Online shopping surged amidst COVID-19: study

Three in 10 consumers reportedly shopped online for the first time.

E-commerce shopping activities have surged significantly, with 74% of consumers making purchases online more frequently, driven by movement restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Visa Consumer Payment Attitudes Study.

Since many have turned to the internet to shop, 52% of consumers have reportedly visited physical stores less frequently.

Home delivery frequency has soared as well, with 71% using it more often and 25% trying it out for the first time.

The study also reveals that 31% of Singaporeans have shopped online for the first time during the pandemic.

“Since the onset of COVID-19, people have changed the way they shop and pay and these changes are unlikely to reverse, even as a vaccine becomes more widely available. We see more first-timers shopping on eCommerce, more companies going digital and this trend is likely to stay,” said Kunal Chatterjee, Visa’s country manager for Singapore and Brunei.

Nearly half of consumers opt to shop from large, online marketplaces, whilst 31% are more frequently doing so from local businesses and another 31% from home-based businesses.

“One in five Singaporean consumers (20%) expect to continue shopping at large online marketplaces after the pandemic ends, and more than one in 10 Singaporean consumers expect shopping from home-based businesses (14%) and local businesses (10%) to become post-pandemic habits,” the study added.