The increase in online shopping during COVID-19: Who is responsible, will it last, and what does it mean for cities?

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing lockdown measures have led to an increase in e-shopping. Using longitudinal data from before and during the pandemic, we find that the number of respondents in our study who shop online at least once per week increased nearly five-fold between fall 2019 (11.6%) and spring 2020 (51.2%). We estimate a series of ordered logit models to establish who is responsible for this recent rise in e-commerce, and to help assess whether it will be temporary or longer lasting. We then discuss the equity implications and urban and regional restructuring that this change in e-shopping behavior may entail.