Influencing factors for demand disruptions of fast-moving consumer goods during a pandemic in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Not only Covid 19 pandemic but other new pandemics will also emerge in the future. Therefore, understanding the reasons for the disruption of consumer demand during a pandemic is critical for a speedy recovery of the market. Thus, the study fills the gap in the literature on demand disruptions during a pandemic to fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) under the category of ‘personal care’ and ‘home care’ in the Sri Lankan context. The paired t-test output emphasizes that there is a significant impact on the consumption of ‘personal care’ and ‘home care’ products during the pandemic period compared to the same days in the pre-pandemic. Therefore, influencing factors to a demand disruption of FMCG during a pandemic in a global context are searched through a literature survey, validated to the Sri Lankan context ‘personal care’ and ‘home care’ category with the reviews from 12 managerial level experts in 4 leading FMCG companies and finally quantified variables using Pearson correlation and Kendall’s tau-b tests.