THE EFFECT OF PANDEMIC ON CONSUMER PREFERENCES IN THE CONTEXT OF HEDONIC AND UTILITARIAN CONSUMPTION

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic, which started to be seen intensely in the world in December 2019 and has been present in our country since the first months of 2020, has greatly affected life especially as of March 2020. In line with the measures taken by the Ministry of Health, production has come to a halt outside certain sectors such as food and logistics, and public life has been deeply affected by curfews. The great losses due to a pandemic, insufficient certain services, the lack of masks, disinfectants or similar healthcare materials during the periods when the pandemic was experienced the most, increased the awareness of consumers about health and developed sensitivity in this regard. In the light of these changes, while the consumption of many products, which were defined as compulsory goods in the past, decreased, the consumption of the products classified as hedonic increased and the definitions of hedonist and utilitarian consumption have changed to a great extent. In this study, in order to determine the effects of pandemic, which is still ongoing, on consumer preferences, in-depth interviews were made with 60 people face to face, by telephone and video conferencing method, and the changes in post-pandemic consumption habits were tried to be revealed.