Explaining consumers’ channel-switching behavior in the post-COVID-19 pandemic era

Abstract

Significant changes have been brought about in consumer behaviour as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Digital consumption has attracted a large number of new consumers during the pandemic. However, there are few academic studies on the determinants of these crucial changes in consumer behaviour. Addressing this gap, this study investigates consumers’ channel-switching behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a sample of about 2,640 respondents collected after the outbreak, this study aims to define the key drivers of the changes in consumers’ shopping channel decisions. The study results show that several factors significantly affected consumers’ decisions to change their shopping habits after the pandemic broke out, including marital status, price, quality, convenience, and overall satisfaction with current and new shopping channels. More importantly, this study is one of the few to investigate the differences in determining factors regarding consumers’ choices of online and traditional channels in the post—COVID-19 pandemic era. The level of convenience, the time spent making purchases, technology competency, the abundance of product information, the ability to check product quality, and income significantly impact purchasing channel decisions between online and traditional channels.