In-person, pick up or delivery? Evolving patterns of household spending behavior through the early reopening phase of the COVID-19 pandemic

Maher Said; Divyakant Tahlyan; Amanda Stathopoulos; Hani Mahmassani; Joan Walker; Susan Shaheen

doi:10.1016/j.tbs.2023.01.003

In-person, pick up or delivery? Evolving patterns of household spending behavior through the early reopening phase of the COVID-19 pandemic

Maher Said, Divyakant Tahlyan, Amanda Stathopoulos, Hani Mahmassani^*, Joan Walker, Susan Shaheen

^*Corresponding author for this work

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

12 Scopus citations

Abstract

Consumer reactions to COVID-19 pandemic disruptions have been varied, including modifications in spending frequency, amount, product categories and delivery channels. This study analyzes spending data from a sample of 720 U.S. households during the start of deconfinement and early vaccine rollout to understand changes in spending and behavior one year into the pandemic. This paper finds that overall spending is similar to pre-pandemic levels, except for a 28% decline in prepared food spending. More educated and higher income households with children have shifted away from in-person spending, whereas politically conservative respondents are more likely to shop in-person and via pickup.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	295-311
Number of pages	17
Journal	Travel Behaviour and Society
Volume	31
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tbs.2023.01.003
State	Published - Apr 2023

Funding

Partial funding for the research on which this paper is based is provided by the U.S Department of Transportation Tier 1 University Transportation Center on Telemobility, awarded to Northwestern University in partnership with the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Texas, Austin. The survey design and analysis have benefited from discussions with Telemobility Center researchers, especially Profs. Joseph Schofer, Sunil Chopra and Ian Savage at Northwestern, as well as Qianhua Luo at UC, Berkeley. The contents remain the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the positions of the sponsoring agency. This research has been approved by the Northwestern University Institutional Review Board with the study number STU00213925. Partial funding for the research on which this paper is based is provided by the U.S Department of Transportation Tier 1 University Transportation Center on Telemobility, awarded to Northwestern University in partnership with the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Texas, Austin. The survey design and analysis have benefited from discussions with Telemobility Center researchers, especially Profs. Joseph Schofer, Sunil Chopra and Ian Savage at Northwestern, as well as Qianhua Luo at UC, Berkeley. The contents remain the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the positions of the sponsoring agency. This research has been approved by the Northwestern University Institutional Review Board with the study number STU00213925. The authors confirm contribution to this paper as follows: study conception and design: MS, DT, AS, HM, JW, SS; data collection: MS, DT, AS, HM, JW, SS; analysis and interpretation: MS, DT, AS, HM, JW, SS; draft manuscript preparation and figures: MS; manuscript revision: MS, AS, DT, HM, SS. All authors reviewed the results and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Keywords

Covid-19 pandemic
Household expenditure
Hurdle regression
Longitudinal survey
Spending behavior
Spending channels

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Geography, Planning and Development
Transportation

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.tbs.2023.01.003

Cite this

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title = "In-person, pick up or delivery? Evolving patterns of household spending behavior through the early reopening phase of the COVID-19 pandemic",

abstract = "Consumer reactions to COVID-19 pandemic disruptions have been varied, including modifications in spending frequency, amount, product categories and delivery channels. This study analyzes spending data from a sample of 720 U.S. households during the start of deconfinement and early vaccine rollout to understand changes in spending and behavior one year into the pandemic. This paper finds that overall spending is similar to pre-pandemic levels, except for a 28% decline in prepared food spending. More educated and higher income households with children have shifted away from in-person spending, whereas politically conservative respondents are more likely to shop in-person and via pickup.",

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AU - Walker, Joan

AU - Shaheen, Susan

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In-person, pick up or delivery? Evolving patterns of household spending behavior through the early reopening phase of the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

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