Faculty of Languages – International Cultures
Course: ANH320DE02 PROJECT 2 – PROJECT REPORT
THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON THE CHANGE OF
VIETNAMESE CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR
AND IMPLICATIONS FOR BUSINESS
Students’ Name: Vũ Thiên Hồng Code: 2196486 Lê Quốc Huy 2191523 Võ Bùi Trà My 2190077 Cổ Bảo Ngọc 2193756 Võ Hồng Kim Khánh 2190573 Nguyễn Thị Sông Lam 2198661
Submission date: Saturday, 09 July 2022
Faculty of Languages – International Cultures
Course: ANH320DE02 PROJECT 2 – PROJECT REPORT
THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON THE CHANGE OF
VIETNAMESE CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR
AND IMPLICATIONS FOR BUSINESS
Students’ Name: Vũ Thiên Hồng Code: 2196486 Lê Quốc Huy 2191523 Võ Bùi Trà My 2190077 Cổ Bảo Ngọc 2193756 Võ Hồng Kim Khánh 2190573 Nguyễn Thị Sông Lam 2198661
Submission date: Saturday, 09 July 2022 ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted heavily on the economy of Vietnam,
resulting the change in customer buying behaviours. Hence, it is necessary to take
research into changes so that the business could introduce implications for the
business. This research is aimed to find out the changes in buying behaviours, what
causes they change, how they perform, to what extend they impact customers and in
what way, and evaluate those ones. All information in this research is hoped to
contribute to the data base to serve businesses and understand customer buying
behaviour after COVID-19, which would assist businesses to find practical
solutions. In this research, we review several articles related to the topic to create a
literature review and conceptual framework. Moreover, we send the questionnaires
to collect data from various customers regardless of genders. Our findings indicate
that (a) the buying rate to online is slightly higher than that to offline and financial
affairs are more considered post-p n
a demic; (b) health care products are still be
priorities; (c) health care, foods, and electronics devices are preferred to buy in
physical stores; and (d) customers is in the habit of shopping online, though the life
has gotten back to normal. Our findings provide essential information to businesses
and indicate difficulties to providing services to customers. Hence, businesses could
review them and apply implications. i TABLE OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Sample of consumer buying behaviour participants ................................21
Figure 2: The shopping channels that consumers most commonly use ..................27
Figure 3: The two e-commerce platforms that consumers most frequently use ......28
Figure 4: The most three important factors that make customers choose online
shopping before the pandemic .................................................................................29
Figure 5: Customers' shopping frequency ...............................................................31
Figure 6: Categories of priority items of customer’s shopping ...............................32
Figure 7: Categories of priority shopping methods .................................................33
Figure 8: Online shopping rates after the pandemic ................................................34
Figure 9: The reasons why customers still choose online shopping after the pandemic
..................................................................................................................................35 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................... i
TABLE OF FIGURES .............................................................................................. ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ......................................................................................... iii
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .............................................................................. 1
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................... 4
2.1. Consumer buying behaviour ........................................................................... 4
2.1.1. Consumer behaviour ................................................................................. 4
2.1.2. Buying behaviour ..................................................................................... 4
2.2. Types of consumer behaviour/buying ............................................................. 5
2.2.1. Habitual buying behaviour ....................................................................... 5
2.2.2. Variety-seeking behaviour....................................................................... .6
2.2.3. Dissonance-reducing buying behaviour ................................................... 8
2.2.4. Complex buying behaviour ...................................................................... 9
2.3. Factors affecting consumer buying behaviour ..............................................10
2.3.1. Psychology..............................................................................................10
2.3.2. Authorities ..............................................................................................11
2.3.3. Society ....................................................................................................11
2.3.4. Personals .................................................................................................12 2.4. The impacts of COVID-1
9............................................................................14
2.5. The changes in consumer buying behaviour during COVID-19 ..................17
2.5.1. Buying goods and using digital services ................................................17 iii
2.5.2. New demand and product substitution behaviour ..................................18
