The Post-Covid Adaptation and Transformation Model of Retail Food Units Based on Customer Behaviour: What Constitutes the New Normal for Marketing Management?

The post-COVID period brought not only achange in the way of life but also in business. The aim of the paper is the investigation of possible changes in preferences in the context of retail as well as the identification of key elements of changes in behaviour for the needs of managerial practice. The paper is supported by aprimary survey based on 370 respondents. Respondents responded to seven key statements that emerged from the professional literature as possible elements of change that occurred after COVID-19. For data processing, we use anumber of statistical methods with anemphasis on descriptive statistics, correspondence analysis, and explanatory factor analysis. The results point to new trends in consumer behaviour to which retail must respond. This is primarily achange in purchase frequency and achange in distribution channels. The results provide not only anexpansion of the knowledge base but also direct applications for practice. Implications for Central European audience: Knowing the customer's needs and way of thinking helps shape the current trend of the new standard. The results will help not only to supplement the knowledge base of the subject matter but also offer knowledge applicable in management with anemphasis on the field of retail in Slovakia. It is possible to state the currently ongoing change and the need to react in terms of distribution management.