Abstract
COVID-19 first appeared in Wuhan city of Hubei Province in China in December 2019. It has a substantial impact on human life all around the world, especially for citizens. The threat of COVID-19 has resulted in people shopping online to get fresh food and reduce outdoor trips. Collecting data from adult internet users in Wuhan, China in 2020, this study aims to explore the influence of COVID-19 on fresh food shopping behavior. In addition, a comparison and ordered logit model are constructed to demonstrate the changes and effects of COVID-19. The results suggest that more citizens in Wuhan city will buy fresh food online and the cost and frequency are also increased. The experience of online shopping for fresh food during the lock-down days has promoted more online shopping. The factors, such as frequency of online shopping before the COVID-19 outbreak, frequency of online shopping during the COVID-19 pandemic, and age, have a negative effect on the proportion of online shopping after the lock-down days, while the proportion of online shopping before the COVID-19 outbreak, the proportion of online shopping during the COVID-19 pandemic, and travel time of in-store shopping before the COVID-19 outbreak have a positive effect. The results provide insights for managers, city planners, and policymakers.
Highlights
In December 2019, a cluster of pneumonia cases infected with the novel coronavirus was reported in Wuhan, China
Will COVID-19 change the behavior of buying fresh food? Will COVID-19 promote more often buying fresh food online? Is it possible for COVID-19 to change the way of shopping? This study aims to explore the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on fresh food shopping behavior and try to answer the above questions
The results suggest that these people who have the experience of online shopping for fresh food before and during the COVID-19 pandemic will buy more online
Summary
In December 2019, a cluster of pneumonia cases infected with the novel coronavirus was reported in Wuhan, China. It has rapidly spread across the continents. Even though COVID-19 can be transmitted from food [6], online shopping can reduce the possibility of being infected by COVID-19 without traveling. Shopping behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic has changed [7] and generally depends on fear [8]. This induced people to shop more online than before and the food reserve time extended from 3.37 to
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