Influence Central recently surveyed 630 consumers and this is what they found…

DIY and COVID

61% of all consumers currently have undertaken a DIY project. The number one reason: to escape boredom!  The second most offered up reason:  they already planned to take on a project and now have time to make it a priority.

The most popular projects consumers are tackling right now involve reorganizing (53%). Here’s how the priorities are stacking up:

  • CLOSET: Organizing closets and drawers (61%)
  • PANTRY: Stocking and organizing pantries (57%)
  • GARDEN & DECK: Working on a garden and serene outdoor space (43%)
  • HOME OFFICE: Creating or reworking a home office space (26%)
  • EXERCISE SPACE: Setting up a dedicated space for exercising (22%)

Consumers also look to go beyond that basic reorganization and take on more robust DIY workloads. Among the more ambitious, they have dived into making minor home repairs (48%), painting rooms (40%) and redecorating with soft home goods such as new pillows, linens and curtains (30%).

When it comes to instilling confidence in undertaking a DIY home project, consumers find word of mouth recommendations most persuasive (48%). Influencer recommendations on Instagram and influencer how-to videos rank second (45%).

COOKING and COVID

  • 88% of people have been cooking more meals at home since stay-at-home orders went into effect.
  • 49% are now cooking meals from scratch.
    • Another 46% add into the mix pre-cooked and packaged foods.
    • Only 5% stick mostly to pre-cooked and packaged options.
    • These choices reflect consumer preference (57%) versus availability (43%).
  • 84% of consumers eat the meals they prepare right away. 14% share that they instead prefer preparing meals ahead of time and reheating later in the week.
  • When it comes to delegating responsibility for meals, 17% are now dividing and conquering meal responsibilities with spouses and partners more often. And for 3%, these responsibilities have entirely reversed. The remaining 80% have kept the roles consistent.
  • Organics, while always an upscale option especially in vegetables, fruits and milk products, have become a skippable luxury for those facing tight budgets.
  • 67% have been forced to get creative with what’s left in their freezer and pantry between grocery orders or shopping.
  • 57% of consumers have undertaken the task of reorganizing their pantries and food storage.
  • When it comes to how long they’re willing to spend preparing dinner, the need for speed still rules the day for most.
  • 46% are willing to spend 15 to 30 minutes cooking, while another 44% will spend 30-60 minutes.
  • With more time at home, 23% are willing to devote more time to dinner prep, while 73% share that this amount of time has stayed about the same as prior to the stay-at-home order.

Eating and COVID

More than half of families’ eating habits have changed in the time they’ve been staying at home. 70% of consumers share that they snack and eat more frequently. No wonder there’s talk circulating about the “COVID 19,” as in the 19 pounds many feel they have gained while isolated at home: snacking or drinking more, and not able to get to the gym. People tend to eat more to cope with stress or boredom, and right now, people find an abundance of both on their hands.

·      On the healthier side, 43% eat more fruit and 42% eat more vegetables, and 30% are eating more protein in the form of meat, poultry or fish.

·      On the less healthy side, 47% are turning to more sweets, 24% have decreased their vegetable intake, 21% east less fruit and 19% are eating less protein.

·      39%, with more time in the morning, find themselves eating a more filling or balanced breakfast – often considered the most important, and possibly most undervalued, meal of the day.

Grocery Shopping and COVID

  • 72% of consumers have lessened the frequency of their grocery shopping during COVID-19.
  • Assuming comparable costs, consumers overwhelmingly prefer shopping online with home delivery as their first choice, and drive by or curbside pickup as their second choice.
  • 56% of consumers feel anxious about forgetting to pick up or not being able to find specific foods when shopping in-store. A lack of the ability to “swing by” the store for a missing ingredient can change a mealtime game plan.

Kitchen and COVID

  • With consumers spending more time cooking and baking, many have already purchased or plan on purchasing new small kitchen appliances.
  • Leading the purchase wish list: cake pans, multi-cookers/Instant Pot, stand or hand mixers and a new coffee maker.
  • Valuable kitchen assets during this time include microwaves (96%), toasters (83%), coffeemakers (81%), slow-cookers (79%), cake pans (74%), blenders (68%) and stand or hand mixers (62%).
  • 54% of consumers are trying new or more intricate recipes in their home cooking.
  • To do so, 58% look for inspiration online via food and lifestyle influencers as well as cooking apps and websites.
  • Out of the consumers using social media as a source for recipes, 42% go to Facebook, 37% turn to food blog posts and 24% go to Instagram.

Takeout and COVID

·      69% of consumers have ordered take out or delivery food from restaurants during the pandemic.

·      71% order from restaurants they used to dine-in at prior to the crisis.

·      87% order take-out from a specific local restaurant out of a desire to support the restaurant financially.

·      When it comes to getting food delivered, consumers’ top choice is direct from the restaurant itself (60%). Favorite delivery services: Door Dash, followed by GrubHub and Uber Eats. More than half said they have not been concerned to leave the house to pick up food or collect it from a delivery driver.

·      Top choices for restaurant types for take-out:

1.    Pizza (79%)

2.    Fast Food (52%)

3.    American and Pub Food (ex. Burgers and wings) (45%)

4.    Mexican (39%)

5.    Asian (35%)

6.    Italian other than Pizza (23%)

Alcohol and COVID

  • Only 26% of consumers share that they’re consuming even more alcoholic beverages at home now than they were before. But drinks abound even if at typical consumption levels.
  • Among all consumers when it comes to drinking choices, wine tops the list of drink choices, with cocktails and beer rounding up the top three:
    • 43% turn to red wine
    • 38% prefer white wine
    • 37% are mixing up cocktails, while 18% prefer hard alcohol straight up or on the rocks.
    • 31% drink beer
    • 14% love hard seltzer
    • 13% like hard cider
  • 94% have not utilized any of the home delivery services for alcoholic beverages yet and are still going in-store for their alcohol purchases.
  • Of those who are utilizing home delivery services for alcoholic beverages, 65% have only just recently started turning to these services.

Stacy DeBroff is a Social and digital media strategist, best-selling author, attorney, and founder and CEO of Influence Central, which delivers cutting-edge social media and digital campaigns focused on influencer marketing