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

• Published in: Transportation research. Part A, Policy and practice Policy and practice, 2023-05, Vol.171, p.103644, Article 103644
• Main Authors: Andruetto, Claudia, Bin, Elisa, Susilo, Yusak, Pernestål, Anna
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Behavioural change; COVID-19; Online shopping; Prevention measures
• ISSN: 0965-8564; 1879-2375; 1879-2375
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2023.103644

•Investigating the behavioural transition to online shopping during the pandemic.•Different groups of respondents were impacted differently in terms of trips.•The directions of the transition are unique.•The socio-demographic and household structure impacted the behaviour differently. 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.