Investigation of Consumers’ Purchase Behaviors by Gender in the Pandemic Process

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic that emerged in late 2019 significantly affected the whole world. Policies used by governments to prevent the COVID-19 pandemic have also affected the behavior of consumers. It is not easy to predict how the pandemic, which emerged as an unusual situation, will affect the purchasing behavior of consumers. In the study, it is aimed to investigate the effect of COVID-19 on the purchasing behavior of consumers depending on the gender factor. For this purpose, the survey method was applied in the study. The sample of the study consists of 397 people. The study was conducted on Turkey. T-test and variance analysis were used in this survey study. According to the findings obtained as a result of the research, it has been determined  that the behavior of consumers changed significantly during the COVID-19 period and these changes were especially aimed at meeting the physiological and safety needs, which are one of their basic needs. A significant difference was observed in the behaviors of women and men. It has been observed that women shop more in case of panic, while men are more interested in online consumption. There have also been cases where men and women exhibit similar behavior. For example, it has been found that the demand for healthy nutrition and hygiene products has increased significantly for both women and men during the epidemic period.