The change in e-commerce in the context of the Coronavirus pandemic

Abstract

As COVID-19 had been posing unprecedented challenges, the economic agents as well as the individuals had to adapt to a new lifestyle. The preventing measures against the spread of the virus determined an increase in e-commerce activity in general, and in mobile commerce in particular. In this regard, sellers redefined their strategies revolving around smartphone applications for online shopping, which will gradually become the global shopping standard. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to evaluate the current situation of e-commerce, focusing on the main transformations since the beginning of the pandemic. The methods used in the paper consist in both qualitative research of the literature regarding e-commerce and a quantitative analysis that captures two aspects: on one hand it highlights the change determined by the pandemic in online commerce, and on the other hand it shows an X-ray of the EU states positioning in terms of e-commerce evolution. The latter consists in a comparative Hierarchical Cluster Analysis that aims to provide an image on the situation of EU states, before and after the pandemic has been installed. The Cluster Analysis was carried out in SPSS software and it is based on a series of chosen indicators from Eurostat database. This comparison provides an image of how changes among the clusters take place in terms of e-commerce indicators. It is noted that in countries where the digitization was more developed, the value of the change in online commerce was less considerable, comparing to the Eastern and Balkan states, which had a more significant increase. However, there are significant limitations based on the small number of indicators taken into consideration in this paper. Future work needs to be done in order to explore new ways to address the challenges identified in the development of e-commerce and online shopping.

Analysis of the Impact of the Pandemic on the Growth, Use, and Development of E-Business: A Systematic Review of the Literature

“…Increased sales on e-commerce platforms (Scutariu et al 2021, (Sharma 2020), (Lechuga Nevárez and Hernández Chavarria 2021), (Hossain et al 2022), (Beckers et al 2021), (Guthrie et al 2021), (Szász et al 2022), (Alkhunaizan and Ali 2022), (Jasi ńska-Biliczak 2022), (Paraschiv et al 2022), (Kitukutha et al 2021), (Guo et al 2021), (Pantelimon et al 2020), (Sardjono et al 2021), (Dumanska et al 2021), (Awotunde et al 2022), (Tran 2021), (WiScicka-Fernando 2021 Increased adoption of e-commerce, m-commerce, or e-business (Scutariu et al 2021), (Han et al 2020), (Sharma 2020), (Lechuga Nevárez and Hernández Chavarria 2021), (Albliwi and Alsolami 2021), (Ghandour and Woodford 2020), (Khan et al 2021), (Rattanawicha et al 2021), (Beckers et al 2021), (Alkhunaizan and Ali 2022), (Paraschiv et al 2022), (Zhang 2022), (Kitukutha et al 2021), (Aishel et al 2021), (Sardjono et al 2021), (Juliet Orji et al 2022, (Dumanska et al 2021), (Awotunde et al 2022) Increase of users in the use of e-commerce or f-commerce (Syamruddin et al 2021), (AL-Ali et al 2022), (Lechuga Nevárez and Hernández Chavarria 2021), (Kawasaki et al 2021), (Khan et al 2021), (Hossain et al 2022),…”

“…Items by economic sector.Economic Sector ArticlesGeneral trade(Scutariu et al 2021),(Syamruddin et al 2021),(Yakean 2020),(Alkhunaizan and Ali 2022),(Meow Yee et al 2022),(Naab and Bans-Akutey 2021),(Aishel et al 2021), (Alam and Rahman 2021),(Agus et al 2021),(Sardjono et al 2021),(Dayal et al 2021), (Lechuga Nevárez and Hernández Chavarria 2021),(Tran 2021),(Rattanawicha et al 2021),(Awotunde et al 2022),(Waqas Ashraf et al 2020),(Paraschiv et al 2022),(Odeh and Yousef 2021),(Khan et al 2021),(Zhang 2022),(Kitukutha et al 2021),(Pantelimon et al 2020),(Kawasaki et al 2021),(Huo et al 2021) Retail (AL-Ali et al 2022),(Han et al 2020),(Beckers et al 2021),(Ghandour and Woodford 2020),(Hossain et al 2022), (Palomino Pita et al 2020), (Jasi ńska-Biliczak 2022),(Sharma 2020),(Mansour and Abdullah 2020),(Hasanat et al 2020),(Szász et al 2022),(Albliwi and Alsolami 2021) …”

“…Scutariu et al 2021),(AL-Ali et al 2022),(Han et al 2020),(Sharma 2020),(Albliwi and Alsolami 2021),(Ghandour and Woodford 2020),(Meow Yee et al 2022),(Hossain et al 2022),(Waqas Ashraf et al 2020),(Guthrie et al 2021),(Szász et al 2022),(Mansour and Abdullah 2020),(Guo et al 2021),(Sardjono et al 2021), (Bilinska-Reformat and Dewalska-Opitek 2021),(Dumanska et al 2021) Workers and/or various companies and/or businesses(Syamruddin et al 2021), (Lechuga Nevárez and Hernández Chavarria 2021),(Khan et al 2021),(Yakean 2020),(Dayal et al 2021),(Hasanat et al 2020),(Alkhunaizan and Ali 2022),(Paraschiv et al 2022), (Juliet Orji et al 2022,(Huo et al 2021),(Awotunde et al 2022), Workers and/or small and/or medium-size companies(Naab and Bans-Akutey 2021),(Beckers et al 2021),(Aishel et al 2021) Users, experts, and professionals(Kawasaki et al 2021),(Gao et al 2020),(Rattanawicha et al 2021),(Masoud et al 2021),(Alam and Rahman 2021),(Palomino Pita et al 2020), (Jasi ńska-Biliczak 2022),(Agus et al 2021),(Odeh and Yousef 2021),(Kitukutha et al 2021)(Pantelimon et al 2020),(Tran 2021), (WiScicka-Fernando 2021 …”

“…Scutariu et al 2021),(Hossain et al 2022), (Bilinska-Reformat and Dewalska-Opitek 2021),(Dumanska et al 2021),(Awotunde et al 2022) Transition from conventional in-store model to online platforms: e-commerce, m-commerce, or e-business(Scutariu et al 2021),(Sharma 2020),(Gao et al 2020),(Albliwi and Alsolami 2021),(Ghandour and Woodford 2020), (Naab and Bans-Akutey 2021),(Rattanawicha et al 2021),(Beckers et al 2021),(Alkhunaizan and Ali 2022),(Paraschiv et al 2022),(Zhang 2022),(Aishel et al 2021),(Sardjono et al 2021), (Bilinska-Reformat and Dewalska-Opitek 2021),(Juliet Orji et al 2022),(Dumanska et al 2021) …”

“…al. 2020),(Guthrie et al 2021) Maintaining online channels (e-commerce)(Hossain et al 2022),(Beckers et al 2021) Lack of and/or limitations in policies, support, and/or interest from the government in implementing technological tools(Sharma 2020),(Gao et al 2020),(Ghandour and Woodford 2020),(Yakean 2020), (Meow Yee et al 2022), (Masoud et al 2021), (Alkhunaizan and Ali 2022), (Alam and Rahman 2021), (Kitukutha et al 2021), (Guo et al 2021) Sales fraud (Alam and Rahman 2021)Limitations in operations and delays in the distribution of products(Ghandour and Woodford 2020),(Guthrie et al 2021),(Paraschiv et al 2022),(Zhang 2022) High delivery costs(Dumanska et al 2021) Limitations from territorial constraints (supply chain problems and remote locations)(Gao et al 2020),(Hossain et al 2022),(Waqas Ashraf et al 2020),(Hasanat et al 2020),(Agus et al 2021),(Kitukutha et al 2021),(Guo et al 2021) …”