Changes in food purchasing and consumption habits pre, during and post COVID-19 pandemic. The case of Los Pozos Municipal Market (Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia)

The COVID-19 pandemic generated transcendent effects on the various dimensions of development. At a global level, a health, economic, and social crisis occurred that affected the quality of life of the population, which induced important changes, both in business management and in food purchasing and consumption habits or behavior. Therefore, food consumption constitutes a line of research with increasing interest in various disciplines such as economics, sociology, psychology, and marketing. This article aimed to analyze the changes in food purchasing and consumption habits that occurred before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic in consumers who attend the Los Pozos Municipal Market in the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra (Bolivia) derived from both, traditional factors (such as economic, social, psychological) and new factors (health, those related to marketing and information technologies). Methodologically, the research was based on the postulates of the empiricist (quantitative) approach, using documentary and field strategies to explain the behavior of the variables that made up the object of study. The collection of information was based on the application of a questionnaire to a representative group of 10% of consumers chosen at random, who selected the Los Pozos Municipal Retail Market as the place to purchase food on a Saturday between 7 am and 12 pm. The main conclusions pointed out that the COVID-19 pandemic has had major effects on food purchasing and consumption habits in the studied market. These effects can be summarized as follows: (i) besides the traditional socioeconomic and psychological factors that explain consumer behavior, now health-related aspects are recognized as a key factor that affects food purchasing and consumption habits; (ii) the positioning of online shopping and delivery as marketing strategies that facilitate access to food at the time and place desired by consumers; and, (iii) the increase in purchases of ultra-processed and frozen goods, which due to their non-perishable nature guaranteed consumer supply before the pandemic.