PJAEE, 17 (9) (2020)

PEOPLE'S ONLINE SPENDING HABITS BEFORE AND DURING COVID 19

LOCKDOWN

V.R.Karthikeyarayan1, V.Sithartha sankar2

1
Associate Professor, Fashion Communication Department, National Institute of Fashion
Technology, Chennai, External Scholar, Ph.D., Department of Business Administration,
Annamalai University, Chidambaram, Tamilnadu, India
2
Assistant Professor & Research Supervisor, Department of Business Administration, Annamalai
University, Chidambaram, Tamilnadu, India.
Email: 1vr.karthikeyarayan@nift.ac.in, 2varshansidhu@gmail.com
V.R.Karthikeyarayan, V.Sithartha sankar: People's Online Spending Habits Before And
During Covid 19 Lockdown -- Palarch’s Journal Of Archaeology Of Egypt/Egyptology
17(9). ISSN 1567-214x
Keywords: Online, People, Spending, Design,

ABSTRACT
People have been spending or earning money through online transactions for the past few
years. It is normal for many people to transact money electronically. During the months of
March, April and May 2020, many countries including India announced lockdowns because of
the Covid19 Virus pandemic. Most of the regular businesses were locked down completely
during this period. However some of the online businesses were permitted to continue their
businesses by delivering products to customers directly, with minimum personal contact.
This paper tries to find, through an online survey, the online spending habits of people
during this dynamic period, when most of the businesses were going through a sea change
because of the COVID19 LOCKDOWN. This was unprecedented in recent memory. The online
survey was conducted during the months of April and May 2020. As many offices were closed
because of COVID 19 LOCKDOWN, people's ability to pay EMIs online. This paper includes
information on the earning and spending habits of people before and during the COVID19
LOCKDOWN. The changes that the COVID19 LOCKDOWN has brought on people's
behaviour. How people are planning to spend online, after the COVID19 LOCKDOWN. This
paper discusses a variety of products or services people spent money on. The role of App
Designs in influencing people's buying decisions. It is found that people were donating money

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for noble causes during these pandemic times. Whether people are planning to increase or reduce
the amount of online transactions after the COVID 19 LOCKDOWN..

1. Introduction
For the past few years, it has become normal for many people to spend or earn
through internet. Many websites and Apps exist that facilitate these kind of
transactions. People had developed certain habits while doing such online
transactions. While such developments were progressing at a very fast pace
because of network improvements and new products to facilitate users to
access these facilities, COVID 19 Virus started spreading all around the world
within a very short period of time. Many countries announced LOCKDOWNS
to contain the pandemic. Under such circumstances people became more
dependant on internet to transact their respective businesses. Regular office
goers started working from home and educational institutes started conducting
online classes. Such drastic changes within a short period of time became the
new norm under the pandemic conditions.

2. Objective
During the months of March, April and May 2020, many countries including
India announced lockdowns because of the Covid19 Virus pandemic. For the
past few years, it is normal for many people to transact money through online
transactions either to spend or earn. The online survey was conducted during
the months of April and May 2020. This paper aims to find, the online earning
and spending habits of people before, during and after the COVID19
LOCKDOWN. Most of the regular businesses were locked down completely
during this period. This is a period when most of the businesses were going
through a sea change because of the COVID19 LOCKDOWN. This was
unprecedented in recent memory. However some of the online businesses were
permitted to continue their businesses by delivering products to customers
directly. Especially websites and Apps delivering food items were allowed to
operate with some restrictions. As many offices were closed and
unemployment rates raised because of COVID 19 LOCKDOWN, people's
ability to pay EMIs online was affected, banks also announced moratoriums. It
is of immence interest and research value while studying the kind of changes
COVID19 LOCKDOWN has brought on people's buying decisions. This paper
discusses a variety of products or services people spent money on during the
lockdown period. The role of App and Website Designs in influencing people's
spending decisions. It is found that people were donating money for noble
causes during these pandemic times. How people are planning to spend online,
after the COVID19 LOCKDOWN.

