Organizations Must Recognize and Adjust Their Approach To Stay Relevant and Meet Their Changing Customer’s Needs During COVID-19 Finds New KPMG International Survey

A new report released by KPMG International’s Global Customer Center of Excellence reveals the many varied impacts of COVID-19 on customer behavior. The findings from Me, My Life, My Wallet showcase how organizations are needing to recognize their approach in meeting customers accordingly to stay relevant and meet their customers where they are today and where they will be in the future.

Manav Prakash, Advisory Partner at KPMG Bahrain, commented on the report findings and said “Despite the economic slowdown as a result of Covid-19 outbreak, the region remains a potentially lucrative consumer market. Rising levels of disposable income, growth in GDP per capita, and a young population act as positive economic levers. However, financial priorities have changed. Organizations and individuals have witnessed the rapid rise of e-commerce, a conscious move away from cash, widespread adoption of new technologies, and a multitude of changes to their ways of working. These trends are likely to remain long after the spread of COVID-19 has been curbed, signaling the beginning of an era of hyper-connectivity and augmented technological reliance”

The findings were based on 18,657 respondents across 16 countries, regions and jurisdictions.

• 36 percent of consumers expect companies to reduce all friction associated with delivery.
• 49 percent of consumers are now more focused on saving rather than spending.
• 80 percent of consumers prefer buying from and into the brands whose actions align with their beliefs and values.
• 90 percent of consumers are willing to pay more to an ethical retailer or brand that gives back to society.
• 55 percent of consumers place protection of their data as the most important element they expect from companies with 47 percent expecting companies to never sell their data to others.
• 44 percent reported using more (and different) technologies such as mobile apps or voice activated devices, compared to before COVID-19.

‘In the battle for growth, knowing your customer – intimately, personally and holistically – is what will likely separate the winners from the rest of the pack. And the critical prerequisite to this knowledge is data. It has currency, it has value’ said Julio Hernandez, Head of Global Customer Center of Excellence, US Customer Advisory Lead KPMG in the US. ‘With it, organizations can craft deeply personalized experiences, can stop living in today and start predicting the customer of tomorrow. But without it, organizations are left in the dark, relying on outdated assumptions and imprecise generalizations. Knowing the evolving customer better can instill confidence in charting a path forward in such a dynamic environment.’

To read the full Me, My Life, My Wallet report please visit home.kpmg/knowyourcustomer