Coronavirus Insights: US Survey Update—How Covid-19 Has Changed the Way Consumers Shop for Apparel (Full Report)

What's Inside

Coresight Research’s July 1 survey provides a detailed update on US consumers’ behaviors, concerns and expectations amid the coronavirus crisis, with a focus on the implications for US retail.

This week, we focus on changing consumer shopping behaviors in the apparel category, asking new questions about product returns. Our findings cover the following:

• The impact of the coronavirus outbreak on how consumers shop for clothing and footwear—such as by switching spending to online-only retailers or by availing alternative delivery options for online orders, including curbside pickup
• Whether respondents are continuing to shop for apparel online, despite the reopening of brick-and-mortar stores
• Whether lockdowns and store closures have prevented consumers from returning unwanted purchases, and their plans for keeping or returning these items—including returns by mail or in store

We discuss a number of survey findings on consumers’ current and expected behaviors, covering the following:

• What activities respondents have done in the past two weeks and what they expect to do in the next two weeks
• Whether respondents are currently avoiding public areas or travel—and which types of places or travel they are avoiding

We also provide trended data for a number of our regular weekly questions on spending and shopping:

• Whether respondents are buying more or less of any retail categories as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak and, if so, which types of products
• Whether US shoppers are making more purchases online during the coronavirus outbreak and, if so, which categories
• Whether respondents expect to retain behaviors from the coronavirus outbreak period over the long term—and if so, which behaviors

The findings provide an update to our previous reports, which were based on surveys undertaken on June 24, June 17,  June 10, June 3, May 27, May 20, May 13, May 6, April 29, April 22, April 15, April 8, April 1, March 25 and March 17–18.

If you do not have a premium subscription, you can access select findings in a complimentary abridged report.

In addition to this survey, click here to view additional coverage of the coronavirus outbreak.