新冠疫情對重慶消費(fèi)者的乳制品消費(fèi)行為影響調(diào)查
重慶第二師范學(xué)院
?2021 屆全日制本科生畢業(yè)論文
題??? 目
新冠疫情對重慶消費(fèi)者的乳制品消費(fèi)行為影響調(diào)查
教學(xué)學(xué)院
外國語言文學(xué)學(xué)院
專業(yè)年級
2017級商務(wù)英語
學(xué)生姓名
熊偉
學(xué)號
1710484050
指導(dǎo)教師
蔣艷
職稱
副教授
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?
?
2021
年
5
月
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A Survey on the Impact of COVID-19 on Dairy Consumption Behavior of Chongqing Consumers ?
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A survey report
submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts
in the School of Foreign Languages and Literatures
Chongqing University of Education
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School:???????? School of Foreign Languages & Literatures
Major:???????? Business English
Grade:??? ?? 2017
Name:????????? Xiong Wei
Supervisor:? Jiang Yan
Date:??????????? May, 2021
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Abstract: In 2019, the coronavirus epidemic hit the world, and it has had various impacts on people's lives, including the impact on dairy consumption behavior. This article mainly studies the changes in consumer behavior of dairy products in Chongqing under the background of the COVID-19 and explores the reasons for this.
Through questionnaire surveys and data analysis, it is found that the new coronavirus disease has an impact on people's consumption concepts, consumption environment and consumption patterns. These three aspects and the personal characteristics of consumers constitute the basic elements that influence consumer behavior. It is hoped that this article can provide help to consumers' decision-making and enterprise marketing.
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Key words: COVID-19; consumer behavior; dairy product
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摘要：2019年新冠疫情襲擊全球，對人們的生活產(chǎn)生了各方面的影響，其中包括對乳制品消費(fèi)行為的影響。本文主要通過調(diào)查來研究重慶地區(qū)的消費(fèi)者在新冠疫情背景下乳制品消費(fèi)行為的變化，并探究其中的原因。
本文通過問卷調(diào)查的方式，對疫情影響下重慶居民的乳制品消費(fèi)觀念、消費(fèi)環(huán)境、消費(fèi)方式、等方面進(jìn)行綜合研究、分析，以期望對疫情下重慶居民的消費(fèi)行為所受影響有所了解，為改良居民的消費(fèi)行為提供支持，從而更好地、正確地引導(dǎo)居民的消費(fèi)需求，也對相關(guān)乳制品企業(yè)的營銷提供思路。
關(guān)鍵詞：消費(fèi)者行為；新冠肺炎；乳制品
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Contents
1. Introduction· 1
2. Literature Review· 2
2.1 Consumer Behavior 2
2.2 Consumer Behavior Under the Influence of Severe Crisis Events. 5
3. Methodology· 7
4. Research Findings 8
4.1 Individual Characteristics. 8
4.2 Consumption Environment 14
4.3 Consumption Concepts. 17
4.4 Consumption Pattern. 22
5. Conclusion· 25
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References 26
Appendix· 28
Acknowledgements 32
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1. Introduction
In 2019, the World Health Organization named the Corona Virus Disease as Covid-19, which refers to pneumonia caused by a new type of coronavirus infection in that year. Since December 2019, multiple cases of unexplained pneumonia with a history of exposure to the Hua’nan China Seafood Market in Wuhan City, Hubei Province have been diagnosed successively by some hospitals, which was a sign that a kind of acute respiratory infectious diseases caused by the 2019 new coronavirus infection was quietly spreading over the world. Covid-19 has impacted all aspects of human health, economic growth, social development, national security, and international relations. It is a comprehensive challenge. This will obviously bring many major changes to the world. It will not only intensify some negative concepts, but also accelerate some positive trends.
Indeed, the COVID-19 outbreak has had a huge impact on people's consumption behavior, including the consumption of dairy products. As for the consumption location, the frequency of consumers buying dairy products in supermarkets, retail stores and other places has been greatly reduced in the early stage. In the middle and later period, due to the control of the epidemic, the frequency of people buying dairy products in supermarkets and other places gradually recovered. As for the consumers' psychology, in the early stage, due to the fear of contracting Coronavirus, reducing the frequency of contact with risky strangers, and enhancing immunity according to the documents issued by National Health Commission, people reduced the time of outside going as much as possible, so the sales of dairy products in the offline market decreased sharply. Instead, people were more likely to buy dairy products online and the online sales of dairy product went up.
