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Online Shopping Behaviour in South Africa During the COVID-19 Pandemic

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The Role of Digital Technologies in Shaping the Post-Pandemic World (I3E 2022)

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Abstract

Traditional brick-and-mortar stores have had to endure competition the past years from various shopping channels, particularly online shopping, which is driven by mobile technologies and more recently, the COVID-19 pandemic. Consumers, restricted by COVID-19 lockdown regulations, had to increasingly make use of online shopping. The aim of this exploratory study was to determine how the COVID-19 pandemic influenced the online shopping behaviour of South African consumers and if the behaviour would continue in the post COVID-19 period. Factors were identified from literature that influence consumer’s online shopping behaviour. A national survey was conducted, using mixed methods research and the data from 673 respondents were statistically analysed.

The findings indicate that only 12% of the respondents shopped online for the first time, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and 87% indicated they shop online monthly. Sixty-eight percent indicated they will continue shopping online and 65% think online shopping is a safer option. The products purchased most during the pandemic period were fast foods and clothing and the preferred delivery method was receiving the goods at home. The factors that affected online shopping during the COVID-19 period most were Personal Experience of Online Shopping, Interaction with products and the Current impact of Covid-19 on shopping. The findings suggest that customers in South Africa will continue to make use of online technologies to purchase goods and services.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Business School, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa

    Margaret Cullen & Joseph Shati

  2. Department of Computing Sciences, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa

    Andre P. Calitz

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  1. Margaret Cullen
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  2. Andre P. Calitz
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  3. Joseph Shati
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andre P. Calitz .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Newcastle University Business School, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

    Savvas Papagiannidis

  2. Newcastle University Business School, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

    Eleftherios Alamanos

  3. Newcastle University Business School, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

    Suraksha Gupta

  4. Swansea University, Swansea, UK

    Yogesh K. Dwivedi

  5. University of Turku, Turku, Finland

    Matti Mäntymäki

  6. University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway

    Ilias O. Pappas

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Cullen, M., Calitz, A.P., Shati, J. (2022). Online Shopping Behaviour in South Africa During the COVID-19 Pandemic. In: Papagiannidis, S., Alamanos, E., Gupta, S., Dwivedi, Y.K., Mäntymäki, M., Pappas, I.O. (eds) The Role of Digital Technologies in Shaping the Post-Pandemic World. I3E 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13454. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15342-6_31

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15342-6_31

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-15342-6

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