Amid Lockdown, E-Commerce Becomes India's Shopping Lifeline

In pandemic times, shopping habits of consumers are changing – from bulk-buying to online shopping, people are changing what they’re buying, when they’re buying it and where they are buying it. With the entire brick-and-mortar retail community taking a hit, e-commerce / online shopping have become lifelines for the people of India.

- Sandeep Kumar

As the number of positive Covid-19 cases in India rise, the Central Government ordered a complete lockdown of the country from March 22, 2020. Amidst safety concerns, the implementation of the lockdown became debatable as the declaration brought millions of people on the streets, panic buying and stockpiling and hoarding. And this didn’t happen only in India. All of over the world, people started buying essential household products including groceries, medicines, and even toilet paper resulting in long queues in front of supermarkets and hypermarkets. As brick-and-mortar and online stores struggled to keep up with the demand, the price and panic gouging for the supplies turned into total chaos.

While social distancing was being advised and shopping guidelines given, it was extremely evident in the panic that ensued post the announcement of a lockdown that human response to a crisis depended from individual to individual. It is also prudent to note that it’s very hard for a shopper to change his/her shopping behavior overnight. However, in pandemic times, shopping habits of consumers are changing – from bulk-buying to online shopping, people are changing what they’re buying, when they’re buying it, and where they are buying it.

This last of the three – the where – has been one of the significant changes amid the Covid-19 pandemic. With the entire brick-and-mortar retail community taking a hit, e-commerce / online shopping have become lifelines for the people of India.

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