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3. Covid 19 Lockdown
There are curfews, quarantines, and similar restrictions (variously described
as stay-at-home orders, shelter-in-place orders, shutdowns or lockdowns) in
place in many countries and territories around the world, related to the COVID-
19 pandemic and established to prevent the further spread of the severe acute
respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which causes COVID-19.
By April 2020, about half of the world's population was under lockdown, with
more than 3.9 billion people in more than 90 countries or territories having
been asked or ordered to stay at home by their governments. The World Health
Organization's recommendation on curfews and lockdowns is that they should
be short-term measures to reorganize, regroup, rebalance resources, and protect
health workers who are exhausted. To achieve a balance between restrictions
and normal life, the long-term responses to the pandemic should consist of
strict personal hygiene, effective contact tracing, and isolating when ill.
The Government of India confirmed India's first case of Coronavirus disease
2019 on 30 January 2020 in the state of Kerala, when a university student
from Wuhan travelled back to the state. As the number of confirmed COVID-
19 positive cases closed 500, Modi on 19 March, asked all citizens to observe
'Janata Curfew' (people's curfew) on Sunday, 22 March. At the end of the
curfew, Modi stated: "Janata Curfew is just the beginning of a long battle
against COVID-19". Following this, while addressing the nation second time
on 24 March, he announced the nationwide lockdown from midnight of that
day, for a period of 21 days. He said that the only solution to control the
spread of coronavirus was to break the cycle of transmission through social
distancing. He also added that the lockdown would be enforced more strictly
than the Janata Curfew. On 24 March 2020, the Government of India under
Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered a nationwide lockdown for 21 days,
limiting movement of the entire 1.3 billion population of India as a preventive
measure against the COVID-19 pandemic in India. It was ordered after a 14-
hour voluntary public curfew on 22 March, followed by enforcement of a series
of regulations in the country's COVID-19 affected regions. The lockdown was
placed when the number of confirmed positive coronavirus cases in India was
approximately 500.

4. Online Transactions
Online transactions take many forms. In business-to-business (B2B)
transactions, businesses conduct transactions with one another. Business-to-
consumer transactions (B2C) take place when businesses and consumers
conduct business online, such as when individuals buy tickets from
Ticketmaster.com. Person-to-person transactions (P2P) are online interactions
between two individuals, like those conducted on online auction site eBay.
Although these three types of transactions are the most common, other forms
do exist. For example, when individuals submit their taxes electronically, they
are completing an online transaction. E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the
activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or

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over the Internet. Electronic commerce draws on technologies such as mobile

commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet
marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data
interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data
collection systems. Modern electronic commerce typically uses the World
Wide Web for at least one part of the transaction's life cycle although it may
also use other technologies such as e-mail. There are three areas of e-
commerce: online retailing, electronic markets, and online auctions. E-
commerce is supported by electronic business.

5. Online Survey
This online survey was conducted during the months of April and May 2020,
through my social media contacts (FACEBOOK) and WatsApp, which
included friends, relatives and other professional contacts, using an App named
SURVEYHEART. The survey was conducted using a questionnaire.

6. Questionnaire To Find People's Online Transaction Habits

The questionaire was prepared in such a way that many variables could be
derived from the data collected. The questionaire collected some general
information about the respondents, like name, gender, age group, address
during lockdown, contact details, etc. The questions asked included personal
choices of the respondents. For example, what kind of transaction they did
online. Did they buy products, services or send money to relatives or friends.
The questionaire also aimed to find for how long they have been using online
modes of transaction, wether the LOCKDOWN had brought in changes to their
online transaction habits. The questionnaire tried to probe the respondents with
specific questions like, what are future plans of spending or earning through
online facilities after the COVID19 LOCKDOWN. I received 114 replies to
the questionnaire.

7. Findings
Below are the findings after studying the answers given by the respondants.
The findings are categorised as: 1. AGE GROUP OF RESPONDANTS 2.
DURATION OF PEOPLE'S ONLINE TRANSACTIONS 3. PEOPLE'S
FINANCIAL ABILITIES DURING COVID19 LOCKDOWN 4.
CHANGES IN PEOPLE'S ONLINE BUYING HABITS DURING
COVID19 LOCKDOWN 5. APPS & WEBSITES REGULARLY USED
BY PEOPLE 6. PURPOSE OF USAGE OF ONLINE FACILITIES
DURING COVID19 LOCKDOWN 7. THE DESIGN OF THE
APPS/WEBSITES INFLUENCES PEOPLE TO SPEND MONEY
ONLINE
1. Age Group Of Respondants
After studying the responses given by the respondents, it is found that, all the
respondants, both male and female, who participated and replied to the

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questionaire have done online transactions. People aged 19 years and above
have made online transactions. People between the ages of 18 and 32 are
considered as young adults according to certain UN norms.

