming that of their more-traditional counterparts.
So, as the last remaining non-essential shops open and life returns to a form of normality, will consumers revert to old habits and behaviours or will supporting local communities, and shopping with a purpose trump fast fashion and convenience? Have our priorities changed for the better? And is the disposable and throwaway culture of fashion and shopping over?
As someone with an enduring love for shopping, I have been a victim of buying clothes and novelty items which have sat in my flat, unworn and forgotten. But, I have also been consciously aware of this, and made an effort to shop second hand, buy products with a story to tell, and recycle clothes and knick-knacks at car boot sales. Since lockdown, the only purchases I have made have been thoughtful and considered gifts for friends and family. With the time I have had to reflect on my spending habits pre lockdown, I am hopeful, I won’t go back to my old ways.
Below is a round-up of the biggest consumer trends which I see shaping our buying behaviours as well as the brands who are innovating in the way they market and sell products, shaking up entire industries and making real strides towards a more conscious, supportive and inclusive world.
Community
Notonthehighstreet – supporting small, independent businesses, NOTHS has created a marketplace like no other, as the go-to platform for truly unique and personalised gifts, all whilst championing creativity and entrepreneurship across the country.
Depop – with a mission is to empower the next generation to transform fashion they deeply care about advocating community, sustainability, and entrepreneurship. 1 in 3 Gen Z/Millennials in the UK use depop, choosing to shop by inspiring, sharing, and recycling.
Trouva - the go-to platform for inspiration and local finds from independent high street boutiques in Europe. Trouva worked tirelessly throughout lockdown to get these retailers online and connect them to consumers, helping them to thrive in the pandemic.
Nuva - as the world's first clothes sharing app, they allow members to give a new lease of life to the beautiful clothes that already exist in our communities and reduce their environmental impact from their very first borrow.
Personalisation
Bloom and Wild – fast becoming the largest direct-to-consumer flower brand in Europe, they use cutting edge tech and user-level personalisation, creating a flower experience unlike any other by innovating at every stage of the journey. They are embedded in culture, trends in fashion and interiors, and prioritise deeply understanding their customers in order to keep innovating and delighting them.
Unmade – are on a mission to bring fashion & sportswear value-chains into the 21st Century by connecting demand directly to products and production, therefore, cutting down on overproduction and wastage. They help brands orientate toward made-to-order & customisation, turning consumers into brand collaborators, already partnering with brands such as New Balance and Rapha.
Papier - with a mission to inspire people to connect with each other in a more thoughtful way and more often, Papier help you share and capture the big and little life moments with personalisation using consumer insights and cutting edge technology.
Everpress - embodying community, personalisation and a sustainable angle, Everpress selling original clothing designs with the tools to help people promote, sell, manufacture and distribute their own creations with no risk and no waste.
Sustainability
Supplycompass – trailblazing the fashion industry, they are looking to transform the way fashion brands and manufacturers produce, by digitising global supply chains and making sustainable sourcing easy and cost-effective for brands and every player in the supply chain.
Provenance – using tech, they look to empower brands to show greater transparency and share information and stories about their products and supply chains. They believe revealing more about how something is made can help us create and buy better things, for the environment, individuals, and communities.
PANGAIA – a fully sustainable fashion brand who are disrupting the industry with a mission to be 100% natural. They use as many sustainable and recyclable elements as possible and currently work with next-generation biomaterials and recycled fibres; woven with smart technology.
TALA – creating empowering sustainable sportswear for gen z and millennial women, with the aim to produce 100% up-cycled products, and are currently 92% of the way there. Their packaging is recycled and recyclable and the tags are made from 100% plantable paper.
All Birds -are dedicated to making the most comfortable, sustainable footwear, using premium natural materials, designed for the to and fro of everyday life. Their belief is the shoe industry needs to focus less on flash and more on thoughtfulness. They have also recently launched a sustainable underwear line and have announced a partnership with adidas, where they will be creating a sports performance shoe with the “lowest carbon footprint ever recorded”.