From Crisis Adoption to Behavioral Continuity: Post-COVID Online Shopping Patterns in an Emerging Market

Abstract The given paper explores online shopping usage in the context of the COVID-19 crisis that was transformed into long-term consumer behavior in a growing economy. It proposes the research question though using the conventional behavioral theories. Based on the Habit Formation, Protection Motivation, and Behavioral Inertia theories, the analysis will compare consumer behavior in the pre-pandemic, pandemic, and post-pandemic situations based on the changes in frequency of purchase, channel choice, and spending patterns. The results indicate that online shopping has significantly gone up during the pandemic compared to the time before the pandemic and the situation remains the same even after the crisis. There is no backlash to off-line purchasing of non-essential items, which showed high behavior continuity. Nevertheless, the monthly online expenditure has been comparatively stable during the post-pandemic period, which implies the stabilization instead of the continuation of the growth. The results confirm the habit formation and behavioral inertia to maintain the online shopping, and the motivation to adopt in the form of protection, practically matters to the growth of e-commerce are the presence of omnichannel strategies, the investment of digital infrastructure, and supportive policies. Keywords: Online shopping behavior, COVID-19 pandemic, Habit formation, Behavioral continuity, Emerging markets