Coronavirus and trends. We will learn how to cook, get out and want to get married. How coronavirus nullified the main trends of the last decade.
Coronavirus and trends.
Until recently, we were sure that the whole life of a modern person should be completely outsourced: many even managed to abandon cooking and washing at home. But quarantine made us again pick up brushes, scissors and pans and remember what the world was like before uberization.
We buy things for the future
The growing trend in recent years to live at a minimum is mainly associated with the generation of millennials, that is, with people who are now 25 to 40 years old. On the one hand, millennials value order around and freedom, they are used to sharing economics (Uber, Airbnb, etc.), on the other hand, they really have less money than their parents do, and they don’t want to spend it on things, which will not be used. According to a survey by Harris Poll and Eventbrite at Bloomberg, 78% of millennials, compared to 59% of baby boomers, would rather pay for experience (dinner at a restaurant, concerts, online courses, travel) than for wealth. In America, companies even appeared that help customers free their cabinets from unnecessary things or offer for $ 99 to spend a day in a tiny apartment to test life without excesses.
Researchers expected that minimalism as a way of life would deal a serious blow to the capitalist world, but the very first serious crisis hit the philosophy of minimum consumption. The coronavirus pandemic and long self-isolation forced the millennials to return to stores and purchase food and household goods for the future. According to IRI, a retail research company, on March 15, grocery store sales in the United States reached the highest level in history and were up 62% from the same period last year. Most often bought bread, eggs, beans, but demand increased for other goods, for example, sales of nail polish removers grew by almost 60%, and toilet paper – by 200%.
In Russia, in mid-March, it was difficult to find wet wipes, buckwheat, pasta and rice on store shelves. However, by the beginning of April, demand for these goods fell (toilet paper sales decreased by 20%, pasta – by 14%), and the owners of the strategic stock of buckwheat are actively mastering new recipes in order to get rid of it as soon as possible. Nevertheless, quarantine forced even the most faithful adherents of minimalism to reconsider their attitude to things – it turned out that even in the most technologically advanced and modern world it may be useful to make small supplies and store things “just in case”.
Back to the kitchen
UBS American study with the saying, “The End Of The Kitchen?” warns that by 2030, kitchens may completely disappear from our apartments in megacities. “Most of the dishes that are currently being prepared at home will be ordered online from restaurants or from the so-called dark cuisines (those that prepare food only for delivery, for example,“ Kitchen in the block. ”- Forbes Life). They are especially fond of millennials, who are three times more likely to order takeaway food than their parents. When this generation ripens, home cooking may disappear, ”the report writes.
However, a long self-isolation suggests the opposite: the kitchen returns its sacred meaning. According to calculations by Nielsen Research Company, the trend for cooking at home continues to grow in Russia. Between April 6 and 12, demand for yeast increased by 148% compared to the same week in 2019, for vanillin – by 80% and for flour – by 42%. And this is with the working delivery of finished food from restaurants and cafes, including at a discount. Ozon analysts have noted a growing interest in kitchen products. Sales of blenders in the first half of April increased by 120% compared to the average in 2019, and electric grills – by 77% over the same period.
The creator of the Russian restaurant festival, Alexander Sysoev, says that people not only cook more at home, they are also tired of complex dishes. During self-isolation on his blog Sysoev FM, Alexander began to share recipes. He says: “In the first week, when people had a lot of energy, good mood, they were interested in preparing complex dishes, but then the number of views went into decline. Now the recipe for good meatballs from the chef of the Russian restaurant is gaining 55 thousand readings, and the recipe with complex ingredients and equipment is 5-7 thousand. ”
At the same time, Sysoev is sure: if someone began to cook during quarantine, then not from a good life. Once the restrictions are removed, people will return to restaurants and continue to order food delivery. “It’s one thing – family dinners as a tradition, another thing – when it turns into obligation. Those who did not like to cook and spent little time in the kitchen before quarantine are unlikely to discover a love of cooking. Habits do not change so quickly. ” But if the current situation drags on, the habit may have time to form, and for some, cooking will become a favorite hobby.