Fig. 1 Shows the age groups the respondants belong to:

2. Duration Of People's Online Transactions

Fig. 2 Shows for how long respondants are using online-transactions.

Today it is normal for many people to use online transactions for various
purposes. The survey tried to find, the habits of the respondents and the
longevity of their habit of using online facilities to transact money. Here it can
be clearly observed that the number of people who used online transactions is
much higher than people who are doing online transactions only during
COVID19 LOCKDOWN, for less than a year and 1to 5 years. This highlights
the fact that online transactions through internet enables devices has had a long

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stinct with people's habits. While observing such transactions it was noted that
transactions were done for religious or spiritual and donation purposes!

3. People's Financial Abilities During Covid19 Lockdown

The survey tried to find the respondents income and spending habits during
COVID19 LOCKDOWN. The survey tries to highlight the fact about wether
COVID19 LOCKDOWN has led to the increase/decrease of online
earning/spending of respondents.

Fig. 3 Did peoples' Earning/Spending increase or decrease through online

transactions DURING COVID19 LOCKDOWN.

4. Changes in people's online buying habits during covid19 lockdown

Fig. 4 Percentage of people who bought products online during COVID19

LOCKDOWN,

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which they would not buy normally online before COVID19

LOCKDOWN.
5. Apps & Websites Regularly Used By People
The number of Apps & Websites regularly used by respondents to Earn or
Spend money online before COVID19 LOCKDOWN is shown below.

Fig. 5 Number of APPS respondents regularly used before COVID19

LOCKDOWN

Fig. 6 Number of WEBSITES respondents regularly used before COVID19

LOCKDOWN
6. Purpose Of Usage Of Online Facilities During Covid19 Lockdown
It is very useful and interesting to observe the purpose of usage of online
transactions by people for various purposes. The purposes vary from
entertainment to banking or financial transactions, buying products, for medical
purposes, spiritual or religious purposes and other purposes-including buying
grocery, mobile recharges, games and consultation purposes.

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Fig.7 Purpose of usage of online transactions

7. The Design Of The Apps/Websites Influences People To Spend Money
Online
As it is human nature to get attracted to visual designs, I hypothesided that the
designs of Apps or Websites would influence people's spending online. 39%
of the respondants have accepted that the design of the App or Website made
them spend online!

Fig.8 Percentage of people who accept that the design of the Apps/Websites
made them spend money online.

8. Analysis
The unprecedented and rarest of the rare circumstances under which this survey
was done is an interesting fact by itself, which helped in understanding the
online earning or spending habits of people. Though the pandemic forced
people to discard their routine life and enter into a new norm, the online
spending habits of people had adapted towards the new norms during
COVID19 LOCKDOWN. Though earnings had reduced during the lockdown,
people were positive enough to continue spending online. People considered

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as belonging to the young adult age group play a very important role in doing
online transactions. It is found that more people use, between 1 to 5 Apps and
1 to 5 websites to do their online transactions. A small percentage of people
use more than 10 Apps and websites to do online transactions. The design of
the Apps or Websites plays a significant role in making people spend more
online.

9. Conclusion
COVID 19 LOCKDOWN has to a significant level influenced people in how
they do their online transactions. The important role played by Apps or
Websites and the importance given to them by people. The significant role
played by the Designs of these Apps and Websites in making users spend more
money online. How inspite of the various difficulties posed by COVID19
LOCKDOWN, people have adapted to the new norms by continuing to use
online modes of transactions to fulfill their needs.

References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_lockdown_in_India
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_lockdowns
https://www.encyclopedia.com/books/educational-magazines/online-
transactions
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-
52559324#:~:text=Unemployment%20hit
%2023.5%25%20in%20April,food%20supplies%20%2D%20to%20a
%20standstill.&text=Will%20coronavirus%20lockdown%20cause%20food%2
0shortages
%20in%20India%3F
https://www.financialexpress.com/money/waiting-for-rbi-to-extend-loan-emi-
moratorium-
after-august-31-heres-why-it-may-not/2068643/

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