Stability of behavioural patterns among elderly Shoppers in times of crisis

Humanity has always had to deal with crisis at certain intervals. Each crisis has brought a different change in behaviour. The latest world-wide crisis was the COVID-19 virus. During the crisis a certain behaviour change was observable. This Master's thesis deals with the buying behaviour and the associated changes in behaviour of especially elderly consumers, in times of crisis. In this context, first a literature review was conducted and then both qualitative and quantitative research were carried out. Although older people were defined as the target group in these studies, younger people were also interviewed to enable a comparison. The quantitative and qualitative surveys were conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic to obtain just-in-time responses. The possible reasons for a change in behaviour or retention of purchasing behaviour were defined. In this context, this work should answer the question of whether the shopping behaviour of older people is changing or not and highlight the factors that promote or hinder a change in behaviour. The results of this study show that variables such as gender, household size, income and type of purchases, had little to no influence on shopping behaviour. As far as age is concerned, the results show that the older people get, the less they are influenced by the environment (such as crisis situation). The qualitative results indicate that governmental factors, psychological factors, social factors, and personal factors have an impact on behaviour change, with governmental factors having the strongest influence.