Transition from physical to online shopping alternatives due to the COVID-19 pandemic - A case study of Italy and Sweden.

Using 530 responses from an online questionnaire, this study aims to investigate the transition from physical to online shopping alternatives during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic at the individual level. The focus areas of the study are Sweden and Italy, two European countries that implemented contrasting prevention measures. This study analyses the impacts of the pandemic on the transition to online shopping activities, and identifies who among the respondents changed their shopping behaviour the most and how; and what the different shopping strategies are and who adopted them. Multivariate statistical analyses, including linear and binary logistic regressions and multinomial logit models, were used to analyse the dataset. In the analysis, the dataset was split between Italy and Sweden to take into account the contrasting prevention measures and the different social and economic backgrounds of the two countries; the results of this study confirm and highlight these differences. Moreover, the socio-demographic and household structures of the respondents were found to influence the amount and the direction of change in shopping behaviour during the first wave of the pandemic. The study also indicates some policies that can be implemented and/or further strengthened to increase the resilience of citizens in facing pandemics and to derive benefit from the behavioural changes that took place during the first wave of the pandemic.

The trade-off behaviours between virtual and physical activities during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic period.

Introduction: The first wave of COVID-19 pandemic period has drastically changed people's lives all over the world. To cope with the disruption, digital solutions have become more popular. However, the ability to adopt digitalised alternatives is different across socio-economic and socio-demographic groups. Objective: This study investigates how individuals have changed their activity-travel patterns and internet usage during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic period, and which of these changes may be kept. Methods: An empirical data collection was deployed through online forms. 781 responses from different countries (Italy, Sweden, India and others) have been collected, and a series of multivariate analyses was carried out. Two linear regression models are presented, related to the change of travel activities and internet usage, before and during the pandemic period. Furthermore, a binary regression model is used to examine the likelihood of the respondents to adopt and keep their behaviours beyond the pandemic period. Results: The results show that the possibility to change the behaviour matter. External restrictions and personal characteristics are the driving factors of the reduction in ones' daily trips. However, the estimation results do not show a strong correlation between the countries' restriction policy and the respondents' likelihood to adopt the new and online-based behaviours for any of the activities after the restriction period. Conclusion: The acceptance and long-term adoption of the online alternatives for activities are correlated with the respondents' personality and socio-demographic group, highlighting the importance of promoting alternatives as a part of longer-term behavioural and lifestyle changes.