**5. Conclusions**

The work conducted has made it possible to detect three significant segments of consumers based on their food buying behaviour, which also made it possible to establish the variations experienced both regarding the place of purchase as well as the extrinsic attributes of the food items, as well as the profile of the consumers in both analysed periods.

Up to 61.4% of consumers modified their buying behaviour, with the consumers that most modified the value they assign to the attributes being those who stockpiled the most (panic buying), whereas those who changed it the least, shopped as usual (38.6%).

The most valued attributes were the origin, followed by price, place of purchase, size of packaging, protected designation of origin label, type of packaging, and organic certification of the food, in this order. It is worth noting the low importance that consumers assigned to the brand, maybe due to the fact that what was important was having supplies.

Regarding the attributes with significant di fferences among consumer segments, we see that whereas consumers in segmen<sup>t</sup> 1 (38.6% of consumers) assigned less value to the price and organic certification, and more to the brand, consumers in segmen<sup>t</sup> 2 (47.5% of consumers) assigned greater value to the organic certification and the brand. Lastly, consumers in segmen<sup>t</sup> 3 (13.9% of consumers) assigned greater value to the price and less to the brand.

In this sense, the study has verified that the importance assigned to purchase attributes has been modified to a greater or lesser extent, especially for the brand, which can indicate that the consumer has more readily accepted substitute products. However, attributes such as the protected designation of origin or organic certification, which are linked to quality assurance and food safety increased their importance, especially among consumers who were more prone to change, but not the price, which was di fferent for each segment, gaining importance among consumers who were more prone to panic buying, possibly because they also perceived greater risk from the health, economic and social crisis.

Further noteworthy, is the change in place of purchase of the food, as it is observed that supermarkets and hypermarkets, where it is more feasible to find a broader range and in greater amounts for storing, benefited. In this sense, online food buying, which until before the pandemic had very limited importance, has now gained traction and many consumers expressed their willingness to continue using this way of shopping.

Lastly, it has been verified that the o fficial channels of information and written press (in paper and online) are the most reliable sources of information that reach consumers and also modify their buying behaviour the most, whereas over social networks it is possible to reach consumers who have maintained a more stable buying behaviour.

The characterization of the profile of the di fferent consumer segments can allow food production and/or distribution companies to implement di fferent innovative, customized, and more e ffective strategies, aimed at decreasing the impact of stockpiling, and therefore of food shortage. To do so, the alternative strategies they can implement include a stock of non-perishable foods as a strategic reservoir in their warehouses in preparation for eventual increases in demand, to increase production capabilities in a sustainable way, and especially, to promote the online sale and distribution of food, with the objectives of lowering the amount of people in shops (which decreases the spreading of the pandemic and favours health) and preventing consumers from encountering possible circumstantial shortages that would only encourage stockpiling and panic buying, even among consumers who do not change their buying behaviour.

The goal was for the results of the research to discover the changes in buying behaviour of food consumers in situations of severe stress, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, compared to their regular behaviour. In turn, this situation has led to an economic and social crisis that only the income policy of the governmen<sup>t</sup> has attempted to alleviate, in order to prevent it from becoming a financial and credit crisis.

Unfortunately, this crisis has shown countries, such as Spain and others in Europe that do not su ffer major natural disasters like other countries in the world that routinely witness hurricanes, earthquakes, major fires, floods, droughts, epidemics, etc., that they must be prepared, as they are increasingly frequent in other parts of the world where they did not use to happen, having a significant impact on agricultural production, which is the basis for the production of foods.

Without a doubt, the increased frequency of natural disasters is caused by climate change, as has been revealed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Furthermore, the transportation of people around di fferent parts of the world has contributed to disseminate what were once local epidemics, making them global pandemics, as has happened this year with COVID-19, and the possibility that other pandemics may occur in the future cannot be ruled out..

Having said this, the goal of this study is not just to be prepared for future pandemics, but also to be vigilant for future situations that may occur and cause stress among consumers, panic buying, food stockpiling and, potentially, shortages. Being prepared is the responsibility of the private sector (from the standpoint of logistics), as well as the public authorities (from the standpoint of truthful information for the population). The ultimate goal is to care for the basic needs of the population, one of which is eating.

Only when ready is it possible to respond appropriately. What is very probable is that many of these changes in the buying behaviour of consumers will happen again in situations of health, economic, financial and/or social crises. Knowing and identifying when they take place will make it possible to plan for them in advance, making quick and useful decisions from the field of the agri-food sector.

**Supplementary Materials:** The following are available online at http://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/9/12/1821/s1, Supplementary File: Food buying habits during a crisis: Covid-19.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, M.B., L.M.-C., A.R. and R.B.; Formal analysis, M.B., L.M.-C., A.R., R.B.; Methodology, M.B. and L.M.-C.; Resources, M.B. and L.M.-C.; Software, M.B.; Supervision, M.B., L.M.-C., A.R. and R.B.; Writing—original draft, M.B., L.M.-C., A.R. and R.B.; Writing—Review & Editing M.B., L.M.-C., A.R. Visualization: M.B. All authors contributed equally to this manuscript. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