This survey plans to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on consumers' behavior by taking consumers in Chongqing as an example. Through the investigation and analysis of data, it is hoped the conclusion of the survey is helpful to consumers’ decision-making and enterprises’ marketing. ?For the consumers, this research can make them understand what other people are doing with their dairy purchases and provide reliable reference for future consumption. For the enterprises, with the COVID-19 epidemic affecting consumer dairy consumption in many ways, this research is hoped to help them guide dairy marketing, selection and future production planning. Besides, it can also provide the society with consumers’ current consumption habits and patterns to develop epidemic prevention and control strategies accordingly.
The paper is divided into five parts. The first part, introduction, explains the background of this research. Then literature review expounds the theoretical basis and data analysis methods of the article. And methodology describes the details of the process, which makes this research reproducible. The research findings analyze the data and makes inductions of the reasons. Last, the conclusion summarizes the phenomena and data found in the research and provides suggestions against them.
2. Literature Review
2.1 Consumer Behavior
Generally, consumer behavior refers to the actions taken by consumers in order to obtain, use, or dispose of goods. Consumer behavior is closely related to the exchange of products or services. Under the conditions of a modern market economy, the study of consumer behavior by companies focuses on establishing and developing long-term exchange relationships with consumers. To this end, it is not only necessary to understand how consumers obtain products and services, but also how consumers consume products and how products are disposed of after they are used up. Because of the consumer's consumption experience, the way consumers dispose of old products and their feelings will affect the next round of consumer purchases, that is to say, it will have a direct effect on the long-term exchange relationship between the enterprise and the consumer.
Blackwell(1978) suggested that, consumers are mainly affected by two kinds of factors when purchasing: external factors and internal factors. The former includes culture, demographic situation, social environment, enterprise marketing, etc., while the latter includes personality, interest, attitude, purchasing power, etc..
Engel(1968) held the belief that consumer behavior is affected by external information. Under the action of tangible and intangible factors, external information is input into the central control system. The attention, understanding, memory, personal experience, evaluation criteria, attitude, personality are filtered and processed on mind, which constitutes the information processing program and produces decision-making program. In the entire process, environmental factors have a great influence, such as income, culture, family, and social class (external factors). Consumers finally make purchases, experience the goods, and draw conclusions about whether they are satisfied or not. This conclusion enters the central control system through feedback, forming information and new experience, and affecting future purchase behavior.
Howard(1963) had similar views before, and he posed that external factors are the stimulus of purchase, which through arousing and forming motivations, provide information on various options, and affect the psychological activities of purchasers ?(internal factors). Affected by stimulus and previous purchase experience, consumers begin to receive information and generate various motives, produce a series of responses to alternative products, and form a series of intermediary factors in purchasing process, such as selection evaluation criteria and intentions. Under the interaction of motivation, purchase plan and intermediary factors, consumers have certain tendencies and attitudes. This tendency or attitude is combined with other factors, such as the limiting factors of purchase behavior, to produce purchase results. The feeling information formed by the purchase result will also be fed back to the consumer, which will affect the consumer's psychology and the purchase behavior of next time.
Mehrabian and Russell(1974) mentioned that the general model of human behavior is the S-O-R model, namely "stimulus-Sponsor-Response". This model indicated that consumers' purchasing behavior is caused by stimulus, which come from not only the physiological and psychological factors (internal) in the consumer's body but also the external environment. Stimulated by various factors, consumers generate motives; driven by motives, they make decisions to purchase goods and implement purchase behaviors. After purchase, they will make evaluations on the channels, manufacturers and the goods they purchase, which finishes a complete consumption behavior.
In 2019, consumers' buying behavior has undergone great changes, including the behavior of purchasing dairy products. This change can still be explained by the theory of consumer behavior. Therefore, the influencing factors of consumer behavior changes can be analyzed from a theoretical level, which also helps to summarize the characteristics of consumer behavior changes. Based on these summarized characteristics, we can find the main conditions that affect consumer behavior under health emergencies, which can enable companies to change marketing strategies in time to respond to changes in consumer behavior. In order to analyze the psychological factors of consumers, Hierarchy of needs theory can provide a comprehensive explanation. Maslow(1943) presented that human needs can be divided into five levels, namely physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, respect needs and self-realization needs. Generally speaking, when the needs of a certain level are relatively satisfied, they will develop to a higher level, and the pursuit of the needs of a higher level will become the driving force for behavior. According to this theory, five consumer levels can be divided (Fig.1) :
Nowadays, consumers' income level and purchasing power can meet their survival needs, so consumers' needs are upgraded to safety needs. Because of the impact of the epidemic, people were afraid of getting the virus and wanted to improve their immunity, so the safety needs increased and the demand for dairy products would increase accordingly. At present stage, only when safety needs are met, can people pursue higher-level social needs, respect needs, and self-realization needs.
