The Impact of Covid-19 in E-Commerce. Effects on Consumer Purchase Behavior

Abstract

Consumer purchase behavior is a process highly influenced by the stability (economic, social, political) of the surrounding environment. Nevertheless, in times of crisis, like the COVID-19 health crisis, there are observed violent shifts in consumer behavior, as consumers respond to the crisis in various ways. Thus, it is valuable for both researchers and businesses to identify these shifts in time. A key indicator for the most sought-after products and services are their respective searches online. Google Trends provides useful insights regarding online searches of specific keywords on the Google Search Engine and has been successfully utilized for research purposes previously. Publicly available data is utilized to forecast the future demand by performing statistical analysis on the available data from previous periods. Although a rising route is expected for search terms concerning technological breakthroughs and the digital universe, what is truly important and noteworthy is the underlying hint and hidden information behind this data. The main question that this research tackles is, are there any signs/indications of a grave effect to consumer behavior and albeit a shift in consumer demand when utilizing consumer interest as a steppingstone? For answering this question, we examine two main categories of household supplies: (i) Seasonal Goods and (ii) Non-seasonal goods and examine if Google Trends data is capable of providing accurate and usable predictive results. Implications as discussed for whom?