We get a haircut in the bathroom and learn to make nails
In normal times, the average city dweller would rather pay a professional or service for a service or procedure than he would do it himself and spend his time. According to IbisWorld forecasts made before the pandemic, in 2020, the income of American hairdressers and nail salons was supposed to be $ 64 billion compared to $ 5.2 billion in 2015. In Russia, according to Rosstat, the volume of hairdressing services in 2018 alone amounted to more than 106 billion rubles, and the market was predicted to have stable growth. However, coronavirus is rapidly changing not only the economy, but also plans to have a haircut, manicure, and dye your hair.
According to Google Trends, after the start of self-isolation in Russia, the number of “manicure salon” requests fell sharply and vice versa, the search for how to do manicure at home became more frequent.
Ioanga Ershova, Business Development Director at Ozon, says that Russians are increasingly buying products in the Beauty category.
“For example, in the first half of April, sales of hair clippers increased by 391% compared with the average sales in the period of stable demand in 2019,” says Ershova. – Russians decided not to abandon the usual manicure with gel polish, so they are actively buying UV / LED lamps for drying – sales in the first half of April increased by 196% compared to the average in 2019, and manicure devices, which grew by 442% per same period. Additionally, they buy gel polishes, base coatings, nail files and cuticle products. ” In addition to cosmetic devices, they also buy cosmetics for the care – for example, sales of body care products and hair cosmetics grew in the first half of April by 197% and 136%, respectively.
We change to personal cars
Nearly a quarter of adult Americans sold at least one of their cars in 2017, according to a Reuters / Ipsos poll. 9% of this group began to use car sharing or taxi as their main mode of transportation. About the same number of people said that they plan to get rid of the car and turn to car sharing services in the next 12 months.
Emft Castor, director of transport policy at Lyft’s joint travel service, said the results of the study are early evidence that there will be no need to own a car in the world in the future. This is also confirmed by the income of car sharing companies.
In the United States, in 2019, revenue from car sharing services exceeded $ 2.5 billion and, according to experts, was supposed to grow by an average of 24% between 2020 and 2026. The car sharing market in Moscow, the authors of the study JP Morgan called the fastest growing. By the end of 2017, the fleet of metropolitan operators totaled about 2.5 thousand cars, and in June 2019 – more than 23 thousand. According to SPARK, the revenue of Yandex.Drive alone in 2018 amounted to 1.129 billion rubles.
However, during a pandemic, a personal car again became the safest and most convenient mode of transport. In early April, demand for car sharing services in Moscow fell by 61%. As a result, the authorities of the capital completely banned the use of the service, explaining the decision by the fact that in such cars it is difficult to ensure the safety of passengers. Muscovites are less likely to use public transport: the number of metro passengers decreased by 83%, 71% – buses and trams, and 64% – suburban trains. However, when the self-isolation mode ends and the map of Moscow again turns red from traffic jams, perhaps some will decide to leave the car at home and go down the subway.
Face loneliness
In the summer of 2019, UN Women published a report according to which the institution of marriage is in crisis throughout the world, and living alone is becoming an increasingly popular choice. The report speaks of a global increase in the number of people who have reached the age of 40 and have never married.
Media and proponents of syngilism attribute many advantages to it. Conscious loneliness gives room for thought, free people are healthier, less stressed, work better, earn more and can meet friends without hindrance. However, when the same lonely people are locked in their apartments and deprived of the opportunity to fill the void with public life, the time comes to rethink values.
Sociologist Polina Aronson is not ready to make long-term forecasts: “A pandemic makes each of us feel our loneliness, look him in the eye – we are dealing with an existential crisis, and in the face of such situations a person is always alone. And this applies to absolutely all people, whether they live alone, whether they have moved to quarantine, or have been married for 10 years. I think that it is exactly how lonely and vulnerable a person will feel now, and will determine his behavior in the future. Someone, having spent several weeks locked up with a partner, will finally understand that they don’t understand him, they don’t see, they don’t feel him, and he will leave. Someone, on the contrary, finding himself cut off from the world of dating and social life, will rush to arrange virtual relationships – developers of dating applications say that now there is a strong surge in correspondence, rather than searching for new matches. And finally, someone who in a relationship without an obligation could not decide “yes” or “no” in any way, may take a decisive step towards “yes”.