2.5.3. Shopping patterns ...................................................................................19
CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGY ...........................................................................20
3.1. Research questions ........................................................................................20
3.2. Data collection ...............................................................................................22
3.3. Data analysis..................................................................................................23
3.4. Procedures .....................................................................................................24
CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .....................................................27
4.1. How have Vietnamese changed in their purchasing behaviour during the
COVID-19 pandemic during the years 2020 to 2021? ........................................27
4.1.1. Consumers’ buying behaviour before the pandemic ..............................27
4.1.2. Consumers’ behaviour during the pandemic ..........................................30
4.2. Do those changes of Vietnamese consumer behaviour during the pandemic
still continue in post-COVID-19 period? .............................................................34
4.2.1. Consumers’ behaviour after the pandemic .............................................34
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS .............................38
5.1. Conclusion .....................................................................................................38
5.2. The implication of business toward changes in buying behaviour ...............38
5.3. Limitations.....................................................................................................39
5.4. Recommendations .........................................................................................40
REFFERENCE .........................................................................................................42 iv
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
Due to the lethal nature and rapid spread, the acute pneumonia outbreak brought on
by the coronavirus pandemic (SARS-CoV-2) that started in Wuhan City (Hubei
Province, China) in early December 2019 has upended the lives of people all over
the world. Every part of economic life is impacted by COVID-19, which compels
individuals to alter their perspectives, take more immediate and drastic action, adapt
their behaviour, avoid meetings and huge groups, and enhance their methods for
preventing epidemics. The COVID-19 pandemic not only resulted in a health crisis
but also an unprecedentedly severe economic and social crisis.
In Vietnam, the COVID-19 epidemic has experienced four outbreaks and so far has
not ended. Although Vietnam is considered one of the few countries to respond well
to the epidemic, Vietnam's labour and employment market is also seriously affected.
Unemployment and underemployment during the COVID pandemic have led to the
lives of workers, especially self-employed workers, with a lot of difficulties since
there is no income or income is reduced. From a social perspective, COVID-1 9
impacts increasing the poverty and near-poverty rates in terms of income and
reducing the temporary incomes of households and workers. Besides the impact
related to health, economy, politics, society, consumer behaviour is also one of the issues affected by COVID-1 .
9 Financial pressures in households have reduced the
level of discretionary spending by Vietnamese consumers. One of the most striking
changes in the behaviour of Vietnamese consumers is that they look for more
affordable proposals to save the family budget. Therefore, the goal of the research is
to compare and evaluate the changes in customers' buying patterns before and after
the pandemic. In addition, it also discovers the new trend of customers buying
products for businesses depending on customers’ buying in COVID-19 pandemic 1
situation. Moreover, this research aims to give a better understanding of the major
issue potentially occurring during the pandemic and be well-prepared for future
crisis management. Furthermore, in order to establish suitable strategies for business
operation in order to adapt to new buying behaviours, the following questions directly led the research:
1. How have Vietnamese changed in purchasing behaviour during the COVID-
19 pandemic during the years 2020 to 2021?
2. Do those changes of Vietnamese consumer behaviour during the pandemic
still continue in post-COVID-19 period?
Under the entire picture of COVID-19 pandemic, this study has several specific
contributions to both the society and business field as a whole. First of all, based on
detailed theoretical analysis, an insightful understanding of the changes in consumer
buying behaviour would be developed, and acts as a fundamental basis to predict
potential shifts in shopping patterns if a similar crisis occurs in the future. Secondly,
these changes could still remain after the peak of COVID-19; hence, marketers or
enterprises could take advantage of them as a powerful tool to implement modified
business strategies and optimise their success. As a final point, as this is the first
study concentrating on the impact of COVID-19 on consumer buying behaviour and
its implications for the Vietnam market, the findings of this study could tackle
unexplored areas of this aspect and add certain values to the field. To this end, the
study will cover the changes in consumer shopping patterns during the time period
ranging from March 2021 to October 2021. The scope of this study is restricted to
analyse a sample of 120 customers whose age range is within 18-65 years old.
