ONLINE GROCERY SHOPPING TRENDS DURING THE PANDEMIC

Abstract

Online shopping is known as the process of purchasing goods and services from merchants/sellers over the internet. With the emergence of the World Wide Web, sellers now have a platform to sell their products to consumers who surf the Internet. Shoppers can visit any website and online stores from the comfort of their homes and purchase product with just few simple clicks as they sit in front of the computer. Since today’s consumers have become smarter and more aware, especially when it comes to using technology, online shopping has gained significant popularity. Consumers are willing to buy any type of products be it electronics, apparel, groceries through online stores. Since online shopping has become a key trend, it is essential to make a study on online shopping usage and perception. With the emergence of COVID in 2020, the adverse impact is not only visible in various businesses, government and infrastructure but also day-to-day lives of consumers as well. Given the lockdown and closures of small businesses, consumer expenditure on groceries during the COVID-19 pandemic has increased. The rise of the pandemic has infused fears in consumer’s mind of catching the COVID if they physically visit the shop. And hence the coronavirus has found to have a positive influence on the percentage of groceries being bought online by consumers. The main objective of this research is to study and understand customer’s perceptions towards online shopping and also identify the increasing trends and shopper behavior during the COVID crisis especially in case of groceries shopping. For this purpose, with help of convenient sampling method approx. 100 respondents were surveyed, and data collection was done through structured questionnaire.