Self-realization needs
→
Functions
Respect needs
→
Health
Social needs
→
Social ? status
Safety needs
→
Symbolism
Physiological needs
→
Self-judgment
Fig1. Hierarchy of needs
2.2 Consumer Behavior Under the Influence of Severe Crisis Events
In 2019, due to the outbreak of COVID-19, consumer behavior has great changes from previous years. This just proves that consumer behavior is special under the influence of major emergencies. At present, there is relatively little research on consumer behavior under the influence of emergencies, which is the reason for this research. The impact of emergency crisis events on consumer behavior is special, but it is also within the scope of consumer behavior theory. It just does not represent the general situation.
Hexiaozhou(2011) mentioned that according to Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory, when encountering an emergency crisis, people lack the sense of security, so their safety needs cannot be met. This will generate two completely different consumer behaviors, one is the behavior that tends to buy a certain product, and the other is the behavior that avoids a certain product. The former drives consumers to purchase a large number of related necessities to meet basic safety needs. At this time, consumers pay more attention to the usage value of commodities, and do not pay much attention or even ignore the brand value of commodities. The latter drives consumers to avoid certain products. At this time, consumers pay more attention to brand value. Inferior brands are the first choice for consumers to avoid in order to meet their safety needs. This can be summarized as the impact of emergency crisis events on consumption concepts and consumption objects.
Wenyuan(2019) gave a more specific explanation. In the context of the earthquake, she mentioned that due to the negative impact of the earthquake on the supply and circulation of consumption, as well as the increase in consumer demand in other areas after the disaster, consumption was suppressed and compressed, leading to a decline in purchasing level. At the same time, because of the subsidies and financial assistance provided by the government and all walks of life after earthquake, the disposable income of the residents has increased to a certain extent, and the consumption motivation of the residents has increased. This can be summarized as the impact of emergency crisis events on income and purchasing power.
In the context of the recent COVID-19, some scholars also mentioned relevant consumer influencing factors. Tan Shiyi(2020) suggested COVID-19 influenced consumer behavior on consumer psychology, consumption ability, consumption mode and consumer objects. Firstly, during the home quarantine period, residents' awareness of safety and health increased significantly, and consumers' demand for hygiene products increased and they paid more attention to the safety of the environment when making consumption. Secondly, due to the restricted travel during the epidemic, the consumption has changed from offline to online, and residents' spiritual and cultural needs have further increased, and consumption for information and social needs have increased correspondingly. Thirdly, during the epidemic, some companies had difficulties in business operations, and even experienced capital flow breakage and withdrawal from the market. A large number of small companies closed down or chose to temporarily suspend business. Some companies had plans to make redundancy and provide ordinary employees with basic living allowances or only local minimum wages, which resulted in a significant drop in income and consumption capacity of employees.
In summary, this study holds the belief that based on Tan shiyi's theory, combined with the previous theory, the factors affecting consumers' purchase can be divided into four aspects. The first is individual characteristics, which include consumers' age, education level, income and purchasing power. The second is the concept of consumption, which includes the interest, attitude and psychology of consumption. The third is the consumption environment, including culture, social environment and corporate marketing. The last one is consumption pattern, including consumption mode and consumption objects.
Individual Characteristics
age
education level
income
purchasing power
Consumption Concepts
interest
attitude
psychology of consumption
Consumption Environment
culture
social environment
enterprise marketing
Consumption ? Pattern
purchasing mode
purchasing objects
Fig.2 Factors which influence consumption based on the theories
In addition, the above literature and theories mainly study the decision-making and consumption behavior in ordinary condition, as well as the ones in the background of emergency crises event in China, which is the basis of this research. However, according to the above theories, this research focuses the area on Chongqing and focuses the product on dairy, using the same theoretical basis to study a specific product category on a specific region, filling the domestic gap in this respect.
3. Methodology
This research used quantitative method to investigate. Because quantitative research is easy to implement. As for the result and data quality, as long as the sample size is increased, the statistical testability of the research can be improved, so this is a scientific research method. Based on the theory summarized above, a questionnaire was designed to analyze the impact of COVID-19 on the consumption behavior of Chongqing consumers’ dairy products.
The questionnaire was designed on the Wenjuanxing website according to literature review and what was intended to investigate. Then, it was randomly distributed to residents in Chongqing. After the sample size was reached, it was time to collect the questionnaires and select the valid questionnaires. The last step was to analyze valid questionnaires and to draw a scientific conclusion.
Altogether 219 valid questionnaires were collected and remained valid. The questionnaire was divided into four parts, a total of 18 items. These four parts are personal characteristics, consumption concept, consumption environment and consumption style.
