Consumer Recovery Report: August-September 2021

In this second refresh of ICF and ICF Next’s COVID-19 Monitor Survey in 2021, we continued our research into how U.S. consumers feel about the ongoing pandemic and public health responses and measures.

With a focus on the financial services, healthcare, and retail and grocery industries, we sought to uncover how consumer feelings and behaviors have shifted—particularly pertinent as the more transmissible Delta variant ripped through the United States in the summer months. We collected 1,000 completes from a national, mobile, non-probability census-balanced panel of 2.5 million people in the United States.

Our survey revealed:

• Surprising changes to consumer incomes
• Dramatic alterations to payment methods consumers intend to use for day-to-day transactions after the pandemic
• A persistent soft spot for online grocery shopping
• Major changes to health consumption and a decreased willingness to explore new health plan options