Stocking up on hand sanitizer: Pandemic lessons for retailers and consumers

[en] This study investigates the influence of pandemic experiences on consumer behavior and retail operations, focusing on hand sanitizer during eight seasonal flu epidemics and the swine flu pandemic, covering the period from 2008 to 2017. Motivated by the need to understand the pandemic's impact on retail dynamics, this study fills a gap in knowledge about consumer and retailer adjustments in response to health crises. Using an empirical analysis of data from 38,000 U.S. stores, the results show that both consumers and retailers appear to learn from their pandemic experiences. Consumers respond by substituting large pack sizes for small pack sizes of sanitizer, while retailers carry larger assortments of sanitizer products. Moreover, it is noted that the strategies employed by warehouse clubs and drug store chains—stocking large pack sizes and stocking wide assortments of hand sanitizer, respectively—are both attractive to consumers. Finally, the results show that sanitizer sales patterns during the swine flu pandemic were similar to those during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, indicated that lessons learned from one pandemic may be carried forward to subsequent pandemics. These findings contribute to the literature on retail management and consumer behavior during health emergencies, offering valuable insights for future pandemic preparedness.

Precision for document type :

Review article

Disciplines :

Production, distribution & supply chain management

Author, co-author :

Pan, Xiaodan ; John Molson School of Business, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada

Dresner, Martin ; Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, College Park, United States

Li, Guang ; Stephen J.R. Smith School of Business, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada

MANTIN, Binyamin ; University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance (FDEF) > Department of Economics and Management (DEM) > LCL

External co-authors :

yes

Language :

English

Title :

Stocking up on hand sanitizer: Pandemic lessons for retailers and consumers

Publication date :

July 2024

Journal title :

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services

ISSN :

0969-6989

Publisher :

Elsevier Ltd

Volume :

Pages :

103763

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Additional URL :

https://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0969698924000596?httpAccept=text/xml

Funding text :

This project was supported in part by funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

Available on ORBilu :

since 22 May 2024

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Bibliography

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