The structure of this paper is organised in the following order. The literature review
emphasises the theoretical background of consumer buying behaviour, and 2
significant influences of COVID-19 leading to specific changes in consumer
behaviour. The next section is Methodology which describes the chosen sample of
consumers and detailed methodology process of analysing the collected data. The
Findings part demonstrates the particular results and unexpected discoveries, which
is considered as the foundation of potential implemented business strategies. In the
last section which is Conclusion and Implications, highlights of the entire study will
be discussed in association with further suggestions on implications for some
specific aspects relating to the business field. 3
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Consumer buying behaviour
2.1.1. Consumer behaviour
Consumer behaviour is described by Walters (1974) as "the process by which
consumers choose if, what, when, where, how, and from whom to make purchases of products and services."
Another definition of consumer behaviour is given by Mowen (1993), who describes
it as "...the study of the buying units and the exchange processes involved in
acquiring, consuming, and disposing of commodities, services, experiences, and
ideas." This concept emphasises purchasing units in an effort to encompass both the
individual and groups that make purchases of goods and services.
Consumer behaviour is described by Schiffman & Kanuk (1997) as "the behaviour
that consumers demonstrate in searching for, buying, utilising, and discarding items,
services, and ideas." Consumer behaviour is consequently the study of how people
decide to spend their available resources (time, money, and effort) on consumption-
related things, according to Schiffman & Kanuk's (1997) elaboration of the term. It
covers the examination of what, why, when, where, how frequently, and how people
use the purchased goods. Additionally, it includes all the behaviours that consumers
exhibit when they look for, buy, use, evaluate, and discard goods and services that
they anticipate will meet their requirements.
2.1.2. Buying behaviour
Buying behaviour includes when and where customers shop, what they buy, and how
much they spend are all based on buying behaviour. The actions taken when 4
purchasing goods and services for sale both online and in person are those who make
decisions and take actions related to the use and purchase of the product, referencing
the steps taken by the user. consumption. They have to look up and dig through the
comments on social networks to find the right product for them. Organisations must
always align their marketing practices and initiatives to deliver the best results for
consumers. "Consumer buying behaviour" refers to consumer buying behaviour.
The company's strategies must always have a strong impact on each activity that
takes place in order to bring about greater benefits. The business must create the
marketing mix (MM) to provide value to its customers. Inquiry about buying and
selling activities between customers and chain stores. Advertising campaigns and
how consumers respond will bring good results if businesses know how to anticipate
and reap the benefits later. (Demand Jump, 2020).
2.2. Types of consumer behaviour/buying
2.2.1. Habitual buying behaviour
On the external research MBA Skool about the definition of habitual buying
behaviour which is a term of consumer behaviour used to describe a frequency of
commodity purchases without high involvement and thoughts. Specifically, the
customers usually are repetitive buying behaviour within numerous already known
brands and essentials that are useful for the process of using rather than looking for
alternatives’ uncertainty (MBA Skool Team, 2021). However, Sheth, Jagdish (2020)
exposed explicitly in “Impact of COVID-19 on Consumer Behaviour: Will the Old
Habits Return or Die?”, the habitual buying behaviour in context of lockdown and
social distancing that those contextual definitions are considered into four elements.
From the perspective of social terms, the first change is life events, community,
workplace and relationships. Continuously, because of influences from 5
breakthrough technologies, online ordering has dramatically impacted customers'
habits as well as two final majors such as public rules/regulations and natural
disasters. Therefore, this habitual buying is defined as “All consumption is location
and time bound. Consumers develop habits over time about what to consume, when and where” (Sheth, 2020).
2.2.2. Variety-seeking behaviour
Variety-seeking consumer behaviour occurs when there is a low consumer
involvement despite particular differences between brands. In this category of
buying behaviour, perceived consumers often switch between various brands. In
fact, the cost of product switching is low; therefore, they unintentionally move from
one brand to another simply because of curiosity, boredom, or an urge to explore new products.
