Kellie Hush: these are the 4 tribes emerging in 2020

Klarna content creator and former Harper’s BAZAAR editor-in-chief Kellie Hush talks online consumer spending.

As editor-in-chief of a fashion magazine, and launching a retail business last year, you spend a lot of time looking at consumer habits and especially how women love to spend their money on fashion.

While editing Harper’s BAZAAR we commissioned a report which found every month almost 60% of Australian women bought a piece of clothing, with tops and shoes being the most popular item closely followed by dresses.

And on average we were spending about $150 a month and spreading the love between bricks and mortar stores and online. But so much has changed in the past few years, and especially over the past six months.

With the national bushfire crisis and now the COVID-19 pandemic no doubt a new survey will paint a very different picture with online shopping being the only winner.

Online sales in Australia have skyrocketed since March and that trend is expected to be more permanent as consumers, especially older shoppers, feel more comfortable shopping online and as retailers offer new options, such as kerb-side pickup and retail-to-go options.

I also know from my research over the years not all shoppers are the same in their approach to purchasing and having insight into the consumer mindset can help you connect better with your loyal customers and potential new customers.

Identifying your customer, or tribe, is a critical foundation stone in your business. It should inform business decisions, and act as a powerful guideline for all product, marketing and communication decisions.

Who is your customer? You need to ask yourself what distinguishes your particular target audience, or consumer tribe, and what inspires them to buy?

If your tribe doesn’t love it and buy it, should you steer clear of it? But to work this out you need to have a real understanding of your customers beliefs and attitudes.

In its latest report Understanding Online Buying Behaviours Klarna has identified four online shopper tribes emerging in 2020: Passionate, Efficient, Mindful and Ad-hoc.

These four consumer segments can help you to analyse your current business and help to reshape it in 2020 and beyond.

The report also found that emotional types have the biggest appetite for shopping and that online browsing is now a national pastime, which is not surprising considering we are spending so much more time on technology.

If there ever was a time for online shopping to shine it is now. Even if shopping habits revert, it won’t be the same as before COVID-19.

The post-pandemic world will no doubt see more brands focusing on online strategies, both to chase increased sales and also to hedge against future disruption.

I truly believe there isn’t an option to go backwards, the best solution is to think out of the box and move forwards.

So now, more than ever, it is important to keep your branding very strong and recognise that your customer mindset is important to your business.

We won’t know for months what the true impact of COVID-19 will have on retailers which is why I personally will continue to shop and support local retailers where and when I can and have got behind the #WeWearAustralian campaign supporting the Australian fashion industry through this crisis.

And remember, in times of crisis fortune favours the big and the bold and those who swiftly adapt to the new conditions.