The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on consumer shopping habits

Predmet istraživanja ovog rada je utjecaj koronavirusa na opskrbni lanac prehrambenih proizvoda u maloprodaji, te posljedično na promjenu kupovnih navika potrošača. COVID 19, poznatiji kao koronavirus pojavio se krajem 2019.godine u kineskoj pokrajini Hubei, u gradu Wuhan. U početku se činilo kao bezopasan virus, međutim zbog posljedica koje je počeo ostavljati u trećem mjesecu 2020. godine, Svjetska zdravstvena organizacija proglasila je pandemiju. Koronavirus uzrokovao je promjene koje su utjecale na funkcioniranje svjetskog gospodarstva. Veliku ulogu u gospodarstvu ima trgovina, u ovim situacijama posebno je jedan dio nje stavljen pod povećalo, a to je opskrba prehrambenim proizvodima kako općenito, tako i u maloprodaji. Opskrbni lanac prehrambenih proizvoda sastoji se od 5 faza: proizvodnja, skladištenje i manipulacija, prerade i pakiranja, distribucije na tržište te krajnje potrošnje. Zbog potrošačevih korištenja POS uređaja i samoposlužnih blagajni maloprodavači dobivaju prvi uvide u promjene i navike potrošača tako i u ovom slučaju koronavirusa. Vidljivo je da dolazi do nesklada ponude i potražnje, s jedne strane kupci gomilaju zalihe, dok s druge maloprodavači ostaju bez njih. Cilj ovog rada je istražiti važnost uloge maloprodavača prehrambenih proizvoda u opskrbnom lancu, odnosno istražiti utjecaj koronavirusa na promjenu kupovnih navika potrošača, što je najvidljivije na samom prodajnom mjestu. Za potrebe ovoga rada provelo se sekundarno i primarno istraživanje, kojim su se istražile kupovne navike potrošača u vrijeme pandemije, kao i promjene koje su isti zamijetili na prodajnom mjestu. Instrument istraživanja bio je anketni upitnik, a samo istraživanje je provedeno putem Interneta.The subject of this paper is the impact of coronavirus on the supply chain of food products in retail, and consequently on the change of consumer buying habits. COVID 19, better known as coronavirus, appeared in late 2019 in the Chinese province of Hubei, in the city of Wuhan. At first, it seemed like a harmless virus, however, due to the consequences it started to leave in the third month of 2020, the World Health Organization declared a pandemic. Coronavirus has caused changes that have affected the functioning of the world economy. Trade plays a big role in the economy, in these situations one part of it is placed under a magnifying glass, and that is the supply of food products both in general and in retail. The food supply chain consists of 5 phases: production, storage and handling, processing and packaging, market distribution, and final consumption. Due to consumer use of POS devices and self-service cash registers, retailers get the first insights into the changes and habits of consumers, and in this case the coronavirus. It can be seen that there is a mismatch between supply and demand, on the one hand, customers accumulate stocks, while on the other hand retailers are left without them. The aim of this paper is to investigate the importance of the role of food retailers in the supply chain, ie to investigate the impact of coronavirus on changing consumer buying habits, which is most visible at the point of sale. For the purposes of this paper, secondary and primary research was conducted, which investigated the shopping habits of consumers at the time of the pandemic, as well as the changes they noticed at the point of sale. The research instrument was a survey questionnaire, and the research itself was conducted via the Interne