This is actually discussed by Kahn (1995) as the three basic motivations for
consumers' desire to seek variety when making purchases. According to Kahn
(1995), this type of consumer behaviour could derive from an inner need for
diversity in their purchase of services or goods which is caused by satiation of
specific products or a longing for supplementary stimulation. In addition, the next
motivation comes from external changes. In fact, these changes could be either
controlled by the seller through modification in their marketing strategies such as
price or place, or simply occurring unpredictably. The third reason for consumers to
constantly switch products is due to their uncertainty about future product launch.
As a matter of fact, the more diverse a portfolio of products is, the higher the
tendency that the consumer will be able to choose their most favourite option in the future. 6
Besides, Van (1996) concludes in his research that the likelihood of seeking variety
is also based on a need for changing in an effort to deal with the satiation towards a
brand or product. Furthermore, according to the study conducted by Michaelidou in
2005, variety-seeking tendency was highlighted as a key buying incentive and
effective element in shopping channel patronage. Finding a diversity of products and
encountering unusual and inventive items can induce a great sense of excitement and
satisfaction (Kahn & Isen, 1993).
Chang found in his study carried out in 2002 that variety-seeking tendency is
associated with hedonic purchasing value. Indeed, consumers who went shopping
for variety and stimulation were more likely to experience hedonic shopping value
rather than utilitarian shopping value. Likewise, in online auctions, Lee et al. (2009)
discovered a positive relationship between variety-seeking tendency and utilitarian
and hedonic values. The positive correlation between variety-s e e king inclination and
utilitarian value shows that variety seekers consider online auctions to be of high
utilitarian worth. As a result, higher product diversity assists shoppers in saving time
and increasing purchasing efficiency. At the same time, online auctions were rated
as having a high hedonic value by variety seekers. This suggests that a consumer's
need for diversity is an essential factor in determining hedonic buying value. Variety
has been proven to bring pleasant stimulation and novelty, which boosts shopping
enthusiasm and satisfaction (Steenkamp & Baumgartner, 1995; Roehm & Roehm,
2005; Lee et al., 2009). In conclusion, desiring diversity is likely to have an impact
on both utilitarian and hedonic values.
In reality, brands attempt to promote habitual buying and keep consumers choosing
their products instead of switching to other brands. By adopting various strategies
such as offering promotions, free samples, coupons, or discounts, marketers aim at
diminishing customer switching behaviour while boosting habitual buying patterns. 7
2.2.3. Dissonance-reducing buying behaviour
Dissonance-reducing purchasing refers to a situation in which the customer actively
participates in the decision-making process but is unable to distinguish between the
many products and brands on the market that can satisfy the demands. The conflict
between people's views, behaviours, or personalities is known as dissonance.
Similarly, when there is a worry after a purchase, dissonance-reducing buying might
be shown. This frequently occurs in complicated transactions where brand
differences are minimal. Besides, this sets it apart from the complicated purchase
situation, in which there are several differences in the available market options.
Furthermore, dissonance-reducing purchasing behaviour happens when customers
are heavily invested in a costly, infrequent, or dangerous purchase yet see little
difference between brands. To counteract such dissonance, marketers' after-sale
communications should give proof and support to make consumers feel good both
before and after making a purchase decision. Actually, the consumer lacks the
knowledge necessary to make an informed decision. As a result, the buyer will
attempt to allay his or her fears by refusing to trust any negative information about
the products they have purchased. One of the major negative effects of this behaviour
is that customers may have difficult-to-control post-purchase dissonance. In this
purchasing circumstance, the buyer is unsure of the distinctions between the
numerous brands available on the market for the same requirement. It is critical for
the marketer to differentiate here, whether through positioning, brand image, trust,
or cost. Dissonance may continue for a long time after the transaction, which is
detrimental to the brand in terms of possible customer loyalty or customer feedback.
Customers need to be well informed about the service, components, price options,
and replacement offerings, among other things, so that they feel happier even after 8
making a purchase since they know they can rely on the company for replacement
or clarification of their questions. Therefore, customer care and support may be quite
significant in this buying situation.