The application of questionnaires can make up for the shortcomings of literature research, and the data obtained will be newer, more direct, and more comprehensive.
4. Research Findings
This section is divided into four subsections as same as the questionnaire, individual characteristics, consumption concepts, consumption environment and consumption pattern.
4.1 Individual Characteristics
The questionnaire shows that the participants in this survey are all people of all ages, and the distribution is relatively even. As shown in Fig.3, the majority of the population is between 18 and 25 years old, accounting for 29.22%, which has only a little influence on the results of this survey. The second-largest age group is between 41 and 50 years old, accounting for 18.72% of the total. This shows that people in these two age groups are the main consumers of dairy products during the epidemic, while other age groups are roughly distributed around 10%.
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Fig.3 Age of interviewee
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Fig.4 Education Level
Fig.5 Education level in all age stages
Fig.4 and Fig.5 need to be combined for analysis. It is worth noting that high school and university degrees occupy the main position, which are distributed in various age groups, which are 33.33% and 39.27% respectively. The lowest proportion is those with an education level of elementary school and below, accounting for 3.65%. The rest of people’s education level are junior high school degree and master’s degree accounting for 14.16% and 9.59%. The level of development of social education and the level of consumer knowledge established on this basis will affect consumption. For example, people with a bachelor’s degree and above will prefer the experience and consumption environment brought by the product when they consume. People with lower levels of education are more inclined to consider the practicality of commodities when consuming. Different people have different education levels, and consumers have different buying behaviors. Because of the different levels of education, consumers' consumption levels, consumption structure, and consumers' consciousness when buying are different. In the process of consumption, consumers will be affected by information from all aspects. This information will directly or indirectly affect consumer behavior. Then, whether consumers can keep a clear mind while consuming, and rationally discriminating the authenticity of information has become a crucial factor in whether they can consume rationally. Generally speaking, the higher the level of education people have, the better they can understand all aspects of consumption and products, and they are more likely to consume rationally.? It is clear that people generally have basic knowledge, know what they are doing when consuming, and are able to have a certain understanding of the products they are buying. Besides consumption, for those who are generally educated in middle and high schools, they also have the ability to understand their health status and its changes. In a sensible situation, they will have a willingness to obtain products that are conducive to health. Therefore, dairy companies need to produce high-quality products to retain consumers because most people have middle or high education and can make independent judgments when consuming.
Fig.6 Career of interviewees
We can draw from Fig.6 that for interviewees, they are generally student, civil servants and enterprise personnel. The proportions of these three occupations are 24.2%, 23.29% and 28.31%. The rest of interviewees are individual dealers, retirees and others accounting for 18.72%, 1.37% and 4.11%. Theoretically, the more stable people’s salary is, the more they value things other than food, clothing, housing and transportation. People with these three occupations can be regarded as people with a stable income. Students can get living expenses paid by their parents every month, civil servants get salary from the government every month, and enterprise employees get salary from the company every month.
According to Chongqing's minimum wage standard, the latter two will receive at least 1,700 yuan per month. Among the interviews, retirees accounted for the least, accounting for only 1.37%. Although retirees do not have a job, they have a pension to cover living expenses. Because the amount of pension is variable and will change over time, retirees are not considered to have a stable salary. For people with more stable incomes, the greater the purchasing power they have. Therefore, in Chongqing, the main consumers of dairy products during the epidemic were students, civil servants and enterprise personnel.
Fig.7 Monthly income (RMB Yuan) of interviewees
According to Fig.7, there are 4.57% of people whose income or living expenses at school are less than 500 yuan, 5.94% of people are between 500 yuan and 999 yuan, 15.53% for 1,000 yuan to 1999 yuan, 5.02% for 2,000 yuan to 2999 yuan, 22.83% for 3,000 to 4999 yuan, 20.55% for 5,000 to 7,999 yuan, 13.24% for 8,000 to 10,000 yuan, and 12.33% for 10,000 yuan or more. People's living expenses and the amount of money they spend over a period of time are often the most intuitive indicators of their consumption behavior during that period. People of different income levels have different consumption structures. Middle-and-high-income people will be more concerned about the quality and use experience of commodities when they consume, and low-income people will be more concerned about the price of commodities. At the needs level, middle-and-high-income people are more concerned about safety needs and the needs above this level when consuming, while low-income people are more concerned about physiological needs. In general, the higher the value of income, that is, the more money people have, indicating that people are more likely to have a demand for goods and services, and the stronger the intensity of purchase. People with a salary of more than 3,000 yuan accounted for 68.9%, which shows that Chongqing citizens taking this survey as a sample, their living standards are generally above the middle level. People with middle and upper income levels have more bargaining chips to buy goods, so their desire to buy products is higher than that of low-income people. It can also be said that their purchasing power is stronger than those of low-income people. Therefore, consumers should choose products that are suitable for themselves and economic conditions permit.
