The Role of Online Shopping in the Republic of Serbia During COVID-19

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Đina Ivanović
Marija Antonijević

Abstract

This paper investigates the role of online shopping during severe COVID-19. The main aim is to see whether this virus and implemented measures of reducing the spread of contagion brought by the Government of the Republic of Serbia, resulted with changes in consumer behaviour. The data was collected from 408 respondents from the Republic of Serbia using an online questionnaire. The questionnaire lasted from 07th April until 04th May. Data were analysed using the Chi-Square test. Results of this study revealed that there is a significant association between purchasing online before and after the appearance of the COVID-19. Also, the authors conclude that there is no significant association between gender and the decision to purchase after the appearance of the COVID-19. The main three motives for online shopping in the period during COVID-19 were that too many stores are working only online, reducing health risk, and saving time. The most frequently online bought products by the respondents, were Food (groceries), Medicines and Books (magazines, newspapers). The contribution of this paper, even though the analysed sample is not national representative, lays in the fact that there is almost none research of this topic in our country.

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