The Impact of COVID-19 on E-commerce Use in Lebanon: A Quantitative Study

COVID-19 pandemic has changed business trends dramatically especially with increased quarantine periods and limited transportation. In addition, the developments in information technology, mainly the Internet, led to increased interest in studying e-commerce whether applicable through PCs or mobile devices. The aim of this article was to investigate how the Covid-19 pandemic affected e-commerce usage in Lebanon. The method used was quantitative where an online survey was distributed on a sample size of 400 customers. The results showed that during COVID-19 consumers increased the use of e-commerce as companies/stores were more dependent on their online presence to conduct their business, especially when long quarantine duration was applicable. In addition, with COVID-19 pandemic, customers were using more local websites and social media platforms to purchase food products, and they were satisfied with the quality, service provided, communication, and cash on delivery payments.