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Fig.8 Changes in income after outbreak of COVID-19
As shown in Fig.8, 33.3% of the people have no change in income, 4.57% have their income reduced by less than 1000 yuan, and the other 4.57% have their income reduced by more than 1000 yuan. 26.48% of people had an income increase of up to 1,000 yuan, and 31.05% had an income increase of more than 1,000 yuan. The decrease in income is likely to be due to the epidemic. Many companies have ceased operations, resulting in people not being able to go to work as usual and losing income. The increase in income may be due to the fact that some certain special companies must continue to operate during the epidemic, and for this, the companies had to pay more wages to retain employees. For students, they could not return to school during the epidemic, and they all stayed at home, so parents did not have to pay for their living expenses, and students’ income decreased accordingly.
According to the consumption equilibrium theory of economics, changes in income also have an impact on consumption. Since consumer income is different and constantly changing, it will inevitably affect the quantity, quality, structure and consumption patterns of consumers. Therefore, it affects consumers' consumption behavior. From the research results, this was a bad phenomenon. More than half of the people's income has decreased. In general, their consumption desire would decrease, and their purchasing power would also decrease, including the purchasing power and desire to buy dairy products.
4.2 Consumption Environment
Fig.9 The situation of the elderly and children in the family
It can be concluded from Fig.9 that almost all families have elderly or children, accounting for as high as 94.06%, while the proportion of families without elderly or children is only 5.94%.? The consumption types of the elderly can be divided into three aspects: basic type, medical type, and development type. Medical consumption is the major part of the three, and even occupies other expenditures and even reduces the other consumption type ratio. As for the children, in terms of basic living consumption, parents pay attention to the scientific configuration of food and emphasize the food reasonable collocation and nutrients. Therefore, it can be concluded that because most families have old people and children in Chongqing, parents generally consider them in their consumption. They will be more concerned about the health of the elderly and purchase health-friendly products to supplement the medical consumption structure. In order to pursue health, the elderly's demand for medical consumption is likely to increase during the epidemic. Sales of dairy products that are good for health will also increase accordingly. They will also pay attention to the growth of children and purchase relevant nutritional products to improve their basic living consumption. Because during the epidemic, in order for children to have a safe environment to grow up healthily, children's physiological needs and safety needs have risen. Dairy products can supplement children's nutrition and improve immunity, so parents will prefer the consumption of dairy products.
Fig.10 Geographical distribution of respondents
Geographical location is also one of the influencing factors of the consumption environment, the obvious one is the contrast between urban and rural areas. Fig.10 shows that the geographical distribution of respondents this time is relatively even. 54.79% of people live in cities and towns for a long time, and 45.21% live in rural areas. Therefore, according to the consumption difference between rural and urban residents, it can be concluded that nearly half of people pay more attention to quality when shopping, and the other half pay more attention to price when shopping. Because in terms of consumption content, the proportion of rural residents' consumption in daily necessities is significantly greater than that of urban residents. In the psychology of consumption, urban residents are more concerned about brand and quality in consumption rather than price, which is expected to satisfy their own pursuit of high quality of life. However, rural residents are different. What they consider most in consumption is price. If the price is too high, they may even choose to abandon consumption. If they buy very expensive things, they are likely to reduce other consumption to make up for this expensive consumption. Generally speaking, price is the core element considered by rural residents.
Fig.11 People's recognition of dairy products' promotion for health
Fig.11 shows the consumer's acceptance of the company's health marketing of dairy products. During the period of COVID-19, approximately more than half of the people (73.97%) accept and approve the marketing of dairy products for health. The most surprising thing is that in this survey, 38.81% of the interviewees extremely agree with the marketing of dairy products. Totally, only 10.5% of people disagree with this type of marketing. Among them, 6.85% of people extremely disagree with the marketing of dairy products. For the remaining people accounting for 15.53%, ?they have no ideas about the dairy products’ promotion for health. Enterprise marketing is an indispensable part of the consumption environment. Consumers are exposed to a variety of marketing methods, which will change consumers' attitude, feeling, memory and thinking of commodities, and thus change their perception of commodities. Therefore, we can conclude that the marketing of dairy products to promote the health benefits of dairy products during the epidemic period was successful. To some extent, it will make people form the idea that drinking dairy products is beneficial to strengthening resistance, and in order to avoid infection with COVID-19, people will also actively buy products that are beneficial to health, including dairy products. Therefore, dairy companies can strengthen marketing in terms of immunity and health to attract consumers. Regarding the various propaganda of dairy products companies, consumers must have their own judgment.
