by vidyut kaul2020 changed a lot of things for all of us to describe the impact of the pandemic for us in india and globally would be full of understatements and as we all can attest to the last 18 months have also forced us to adapt and change in every way from work to personal life from how we connect with our friends and family to how we travel digital penetration is one such area which saw a massive jump due to covid19 and its attendant restrictions adversity often brings out the best in people covid19 provided a similar impetus and brought along rapid transformations in both consumer behavior and the response from the retail industry retail sales in september this year were at 96 per cent of the prepandemic levels of the same month in 2019 according to retailers association of india rai along the way we saw trends and patterns that really took root a decade ago but were provided with tailwinds by the pandemic advt below are the 4 consumer trends we have our eye on for 2022 and beyond from reactive care to preventive careone of the positive changes in consumer health during the pandemic has been an increased focus around staying healthy today more people are aware of their own personal health and the risk factors associated and hence are more interested in staying healthy as a result weve seen more people running walking or cycling on a regular basis as per some surveys run globally by deloitte indians today lead the pack globally when it comes to increasing their spend on health and wellbeing initially driven by acute aspects of the pandemic we are now seeing people motivated by the need to stay healthy through preventive carefrom do it for me to i can do it myselfpre2020 we were all about the do it for me economy going to the hair salon going out for dinner and meeting with a personal trainer were all special treats centered around comfort and convenience as a society we are used to things not just being done for us but also being customized for our comfort and ease while covid19 has accelerated the penetration of food tech companies we also saw a massive increase in focus on healthy cooking and eating at home this led to a broader focus on healthy living with firsttime home stylists joining the firsttime chefs in the quest to make lives easier during the restrictions associated with the pandemic ultimately consumers have been looking to solutions that will allow them to make their lives easier at home advt spend not save mindset in a fluxwith increase in disposable incomes the younger generation of indians is looking at transforming the way they live this is a transformational journey across generations where the needs have changed from basic sustenance to education and a better quality of life for gen z this means both global aspirations and a desire to do more in