Over the last year, many things have changed in every field as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Given the rapid spread of the coronavirus, the heads of states and governments had to respond to the virus forthwith. As government restrictions have been introduced, people started to reconsider their decisions in terms of consumption and saving. The closures affected many areas that changed people's daily lives. As a result, new trends have appeared, for instance, in the tourism field and people's shopping habits. The data were collected among Slovak and Hungarian citizens through surveys as a quantitative method. Nonparametric Pearson's chi-square test, Spearman's rho correlation test, and Mann-Whitney U tests were performed to analyze six formulated hypotheses. For the latter, it was necessary to carry out normality tests. The main purpose of this article is to give an international comparison in questions whether people will prefer domestic tourism over foreign one if people prefer domestic traders' products or foreign traders' products, whether the respondents buy online more frequently due to the pandemic, if they spend less on leisure travel and whether they think that the interest in e-commerce continues to grow. As a result of the research, it can be declared that both Slovak and Hungarian people traders prefer buying domestic traders' products instead of foreign traders' ones, while the Hungarian respondents shop online more frequently. The results pointed out that Slovak respondents will prefer domestic tourism over foreign tourism.

Research background: Due to the rapid spread of the COVID-19 virus and its pernicious effects on the economy, a great change can be observed in consumer attitudes towards shopping. Needless to say, the demand for necessities comes to the fore, and consumers need to face a lot of hindrances when it comes to the decision-making process. It should be emphasised that consumers have responsibilities and rights. One can legitimately raise the question. Are they familiar with either of the aforementioned facts? Purpose: The main objective of the research is to analyse whether an increasing level of educational attainment affects consumer awareness in Hungary and Slovakia. Moreover, the paper investigates whether there are any significant differences in age groups regarding consumer awareness. Finally, the paper investigates whether there are any statistically significant interactions between the respondents’ gender, employment status and conscious saving attitudes. Research methodology: Kendall’s tau-b correlation, the rank-based nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis H test, and the Loglinear analysis were used to examine the formulated hypotheses. Results: It can be declared for both countries that an increasing level of educational attainment strongly affects consumers’ awareness. Furthermore, three major differences can be noticed in various age groups in the case of Hungary. Novelty: Education and age affect consumers’ awareness, whilst gender and employment status affect saving attitudes.

Research background: The coronavirus has impacted the global economy as many businesses had to close due to the restrictions, and people’s spending and saving behaviour have changed. According to the negative consequences of the COVID-19, people reconsider their expenditures and rearrange their savings. To avoid the spread of infection, several employers switched to a home office where it was possible. As a result of working from home in numerous cases, monthly housing expenditures have increased. To prevent the spread of the disease, a great number of people tried not to appear in crowded places. Therefore, online shopping came to the fore. Purpose of the article: The main purpose of the article is to give a comprehensive picture of the relationship between the respondents’ job losses and their attitudes towards savings. Furthermore, the association was analysed, and its strength and direction were measured between the increased monthly housing expenditures and the reconsideration of shopping intentions. Moreover, the association was examined between the decreased spendings on commuting and the frequency of online shopping. Methods: The research was conducted among residents in two neighbouring V4 countries, Slovakia and Hungary. To analyse the formulated hypotheses, a nonparametric Pearson's chi-square test and Somers’ delta tests were used. Findings & Value added: Thanks to the results, it can be declared for both countries that there is an association between job losses due to the pandemic and saving behaviour. Based on Somers‘d test, there is a positive correlation between spending less on commuting and online shopping frequency and increased housing expenditures and shopping reconsideration between the respondents.

Are Slovak and Hungarian customers more cohesive with local traders during the COVID-19 pandemic? Over the last two years, both countries have introduced various restrictions that aimed to alleviate the consequences of the virus. These restrictions have some downsides as they affected the entire population. Thanks to the strong perseverance of the companies and their immediate response to these restrictions, a lot of them were able to switch to online distribution. Needless to say, the demand for the necessities comes to the fore and to some extent the shopping habits change during these times. The main purpose of this research is to analyse whether there is a linear association between the preference for domestic products and consumer awareness and between the length of COVID-19 and the growing interest in e-commerce. Cochran-Armitage tests of trend and Mantel-Haenszel linear-by-linear association chi-squared tests were used to study the main objectives. Thanks to the statistical analysis it can be stated that the Slovak respondents will prefer domestic products over foreign ones, whereas Hungarian respondents presumably will not. Moreover, it can also be said that there is no association between the length of COVID-19 and the growing interest in e-commerce in case of Hungary.