4.3 Consumption Concepts
Fig.12 Frequency of drinking milk
Fig.12 shows that 19.18% of people drink dairy products once a week, 20.09% of people drink dairy products twice a week, 22.37% of people drink dairy products once every two days, and 27.85% of people drink dairy products every day. Only 10.5% of the people rarely drink dairy products. If twice a week is defined as drinking milk frequently, then most respondents (70.31%) have the habit of drinking milk. Therefore, dairy products occupy an important part of the consumption concept of most people. Because dairy products are not people's staple food, most people buy dairy products not for physiological needs, but for higher-level needs. Such as the safety needs in order to improve immunity, the society need and the respect need for improving body shape and appearance.
Fig.13 Changes in the frequency of people buying dairy products after the epidemic
After the epidemic outbreak, changes in the frequency of people buying dairy products can intuitively reflect the impact of this emergency on people's dairy product purchase behavior. Fig.13 indicates that after the outbreak, the number of people who increased the frequency of purchasing dairy products was basically the same as the number of people who decreased the frequency and those who did not change the frequency (34%, 33.79%, 31.96%). For those who increased the frequency of purchasing dairy products, they may be affected by two factors. One is enterprise marketing, and the other is government propaganda. According to the Dietary Guidelines for the Prevention of Coronavirus published by National Health Commission, as an important source of high-quality protein food, dairy products can effectively improve people’s nutritional status and strengthen human body's resistance. For those who reduced the frequency of buying dairy products, they were to reduce the times of outings, thereby reducing the risk of contracting the virus. Both changes in the frequency of purchasing dairy products reflect people's safety needs, immunity improving and virus infection prevention.
Fig.14 The fact that people paid more attention to health after the epidemic
Fig.14 clearly shows that after the outbreak, most people began to pay more attention to their health, and the proportion of people most concerned about health is as high as 37.90%, and the remaining people account for 38.81% of the total number. Only total 9.59% of people do not pay attention to their health, especially 5.02% of people do not care about it at all among them. The remaining 13.70% of people have no opinion on this survey question. Through medical studies, it is found that the most useful "special medicine" for the coronavirus is immunity. Immunity is what we often call "resistance" in our daily lives. Everyone has gradually realized that at the moment of the epidemic, improving immunity is a powerful magic weapon to resist and defeat the COVID-19. People’s safety needs were not met and were raised again, and they were concerned about the impact of products on the body. Therefore, people would change their concept of consumption to consume for health. People are more likely to buy pills that enhance immunity or foods that are good for the body. This can also lead to an increase in the consumption of dairy products that can boost human immunity.
Fig.15 The fact that people took the initiative to learn about health promotion
Fig.15 shows that after the epidemic outbreak, most people will take the initiative to obtain relevant information about health promotion, accounting for 73.98%, among them, 38.36% are the most active. Only a small number of people do not take the initiative to learn about health information, they only accounted for 9.59% of the total number. And only 16.44% of people did not care about health information after the outbreak. This shows that people's consumption concepts have begun to take initiative. People begin to understand all kinds of information about health. They no longer just follow the guidance of marketers to perceive products, but have their own judgments, and then judge whether the products meet their own requirements based on their own judgments. Therefore, in terms of the consumption of dairy products, consumers will increase their consumption of dairy products because of their health benefits. And the consumption of dairy products should be guided, and the government should promote the correct concept of dairy products consumption so that consumers can clarify the actual functions of dairy products.
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Fig.16 Facts that people exchange health knowledge with each other
Fig.16 indicates that after the outbreak, most people would exchange health information with each other, accounting for 73.52%. Among them 38.36% of the people extremely agree with this phenomenon, which suggests that they care about the health most. Only a small number of people chose not to exchange health information, accounting for only 9.14%. This shows that the generation of consumption concepts can occur from person to person. In this case, people's consumer demand for health will rapidly expand, and a large number of people can snap up health products in the short term. If the immunity-enhancing function of dairy products is spread widely, the dairy products will be bought in large quantities.
