New York, Miami, London, Singapore, Shanghai, 21 December 2020: Mindshare, the agency network that is part of WPP, has released the tenth wave of its ‘New Normal’ COVID-19 tracker – a 1,000 person per market survey across 10 global markets that tracks changes in consumer behaviour in order to identify new behaviours that may become the ‘new normal’ post COVID-19.

In this last instalment of the New Normal Tracker for 2020, there are signs of confidence returning as the various vaccines reach the final stages of testing and the UK approves the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine. Financial worries are still top of mind for most consumers as the holiday season approaches but most are maintaining their home with replenished groceries and personal care products. There is, however, hope for a fresh start in the new year.

As many people enter the ninth month of the pandemic and face not being able to spend Christmas with their loved ones, the tracker reveals the following insights.

Over 1 in 4 people overspent on themselves during Black Friday

With heightening concerns of financial security only 1 in 4 people globally have agreed to having overspent on themselves during Black Friday to compensate for the year they had. This is slightly higher for those in US at 33% and in China at 37% for Single’s day. Men are also more likely to have treated themselves than women (30% men vs. 26% women) as are the younger age groups (35%). It is not surprising then that over 1 in 2 people globally are worried about their finances and 41% are worrying a lot about their job security. Despite everyone being hit by the pandemic, it is the 18-34’s that are feeling the squeeze with 57% worrying a lot about their finances. Across markets, Mexico (71%), Spain (63%), India (61%) and Italy (60%) are the most worried financially.

2021 is seen as a fresh start

59% agree to seeing 2021 as a fresh start and can’t wait for this year to be over. Markets which have been severely hit by the pandemic are even more eager for 2020 to be over such as Italy (70%), US (69%) and UK (65%). There is, however, a fear that the Christmas holidays will impact on the start of 2021 with more people contracting the virus. 65% globally agree that they are worried about this. When looking at the different age groups the older 55+ are looking forward to 2021 the most (61%) while being the most worried (75%) about Christmas impacting the new cases.

A third of consumers have delayed or missed a doctor’s appointment

As health systems tried to cope with the first pandemic in 100 years, much has been written across the world on people avoiding seeking medical help for other ailments to prevent the exposure to the virus. 34% of consumers globally have said they have delayed or missed a doctor’s appointment and a further 12% have claimed to be thinking about doing this. It is the younger 18-34 (41%) who are the most likely to have missed or delayed an appointment with this number increasing to almost 1 in 2 for certain markets. Italy (48%), India (43%) and US (40%) are the markets with the highest number of people claiming to be have delayed or missing a doctor’s appointment since the start of the pandemic.

2 in 5 have acquired a subscription service for an on-demand platform since the start of the pandemic

With consumers looking for entertainment, the real winners of lockdown have been the on-demand services, as 43% of people globally have claimed to purchase a subscription since the beginning of the pandemic and a further 13% are thinking of doing so. The only markets below the global average are the UK (33%), Germany (26%) and France (21%) as Mexico (69%), India (63%) and Singapore (58%) have the highest amount of claimed purchases for this service. 41% globally have agreed to have subscribed to more than 2 streaming services with this rising to 1 in 2 consumers in both US and China. Whilst this number is driven predominantly by younger age groups almost 1 in 5 of those aged 55+ are also claiming having multiple services.

Vaccines offer a glimpse of hope for the future as positive sentiment increases marginally

47% of the global population are still feeling worried and a third are claiming to be stressed, yet there has been a small increase in optimism, hope, happiness and confidence across the globe in the last month. Those who are the most worried include the older generations, women (50%) and people in Italy (56%). Nevertheless, as the roll out of the vaccine starts across the world there are also signs of positive sentiment increasing and almost 1 in 5 are now feeling hopeful. This positivity has consequently decreased the perceived time it will take for life to get back to normal. Back at the end of October 36% of people globally thought it would take over a year for normality to return, this has now decreased to 31% of people claiming this timeframe. Spain (43%), Singapore (38%) and Italy (34%) are all still a little less optimistic than the global average.

For more information please contact Greg Brooks: +44(0)7826869312 | greg.brooks@mindshareworld.com

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