Our CMBS economics team (authors: Dr. Pulkit Marwah, Dr. Yu Yvette Zhang, and Dr. Mengmeng Gu) presented research results on the ‘Influence of COVID-19 on Consumer Purchasing Decision for Gardening Products’ at the 2022 Agricultural & Applied Economics Association Annual Meeting (Anaheim, CA; July 31-August 2). Here is a brief research overview!
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world in numerous ways, including quality of life, and political, environmental, and economic sustainable development. The pandemic also has an impact on consumers, forcing businesses to alter their business operations and adapt to the new normal. Therefore, understanding and researching changes in consumer preferences and shopping patterns, for plants and gardening products/services, due to COVID-19 and its associated factors is critical and under the scope of this study.
A monthly consumer survey about consumer demand and their preferences for gardening products was conducted using an online survey platform – Amazon’s MTurk, between March 2020 and May 2021. Consumers were asked questions regarding the change in their expenses and time spent on gardening-related activities. Approximately 4,500 consumers from all 50 states were surveyed to analyze changes in consumers’ preferences and decision-making when shopping for gardening products during the pandemic.
The result showed an increase in time spent on gardening reported by the consumers, as well as in gardening expenses during the COVID-19 pandemic (Figures 1 and 2). The most significant increases in purchases were for vegetables and seeds. Increased time/expenses spent on gardening during the pandemic were positively associated with higher income, higher education, married people, people with children, people who worked, people who watched more COVID-19 news, and those who were infected with COVID-19 or knew someone who was. For more details, please visit: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/322523/files/24559.pdf
