The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are visible in consumers’ behavior regarding vehicle ownership, as almost half (43%) of the respondents to our LinkedIn poll in September have still stated that they planned delaying buying a new car for nine to twelve months. In July, 49% of the respondents were planning this delay and the answers given to a similar question two months later illustrate that consumers are considering an even longer delay that they did in the summer. The fact that there are also 11% of voters who plan delaying the acquisition six to nine months emphasizes the fact that many consumers remain cautious in their investments.

The local findings are in line with the conclusions of Deloitte State of Consumer Tracker, which shows that half of the Europeans plan to postpone this type of acquisition.

On the other hand, a high number of voters (36%) said that they didn’t plan delaying the purchase of a new car at all. The results are very similar with the ones in July, which indicates that there is a still large category of consumers willing to invest in a new car despite the uncertain economic context. This behavior may be consistent with a trend indicated by the poll below, which shows that a high number of consumers tend to avoid using public transport in the city. Thus, for safety reasons, some users may be inclined to travel more by car and thus may be more open to buy a new vehicle, which can better fulfill their safe mobility needs.

Last, but not least, intercity and international public transport restrictions and safety perceptions may have also influenced this attitude towards vehicle ownership. According to Deloitte State of Consumer Tracker, only 26% of Europeans feel safe flying right now, which can determine them to be more interested in traveling by car and, thus, in investing in a new one.

The pandemic has definitely taken a toll on all types of means of transport, as consumers need less mobility and are more cautious in this regard. Nevertheless, consumers tend to be more open towards city public transport in September as they were in July, as 58% of voters declared they had planned to limit its usage in the next 3 months, by comparison to 63% in July. The results seem to be correlated with the votes regarding limited usage of personal vehicles: more people plan to delay using them in September than they did in July, a sign that consumers are getting more relaxed in relationship with public transport.

Taxi services seem to continue to face a downfall in the near future (13% of voters in September, as well as in July), while the most stable segment is likely to be ride hailing services, as only 7% of voters intend to cut them, by comparison to 6% in July.

As we are the witnesses of unprecedented times, consumers’ behaviors are more likely to become more and more unpredictable being heavily influenced by the socio-economic context. Ten days before Black Friday in Romania, more than half of the respondents (53%) that participated in our LinkedIn poll mentioned that they would not spend on this year’s Black Friday edition, reinforcing once more their concerns about financial related matters in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, more than a quarter of respondents (28%) said that they even plan to spend less than last year proving once more that the pandemic changes the consumers’ demands and amplified their sense of spending. Few were the ones willing to spend the same (11%) or spend more (8%) than last year.

Almost half of the respondents mentioned that they were mainly interested in making the most of the big discounts offered by brands during Black Friday, while the rest were equally split between a very functional reason, buying affordable Christmas gifts more than one month before the Christian holiday, and a more personal reason, joining a trend. As Black Friday has been taking place in Romania for nine years, it has become a well-known occasion and more than an opportunity to shop at discounted prices, but rather a popular holiday people start to join influenced by the shopping behavior of their peers and its increased media coverage. Consumers are more inclined to shop on Black Friday, even though they don’t actually need buying a certain item, and their psychological motivations can vary: feeling part of a global movement, finding therapeutic comfort in impulse shopping, enjoying the positive feelings that finding a bargain can provide and so on.

Although the majority of our first LinkedIn poll participants stated they didn’t plan to shop on Black Friday, the ones who did seem to be motivated by a higher variety of reasons than discounts, that build, in ensemble, a favorable shopping environment.

Consumers are more cautious when it comes to spending during this Christmas season, as half of the Romanian respondents believed that they would spend less this year than the previous one. The finding is in line with Deloitte 2020 Holiday Retail Survey, which underlines that 38% of shoppers plan to spend less this year because of concerns related to economic instability and plans associated with savings instead of spending. Despite financial concerns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers still plan to spend money over the holidays, as 39% of the Romanian respondents said that they would spend the same amount of money on Christmas than last year.

Online shopping and card payments continue to be the most preferred method for Romanian consumers, as the LinkedIn polls emphasized once again in December 2020. In June, 38% of respondents chose online channels as the main shopping solution, the number decreased in the following months (32% in July, 26% in October), increased on Black Friday (49%) and reached a peak in December, regarding Christmas shopping (67%). This preference may be influenced by retailers’ marketing strategies, as some offered free shipping or other incentives for products ordered online on Black Friday or in December, and by the need for physical distancing, as COVID-19 cases in November and December were much higher than in the previous months. Pre-paying orders by card is, by far, the most common payment method for Romanian shoppers: 63% prefer it, by comparison to only 4% who prefer cash on delivery. This is consistent with Deloitte 2020 Holiday Retail Survey, which shows that 65% of US consumers prefer shopping online this season.