To abate the rapid spread of corona virus, most countries restricted social life. The primary purpose of this study is to look into the elements that influence online consumer sentiments regarding shopping during a pandemic. This research focuses on the study of different factors' significance and priority using strength, weakness, opportunity, threat (SWOT) analysis; interpretive structural modelling (ISM); and analytical hierarchy process (AHP) after extracting the different crucial factors using critical review of previous literature and expert opinions. The ISM methodology has helped to present a structural relationship among the key factors and helped to derive the short-term goals and long-term goals. Finally, the AHP model has ranked the existing three popular websites of India comparing their effectiveness using the factors such as product quality, customer satisfaction, low perceived risk, and social media. This chapter will be a strong vaccine for the Indian online shopping consumer sentiments during and post-pandemic scenario.
Top1. Introduction
In the last two decades, the internet has proven to be a successful platform for marketing goods and services since it has removed all the barriers of distance. The internet also helps in the business field to obtain data and analyzing the information for the creation of better and effective products. The basic use of the internet in business is selling products. From the last decade, the marketing landscape has already started changing but before this, companies and their customers had no relation with respect to each other's respective worlds (Jaffe, 2010). Social media and web technologies expedite consumers to interact and communicate. Companies are using many social media sites (like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter) or well-developed websites to promote information regarding their brands. Aside from issues like rising disposable income, a lack of free time, or comfort, online marketing is becoming more important due to factors like increased reach, reduced planning time, lower costs, flexible payment models (online billing, payment options, and booking options), improved targeting, better technologies, and a decrease in sales points.
Covid-19 has severely altered the lifestyle of people. Increased hand washing, usage of masks, hand sanitizers, and household cleaning products indicates the inclination of people towards maintaining hygiene (Vishal, May 2020). Aside from that, the continued spread of covid-19 not only posed a concern to the food supply chain, but it also prompted consumers to consider food security.Due to this consumers started stockpiling the essential products specifically agricultural products (Wang, An, Gao, KIprop, Geng, 2020). Above mentioned factors eventually influenced customer’s online shopping behaviour. With government help in logistic management, consumers are more reliant on fresh food e-commerce platforms than retail channels. (Hao, Wang, Zhou, 2020).
Now, this covid-19 outbreak as the first and second waves has created unprecedented challenges for sellers of all levels around the world. The entire world is now in the clutch of the coronavirus. Due to a long time lockdown, street-side businesses were completely shut down most of their owner transferred their business into the online platform. The Covid-19 pandemic has caused an unanticipated health and economic crisis, causing consumers' lifestyles, preferences, and habits to change.Though many businesses have faced a huge loss during this lockdown period, some sectors of the economy- like E-commerce have been profited due to stay-at-home orders and social distancing (Halan, 2020). Covid-19 has also completely changed the way the world thinks, by converting personal hygiene and social distancing as the person's priority. This pandemic is expected to be the inflection point for the graph of development of the e-commerce industries in India.
In this Covid-19 situation, to avoid direct contact with people (to maintain social distance) most of the customers are preferring online shopping. Work from home in India before and after the first wave of covid-19 has created a positive shift in the trend of online shopping. A huge percentage of Indian consumers were either in containment zones or had restricted alternatives for completing critical purchases at the end of lockdown 1.0. This encouraged consumers to try new channels, products, and brands, resulting in shifts in consumer buying behaviours and purchasing paths. (Amazon, 2020)