2.2.4. Complex buying behaviour
Complex buying behaviour is the process in which the customers are entirely
involved in the buying process with a high level of consideration and suspicion when
it comes to buying an expensive product. In research from Manning et al. (2020),
this requires customers a lot of time to research, evaluate, and learn before making
a decision on an intended purchase. When customers make a purchase, they will go
through 5 stages: recognising problems, searching for related information,
evaluating alternatives, deciding purchase, and post-purchase behaviour afterwards
(Hana Teshome, 2009). This buying behaviour would take a lot of effort from the
salesperson to help customers find their suitable product and make decisions. Thus,
to understand customers’ buying decision process, the salesperson should take
advantage of all information related to buying and using experience from the
customers. Taking buying a house as an example, this buying could be a challenge
to those who first buy a house when there are a number of papers related to legal
requirements that a buyer has to sort them out. Before making a buying decision, the
buyer has a tendency to get advice from friends and family as it reflects how people
react to the buyer's house. This tendency also happens in the process of buying
furniture products when there are a wide range of products offered from different
brands. Nevertheless, to customers in complex buying, it is not easy for a salesperson
to help a customer make a decision after one or two consultations. Therefore, the
salesperson should use all available materials from the company to create a custom-
fitted solution, which is called product configuration (Manning et al., 2020). The
salesperson could know customers’ needs by asking some questions to have basic 9
information and know the customer's insight so that he could find a suitable product.
Sometimes, customers prefer to buy products or services from the same provider to
save money and time. For example, a customer who would like to characterise his
motorbike has searched several garages offering a combo of accessories to his
motorbike. By choosing a garage offering a combo, this customer could save an
amount of money as the price difference is not much, and time for travelling between
garages saved significantly. This buying method is called systems selling which is a
buying behaviour when customers prefer to choose a single service or product provider meeting their needs.
2.3. Factors affecting consumer buying behaviour 2.3.1. Psychology
The psychological factors that influence a person's purchasing decision are divided
into four categories: motivation, perception, learning, and beliefs and attitudes
(Callwood, 2013). The most crucial ones are motivation and perception.
If customers have a belief in the product or service, they will quickly make a
purchasing decision, maybe even buy many times later. In fact, the user's
understanding determines directly to the product of their choice. Experienced and
knowledgeable people will make purchasing decisions on products they understand well.
When receiving multiple streams of information at the same time, users will select
and analyse the information to make appropriate decisions. In addition, when
customers have a belief in the brand, they will buy the product several times as well
as introduce the product to more people.
It can be seen that psychological and cognitive factors have a direct influence on the
purchasing decision of the user. For example, when consumers find out information 10
about a product, they will see a lot of positive and negative reviews. Consumers will
be the ones who choose the appropriate information and decide whether to use this product or not. 2.3.2. Authorities
When COVID-19 broke out globally and required cooperation between countries
around the world, authorities were also a factor affecting consumers. The
government has come up with many solutions to overcome the spread of the disease.
In addition, issuing a series of directives on social distancing and changing all
current social activities. Temporarily suspending restaurants and shops nationwide
to prevent the disease from spreading faster to the entire population. Since then,
people's perception of buying has also changed markedly. The main reason is that
people can't continue to go out regularly but can only go out when they have a permit.
Each resident in the buildings even had to store food for each week of the month.
Since then, the market has tended to shop more online, causing a decrease in
traditional purchases. And it is a fact that people's awareness is made so throughout
because the direction of the government is announced from time to time. In Vietnam,
thanks to the government's information and handling, Vietnamese people always
have a high sense of personal health protection and organise community protection
activities to prevent the spread of the disease. (Van Kien P. et al., 2020) 2.3.3. Society
The COVID virus was first reported in Wuhan, China in 2019, and since then it has
spread rapidly over the world and changed many aspects of society. All walks of life
have been affected heavily by its effects on health and economy, especially those
who do not have appropriate medical support and financial stability (Verma and Prakash, 2020). 11
In tough situations, The Vietnamese government has taken a number of social-
distancing measures to stop the outbreak from worsening. For example, people were
not allowed to go to the market instead of charging a group of competent people in
local areas to do that affair. Social distancing forced people to stop gathering
together and to keep a 2-metre space to avoid catching the virus. Every activity from
community and work has to change to an online platform (Singh, J. and Singh, J., 2020).
