Abstract
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the overall well-being of consumers is disastrous. However, there is limited understanding of how the COVID-19 situation affects consumer well-being and how subsistence consumers mitigate well-being concerns and unique stresses. Following an exploratory, qualitative approach, 39 in-depth semi-structured interviews with subsistence consumers were conducted in India and Bangladesh. Findings from the thematic analysis reveal that subsistence consumers experienced unique stresses and hardships during COVID-19, which are unforeseen transitory financial stress, psychosocial stress, and marketplace and consumption-related stresses. Drawing on the appraisal theory of stress, our analysis of the data identifies the co-existence of two emotion-focused coping strategies-religiosity and social support-that interplay to overcome their well-being concerns in the emerging countries of India and Bangladesh. Therefore, it may be of particular interest to managers and policymakers who seek to address the severe consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on socio-economically subsistence consumers.