Cooking from scratch, gardening and keeping in touch virtually with friends and family are among the ways people have been keeping motivated during lockdown, a new survey carried out by a national retailer has revealed.
The Lockdown Survey was carried out by Central England Co-op with over 300 of its Members, customers and colleagues to capture how they were feeling about the lockdown and to assess any changes in behaviour and shopping habits during these uncertain times.
The retailer has now revealed what the survey showed about how people have been coping during the lockdown, how they’ve adapted and what has been keeping them motivated.
The survey reveals the top way people were staying motivated was by keeping in touch with friends and family. However, despite a rise in people video calling as a result of being unable to see friends and family in person, phone calls were still the most popular way of keeping- in touch.
Cooking from scratch is a growing trend according to the results, with 45% saying they had been doing this more often. This was also highlighted by the reduction in people surveyed buying ready meals.
47% of those surveyed said they had been doing more gardening as a result of the lockdown, with 45% saying they had bought new gardening equipment.
The top activity that people had been doing more of during lockdown was going on social media.
Another motivating factor for people surveyed and one of the top things people were looking forward to post COVID-19 was going on holiday, with 42% still planning on going on holiday this year, although destinations nearer to home, particularly in the UK, were most popular.
However, among those surveyed the top thing people were looking forward to after the lockdown was seeing family and friends again.
Sita Chauhan, Customer Experience and Insights Manager, said, “While we were keen to learn about our Members, customers and colleagues shopping habits and behaviours through our Lockdown Survey we were also really interested to hear how they were feeling during these uncertain times and what was keeping them motivated.
“The survey has highlighted some really interesting changes in the way people are spending their time and how our priorities and activities have adjusted as a result of the lockdown. It will be interesting to see how this influences our behaviours as we move to a ‘new normal’.”