Panic Buying in Hungary During Covid-19 Pandemic

The study examines buyers’ behavior in Hungary during COVID -19 pandemic based on a non-representative online questionnaire that was carried out during the time of lockdown in Hungary in March 2020. We would like to find out whether there was really accumulation of goods, and if so, which product ranges were involved. How did the outbreak of COVID-19 change shopping behavior? In which direction did it move and could retail trade react to the unexpected, rapid challenge of going online? Can the respondents be identified with the traditional buying behaviour pattern and can it be typified with it? In our study we provide an overview of the anomalies detected in the Hungarian “panic buying” concerning shopping frequency, spending and product avoidance. First, we introduce the main behavioral patterns of shoppers during the “panic buying period” in Hungary, then we draft different types of customers. Second, we highlight some statistically significant relations with regional aspects. Here connections are identified between shopping frequency, spending, stock piling and the places of residency of the surveyed people. Third, we categorised customers into five groups with cluster analysis. The main cluster forming differences are the altered sense of well-being and the attitude differences in stock piling