Abstract
The outbreak and worldwide spread of the COVID-19 pandemic is unprecedented in recent human memory and has affected normal lifestyle of people worldwide. The lockdown restrictions imposed by countries across the globe created concerns about food availability and this affected grocery purchase and stocking behaviour of households. Researchers worldwide started analysing the nature and trend of changes in the behaviour and effect of socio-demographic factors on the change. However, limited studies have been undertaken in the Indian context. Also, how family structure influences panic buying behaviour has not been studied in detail so far. This work studies in detail whether the pandemic outbreak affected grocery purchase trends of Indian households in terms of the duration for which grocery purchase was being made, amount spent on grocery shopping per purchase and type of grocery items preferred using an online household survey of 506 families from all over India. Also, the influence of household income, family structure and grocery availability and delivery issues on grocery stocking behaviour has been studied in detail using Apriori algorithm. It was observed that panic buying is a reality, and quantity stocked and amount spent per purchase changed significantly after outbreak of the pandemic. Also, family income, size and presence of elderly and children in the household were found to affect buying patterns. Though it is difficult to predict long-term effect on behaviour change, with fear of prolonged pandemic situation and many countries resuming lockdown for a second time, this study is expected to be effective for design of supply policies of essentials in the new normal situation.
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