Before the pandemic, the e-commerce activities in Vietnam witnessed a strong
increase in the number of orders and time spent for online shopping, over 70% of
internet users access to the retail websites, surveyed by ComScore (Ngọc, 2019).
Thus, during the pandemic, more people were willing to buy online for their
accessories and foods. According to Neilson’s survey taken in 2020, 25% of
Vietnamese customers have shifted their buying patterns to online, especially out-
of-home activities (Neilson, 2020). Due to this change, there was a delay in
delivering packages to customers. Buyers had to wait for at least 2 weeks or even a
month to receive their packages. In addition, the prevention measures of the
authorities were changed every month, so it was hard for e-commerce platforms to
adjust their delivery activities and deliver on time . 2.3.4. Personals
Personal characteristics of consumers have an important impact in the establishment
of their behavioural intentions. Actually, buyer behaviour is also influenced by
personal characteristics. Customer impressions of online shopping websites or
platforms are influenced by personality traits, as are consumer purchase intentions for online shopping websites. 12
Age, employment, financial condition, lifestyle, and personality are all significant
determinants of purchase behaviour.
Age: One of the most crucial personal factors that affects consumer behaviour is
seen as age. Consumers' purchases of products and services alter throughout time.
Additionally, the family life cycle, which involves periods like childhood, current
relationship, newlywed hood, motherhood, and so on, helps marketers create goods
that are appropriate for each stage. Following the "Factors affecting consumer
buying behaviour" article, consumer purchasing behaviour is influenced by age and
life cycle. At different periods of the process, people purchase different products.
For instance, their tastes and interests fluctuate as they progress through the stages of life.
Occupation: A person's buying behaviour is influenced by the career or profession
of customers. A person's lifestyle, choices in goods, and decisions are all
significantly influenced by their type of work. One can easily identify a doctor's
purchase from those made by a lawyer, teacher, clerk, merchant, landlord, and so
on. In order to address the different professional groups' different purchase motives,
marketing managers must develop a variety of marketing approaches.
Economic situation: Consumers' shopping patterns are heavily influenced by their
financial situation. A consumer with a high income will buy more expensive
products; whereas, a customer with a low income and savings will buy low-cost
items. The levels of income of a person are another factor that may affect their
shopping decisions. Actually, purchase ability is mostly derived from income.
Because of this, people's purchasing behaviours differ depending on their financial situation. 13
Lifestyle: The lifestyle of the consumer is another factor that affects their shopping
decisions. Customer interests, attitudes, or even activities impact the overall pattern
of behaving and engaging in the environment as well as the world. As a result,
business managers must develop a variety of marketing strategies to address client’s lifestyles.
Personality: Customers' purchasing decisions are heavily influenced by their
personalities. The reason being is it varies from people to people, moment to
moment, and place to place. Actually, a customer's personality may be summed up
by looking at how they behave in various circumstances. It possesses a range of
characteristics that may be utilised to forecast consumer behaviour with regard to a
certain good or service, including dominance, self-confidence, and aggressiveness.
2.4. The impacts of COVID-1 9 In December 2019, COVID-1
9 initially appeared in Wuhan city of China, and it has
rapidly spread over the world and become a global health alert. In March 2020,
World Health Organization (WHO) announced Coronavirus as a pandemic disease
which is considered to massively transmit exceeding contamination evaluations in
most of the nation worldwide. In order to confine the high transmissibility of
Coronavirus, masses of public institutions and entertainment services are forced to
close. Moreover, international travel and tourism as well as socio-cultural
ceremonies, festivals potentially exaggerate the global spread of COVID-19. The
emergence of the disease has turned into an actual nightmare when both local and
international citizens have to confront outbreaks of the pandemic across Asia, the
Americans, Africa and Europe. Countries all around the world have been obligated
to impose social distancing and announce national lockdowns as prevention 14