Fig.17 Satisfaction with the quality and safety of dairy products
As shown in Fig.17, some of the people are satisfied with the current safety of dairy products, accounting for 32.42%. And 36.53% of the people are completely satisfied with that. Approximately 21.46% of people do not care about the safety of dairy products. Only a few people are dissatisfied with the safety and quality of dairy products, accounting for 9.59%. Among them, 4.11% of the total are completely dissatisfied. People's concern for the quality of products is also one of the factors that affect consumption concepts. If people believe that the quality of a product meets their psychological expectations, then they will increase their consumption of the product, and therefore the sales of the product will increase. This means that under the influence of the epidemic, although the surrounding environment is not safe, most people are satisfied with the safety of dairy products. People generally trust the quality of dairy products, and this consumption concept will not become an obstacle to the consumption of dairy products. The consumption of dairy products can meet people's safety needs. Therefore, the consumption of dairy products will also increase for this reason.
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Fig. 18 Attitudes towards increasing dairy consumption after the epidemic
Fig.18 shows that 91.78% of people are willing to increase the consumption of dairy products after the epidemic outbreak, while only a very small number of people are unwilling, accounting for 8.22%. This is the most intuitive embodiment of people's concept of dairy consumption after the epidemic. Because of the epidemic, almost everyone is willing to buy more dairy products, which is conducive to health and virus prevention. The sales of dairy products will also show an upward trend. Consumers can make daily reserves in peacetime, which can guarantee the most basic needs in emergencies. Meanwhile, in this special times, the government should strengthen the food safety supervision of the market and beware of inferior products entering the market.
Fig.19 Amount of increased consumption on dairy products
Fig. 19 shows that for those who are willing to increase their dairy consumption, 25.37% of people are willing to increase their dairy consumption by up to 5 yuan, 25.87% are willing to increase their dairy consumption by 5 to 9 yuan, 25.37% are willing to increase their dairy consumption by 10 to 15 yuan and 23.38% are willing to increase their dairy consumption by more than 15 yuan. If the dairy products with a price of more than 10 yuan are defined as middle and high-grade dairy products, then nearly half of the people are willing to upgrade their dairy consumption level after the epidemic. That also reflects that people are willing to pay more attention to the quality of consumption when major health crises occur, which is also the change of consumption concept.
4.4 Consumption Pattern
Consumption pattern is a fixed mode of consumption behavior. Consumers generally have a fixed consumption mode and consumption objects, which is generally difficult to change.
Fig.20 Consumption objects during epidemic
It can be concluded from Fig.20 that during the epidemic period, the most commonly purchased dairy product was liquid milk, followed by milk powder, condensed milk and milk fat (such as cream), which accounted for 52.05%, 48.86%, and 42.92%, respectively, accounting for 37.9% of the total. The rest are niche dairy products, cheese accounted for 19.81%, milk cream accounted for 15.07%, and other dairy products accounted for 4.11%. For most people, these four dairy products are easily available. More than half of the people choose liquid milk as dairy products, which is in line with local consumption habits and drinking habits of dairy products. This indirectly shows that people's consumption patterns are difficult to change. Therefore, dairy companies only need to develop on traditional products since people's consumer objects have hardly changed.
Fig.21 Method of buying dairy products
It can be concluded from Fig.21 that more than half of people purchase dairy products in the form of milk delivery, accounting for 53.88% of all the interviewees. This also reflects that people have generally used traditional methods for consumption for a long time, and this consumption habit is difficult to change. And in this way, the number of people going out is reduced and the risk of infection with the virus is reduced, so this method is generally accepted by people, and the need for safety is reflected again. In addition, people who bought dairy products through online stores and takeaways service accounted for 22.38%, which was roughly the same as those who bought dairy products through offline stores (23.74%). Because the majority of people now receive takeaway service through the Internet, the first two methods can be classified as online methods. After the outbreak, the number of people buying dairy products online has increased as many as those buying offline, which also reflects the adoption of new purchase methods in order to reduce the number of outings and the risk of contracting the virus. Therefore, online sales of dairy products will increase accordingly. People usually do not change the consumption mode, public health crisis events such as the COVID-19 has a huge impact on people's lives, and it has the power to change people's consumption patterns. So dairy companies should try to develop online sales to meet people's needs to reduce the number of out going.
5. Conclusion
Through the analysis of questionnaire data, the following conclusions can be drawn:
Consumers have independent judgment on the purchase of dairy products, and they also have strong purchasing power. Their generally qualified education and relatively high-income conditions can provide guidance and financial support during consumption.
Consumers’ awareness of safety and healthy consumption has increased, and safety needs are also the main needs during the epidemic. Because in the current special period, the epidemic has increased the importance of health to consumers, and thus changed their consumption concept. Consumers' awareness of dairy products has also improved. Therefore, people will pay attention to health information and will be attracted by the marketing of dairy companies. At the same time, they have also begun to adopt safer online consumption methods.
