Volume 30, Issue 1, 2021
DOI: 10.24205/03276716.2020.2081
Factors Affecting the Consumers Online Shopping During the COVID-19 Pandemic in China
Abstract
With the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in China, online shopping became the first choice of consumers. Therefore, the main purpose of the study is to identify the major factors affecting the consumers online shopping during the COVID-19 pandemic in China. In this paper, a binary regression logit model was utilized to measure the key factors influencing consumers online shopping among the Chinese residents. Subsequently, this paper carried out an empirical analysis with the corresponding survey data. The results showed that, the major factors such as service quality, commodity prices, and online shopping experience that affect online shopping in normal social background were insignificant in this pandemic. Interestingly, the contactless service characteristics of online shopping, the shutdown of offline shopping channels, the opinions of people around about the pandemic situation, the pandemic-related official information, and the public panic caused by the pandemic become key influencing factors of online shopping. Based on this, this paper proposed that while taking advantages of the industry benefits brought about by the pandemic, e-commerce companies should not use the public panic to drive up commodity prices and disrupt the market, and meanwhile must pay attention to the maintenance of customer loyalty after the pandemic. On the one hand, while taking measures like shutting down cities and blocking roads to prevent the pandemic, relevant government departments should guarantee the normal operation of logistics, especially those closely related to daily necessities. On the other hand, it is necessary to strengthen the protection of the vital interests of the people, crack down hard on those who deliberately drive up commodity prices and disrupt public order, so as to consolidate the achievements of the fight against the pandemic.
Keywords
COVID-19 pandemic; Online shopping; Logit regression model; Factors; China