**3. Sociological reflection on the transformation of consumer behavior against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic**

Consumption levels fell by around 25% in some European countries (e.g. UK, Spain, Italy, and France) during the coronavirus crisis, while in the USA a 10% drop in consumption was recorded during this period [13]. Over the last 2 years, the COVID-19 pandemic has produced not only dramatic economic but also psychosocial effects, transforming many parameters of consumption behavior and more general lifestyle standards [14]. "Among the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen the closing of shops and other business for months. Consumers have avoided public places, stores, and cultural events, even when such establishments were open. As a result, consumers began to change their purchasing behaviors and habits in a sustainable way" [15].

There is now a relatively rich empirical record from 2020 and 2021 documenting the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as a source of significant changes in consumer decision-making, shopping patterns, and other characteristics, traits, and manifestations of people's lifestyles. Silva et al. [16] conducted a detailed review of published scientific studies in journals indexed in the WOS and Scopus databases between 2020 and 2021 with the common research topic of changes in consumer behavior and consumption patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study authors identified a total of 416 relevant articles according to the defined selection criteria (87 from 2021 and 329 from 2020). Based on bibliometric, thematic, and content analysis, the authors identified 7 main topical units referencing lifestyle changes related to consumption behavior during the coronavirus crisis: Changes in consumer behavior; Coping with the lockdowns; Information seeking and sharing; Psychological effects; Addictive behavior; Changes in food consumption; Panic buying and hoarding

behavior [16]. Interesting data was also provided by their analysis of the keywords of the studies examined, through which the authors identified three main clusters. In this context of examining the ambivalent nature of proliferation of consumer choices, the following frequently occurring keywords in these clusters are relevant: Consumers; Decision-making; Information-seeking behavior; Stress [16]. In this study, the authors simultaneously addressed the question of other topics and issues that should be explored in greater detail in the context of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on changes in consumption behavior. One such key question is the problem of consumer choice and strategies for making purchasing decisions.

An even more extensive theoretical study was conducted by Yin, Yu, and Xu [17] on a robust sample of academic studies published between 1981 and 2021 that report on consumer behavior issues. They analyzed very rich research material, which enabled them to reveal changes in consumption behavior in modern societies over the relatively long time frame of the last decades. The authors point out that the COVID-19 pandemic marked an unexpected, rapid step change in lifestyle and consumption changes. According to their analysis of secondary data, the most significant changes in consumption behavior will occur in the sphere of an increased preference for online shopping or increased interest in healthy foods. They also highlight the importance of the more intensive mix of online and offline commerce, which allows consumers to shop more seamlessly and conveniently from anywhere and at any time. In the context of psychological effects during the coronavirus crisis, other authors confirm the increase in feelings of anxiety and insecurity that stems from online panic shopping and stockpiling, especially of food [18].

A similar meta-analysis was conducted by Smith and Machová [19], who analyzed empirical data from the research agencies Ipsos, KPMG, Roland Berger and Potloc, Salesforce, Worldpay/FIS, and YouGov and reported on actual changes in consumer behavior and attitudes during the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors systematize the analyzed data to identify the main foci of changes in people's lifestyles and daily practices, including consumption behavior, and describe their key attributes [19]. It is confirmed here that the introduction of restrictive measures in the form of home quarantines and blanket lockdowns has produced dramatic social and economic effects in the populations studied, including a fundamental transformation of consumption practices. Consumer activities have shifted massively to virtual environments, with an increased preference for digital shopping via mobile devices and much greater use of online supermarket delivery apps. It has become clear that shoppers have become much more discerning in their product selection and have reorganized their purchasing decision-making strategies in the course of online shopping. It can be assumed that one of the reasons for this change may be that customers are confronted with a concentration of larger volumes of goods and services in the virtual shopping environment. It is here that potentialities complicating the decision-making process and choice have most likely been amplified for the segment of the population that had been accustomed to the conditions of conventional shopping with a more limited range of offerings in the period before the coronavirus crisis.

Šimić and Pap [13] empirically observed changes in consumption behavior during the coronavirus crisis in Croatia within the Generation Z population, whose members are often referred to as "digital natives". Based on a quantitative data analysis conducted on a sample of 422 respondents, they showed that the consumption behavior of Generation Z during the coronavirus crisis led to much more stockpiling and overbuying. At the same time, they typically concentrated their consumption activities ever more frequently online, which became a global trend during the COVID-19

#### *Consumer Culture and Abundance of Choices: Having More, Feeling Blue DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.105607*

pandemic. And yet there was no correlation between changes in consumption behavior and perceived quality of life, which the study authors explain by the fact that for Generation Z, online shopping was already the norm in the pre-COVID-19 era, and as such the reduction in physical shopping options was not perceived negatively as a factor reducing their quality of life. The findings of an empirical study by Wang and Na [20] conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic in three Chinese cities confirm that panic shopping and hoarding, especially of food, is a significant manifestation of similar crises, triggering growing feelings of insecurity and fear of the future. Hesham, Riadh, and Sihem [15] empirically demonstrate statistical associations between age and gender moderating specific changes in consumption behavior in a sample of 360 respondents in Saudi Arabia. According to their findings, interest in healthy foods increased sharply during the coronavirus crisis, especially among women and the elderly population, who were observed to have higher levels of anxiety and psychological distress during the pandemic. Gupta, Nair, and Radhakrishnan [21] offer similar empirical conclusions by looking at changes in consumption behavior in India. There, the COVID-19 pandemic initiated panic and impulse buying and the need to stockpile food. Veselovská, Závadský, and Bartková [22] conducted a sociological investigation on a representative sample of the Slovak population to identify and explain the main factors influencing changes in consumption behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic. By analyzing empirical data, they reach similar conclusions as other authors [23], that in times of crisis, the rate of consumption increases and the allocation of financial resources to savings or longer-term investments decreases. At the same time, the authors of the Slovak study stressed that hygiene/epidemiological restrictions and the related restriction of social interactions have significantly influenced people's mentality, reorganized daily routines and motivations for action, and, last but not least, modified consumption patterns in terms of a transition to digital shopping formats, which was more evident in the female population than in the male population. A number of other similarly focused empirical and theoretical studies are emerging in the early months of 2022.
