Changes in Consumer Behaviour in the Post-COVID-19 Era in Seoul, South Korea

Abstract

To prevent the spread of COVID-19, the Korean government promoted strong social distancing policies and restricted the use of confined areas and spaces that are likely to cause widespread infection, including religious facilities. The policies affect the consumption behaviours of Korean citizens. The purpose of this study is to examine changes in the consumer behaviours of citizens following the outbreak of COVID-19 in South Korea. Using credit card data from January to June 2020 in Seoul, this study examines the changes in consumption by industry type. Consumption types were classified into education, wholesale and retail, online purchases, food service, leisure, and travel. The industry that was most affected was the travel industry, which did not recover following the decline in consumption due to COVID-19. To examine consumer changes in credit card transactions due to widespread infection, a correlation analysis was conducted between the amount of consumption according to credit card transaction data (card consumption) and the number of confirmed patients and policy implementation by step. For more detailed analyses, group infections in the Guro-gu and Yongsan-gu neighbourhoods were investigated. In Guro-gu, no significant results were found in the area experiencing massive group infection. In Yongsan-gu, a significant negative correlation in consumption and number of cases was found in Itaewon 1-dong, an area with mass infection, and a positive correlation was found in the surrounding areas. Nevertheless, no significant correlations between changes in consumer behaviours and effects of COVID-19 were found as a result of the analysis herein.

Determinants of restaurant consumers' intention to practice COVID-19 preventive behavior: an application of the theory of planned behavior

“…In Korea, after the first confirmed case, social distancing was adopted as a primary guideline to minimize the risk of contamination and spread of infection [ 3 ]. Furthermore, the government announced guidelines that covered almost every aspect of daily life: wearing a mask when taking public transportation, staying at home if one has traveled abroad in the past 14 days or shows COVID-19 symptoms, and keeping a social distance of 2 m when going out or meeting other people.…”

Take the Opportunity Afforded by the COVID-19 Experiences: Progressive Non-growth Policies for Sustainable Lifestyles

“…Accelerated digitalization and the transition to home-based work offer a crucial opportunity to decrease car dependency. An obvious path for policy is to support the further establishment of digitalization infrastructure and also to counteract patterns and risks of digital divides (Bin et al, 2021;Jiang et al, 2021;Jo et al, 2021). Such infrastructures will facilitate self-governance among organizations to support home-based work and reduce office space and need for travel.…”

“…The pandemic has certainly resulted in immediate lifestyle changes with clear impact on climate emissions. In any country of investigation, there has been an overall decline in consumption (Jo et al, 2021). For instance, oil and energy consumption have dropped (Bahmanyar et al, 2020;Iqbal et al, 2020;Aktar et al, 2021;Perkins et al, 2021), with an accelerated switch to renewables (Kanda and Kivimaa, 2020;Jiang et al, 2021).…”

“…For instance, oil and energy consumption have dropped (Bahmanyar et al, 2020;Iqbal et al, 2020;Aktar et al, 2021;Perkins et al, 2021), with an accelerated switch to renewables (Kanda and Kivimaa, 2020;Jiang et al, 2021). There is an overall decline in transport modes such as aviation (Gössling, 2020) and public transportation (De Haas et al, 2020;Eisenmann et al, 2021), a sharp decline in consumption related to tourism, and in consumption of commoditized leisure services (restaurants, accommodation, museums, amusement parks) related to the hospitality industry (Ehgartner and Boons, 2020;Jones and Comfort, 2020;Jo et al, 2021). There have been significantly fewer trips to supermarkets (Esposti et al, 2021) and a sharp decrease in consumption of clothing and shoes, although this trend is counteracted by increased online shopping (Jiang et al, 2021).…”

Research Jungle on Online Consumer Behaviour in the Context of Web 2.0: Traceability, Frontiers and Perspectives in the Post-Pandemic Era

“…By comparing previous studies, scientific research resources can be effectively allocated to guide the efficient construction of the theoretical system of online consumption behavior and form a theoretical framework of online consumption behavior that better fits reality [11]. Regardless of the changes in consumption patterns, the evolution mechanism of online consumption under Web 2.0 and social architecture has always been inherited from traditional consumption theories in the post-pandemic era [12,13]. Based on the frontier dynamics, this paper can generate preliminary judgments on social networks, online communities, and consumer behavior in the post-pandemic era to contribute to the theoretical basis for the recovery of the Internet economy [14].…”