All in all, during the epidemic, because the health functions of dairy products were recognized by consumers, the status of dairy products among consumers has improved compared to before. This is the main reason why they change their consumption of dairy products and how COVID-19 affects consumer behavior.
Although this survey method can find the changes in the consumption of dairy products in Chongqing during the epidemic, this method does not guarantee that the same results can be obtained in other cities. In addition, due to the limited number of people participating in the survey, some figures may be inaccurate. Finally, due to the uncertainty of the future, the results of this survey can only be used as a reference.
In the future, further studies about impact of COVID-19 on dairy consumption behavior are expected to be made. Analyzing this phenomenon with other different theories will help people deeply understand the impact of COVID-19 and take measures to deal with it.
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Appendix
1. 您的年齡是： [單選題] *
18歲以下
18~25
26~30
31~40
41~50
51~60
60以上
2. 您的受教育程度是： [單選題] *
小學(xué)及以下
初中
高中/職高
大學(xué)/大專
研究生及以上
3. 您目前從事的職業(yè)： [單選題] *
在校學(xué)生
公務(wù)員及事業(yè)單位人員
企業(yè)單位人員
離退休人員
個體經(jīng)銷商
其他
4. 您的平均月收入/在校生活費(fèi)是： [單選題] *
500元以下
500元~999元
1000元~1999元
2000元~2999元
3000元~4999元
5000元~7999元
8000元~10000元
10000元以上
5. 疫情發(fā)生后您的月收入/在校生活費(fèi)變化情況： [單選題] *
基本不變
增加0-1000元
增加1000元以上
減少0-1000元
減少1000元以上
6. 您的家庭中是否有小孩或老人： [單選題] *
是
否
7. 您定居于重慶的： [單選題] *
城鎮(zhèn)
農(nóng)村
8. 平時購買乳制品的頻率： [單選題] *
每天都喝
兩天一次
一周兩次
每周一次
很少飲用
9. 疫情發(fā)生后，你購買乳制品頻率的變化： [單選題] *
增加了購買乳制品的次數(shù)
減少了購買乳制品的次數(shù)
基本不變
10. 您在疫情期間購買哪類乳制品更多一些（最多選擇三類）： [多選題] *
液體乳類，包括殺菌奶、滅菌奶、酸奶等
乳粉類，包括全脂乳粉、脫脂乳粉、全脂加糖乳粉、調(diào)味乳粉、嬰幼兒乳粉和其他配方乳粉
煉乳類，包括全脂無糖煉乳（淡煉乳）、全脂加糖煉乳、調(diào)味煉乳、配方煉乳等
乳脂肪類，包括打蛋糕用的稀奶油、常見的配面包吃的奶油等
干酪類，包括原制干酪、再制干酪等
乳冰淇淋類，包括乳冰淇淋、乳冰等
其他乳制品類，包括干酪素、乳糖、奶片等
11. 您在疫情期間喜歡通過哪種方式購買乳制品： [單選題] *
實(shí)體店
網(wǎng)店
外賣
牛奶專送
12. 疫情期間您對目前乳制品質(zhì)量安全的態(tài)度是： [單選題] *
非常不滿意
不滿意
一般
滿意
非常滿意
13. 疫情發(fā)生以后我更加注意自己的健康： [單選題] *
非常不同意
不同意
一般
同意
非常同意
14. 疫情發(fā)生以后我會主動閱讀有關(guān)健康促進(jìn)的相關(guān)信息： [單選題] *
非常不同意
不同意
一般
同意
非常同意
15. 疫情發(fā)生以后我會經(jīng)常與他人交流身體健康常識： [單選題] *
非常不同意
不同意
一般
同意
非常同意
16. 疫情發(fā)生后，我更偏愛宣傳能增強(qiáng)抵抗力功能的乳制品： [單選題] *
非常不同意
不同意
一般
同意
非常同意
17. 相比疫情發(fā)生前，我現(xiàn)在更愿意增加乳制品的消費(fèi)： [單選題] *
愿意
不愿意
18. 愿意增加幾元？ [單選題] *
5元以下
5元~9元
10元~15元
15元以上
Acknowledgements
On the completion of this paper, I would like to extend my deep appreciation to my supervisor Jiang Yan.
This paper is accomplished under his inspiration and enlightenment. I am greatly indebted to him for his valuable suggestions, incisive comments, insightful feedback and his generosity in spending his precious time revising the drafts of this paper. Without his great help and tireless guidance, this paper would never have been completed.
I also wish to express my thanks to my friends who encouraged and helped me a lot in the process of my work on this thesis.
Finally, a deep sense of gratitude goes to my beloved parents, who always give me support and constant inspiration.
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