ИСТИНА

The challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic for business are in the primary focus of researchers and practitioners worldwide. Customers are considered as one of the key elements of a business model. Recent academic literature highlighted that it is crucial to revise business models: focus on consumers, and develop strategic agility that allows companies to reach customers and meet their needs. The purpose of the study is to reveal the impact on consumer behaviour caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and identify the strategies aimed to cope with the crisis. An online survey was conducted in April-May 2020. Factor and cluster analyses of empirical data in R were used to identify the effects of COVID-19 pandemic on consumer behaviour. We have found five factors that describe consumer response to the new conditions. Based on these factors three clusters of consumers have been revealed. Further analysis is needed to improve understanding of the difference in consumer behaviour between the clusters and the impact on business models. The research has been conducted within the applied research project “Development of Multifactor Model to Improve Innovative Companies Competitiveness in the Digital Transformation Age" as a part of the HSE Faculty of Business and Management Research Program (protocol No.5, 19.06.2020) in 2020-2021.