Comparative analysis of online fresh food shopping behavior during normal and COVID-19 crisis periods
ISSN: 0007-070X
Article publication date: 10 August 2021
Issue publication date: 8 February 2022
Abstract
Purpose
Online fresh food shopping has become increasingly popular in recent years, especially during the COVID-19 crisis. Online fresh food shopping provides consumers with an alternative to shopping in a traditional market, while also enabling procurement of such goods at a reduced risk of infection. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether online fresh food shopping behaviors change during public health emergency periods.
Design/methodology/approach
The data were collected through a web-based survey (508 respondents in China). Descriptive analysis, ordinal logistic regression analysis, and the Apriori algorithm were employed to explore what characteristics influence purchase frequency as well as food and delivery time preferences among different customer groups.
Findings
Based on the survey data, this study found that purchase frequency grew 71.2% during the COVID-19 crisis. City type and online shopping frequency of respondents are positively correlated with purchase frequency in normal and COVID-19 crisis periods. Number of daily hours worked by respondents only showed a significant impact for the normal period. People perceiving the risk of infection from going out are more willing to purchase fresh food online.
Originality/value
This is the first study to explore and compare online fresh food shopping behaviors during normal and COVID-19 crisis periods with a sample from China. The findings indicate a key role that online fresh food shopping can perform during a crisis and contribute to our understanding of fresh food online shopping behaviors during other possible public health emergency scenarios.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This work was supported in part by the National Key R&D Program of China under Grant [2019YFE0108300] and the Shanghai Pujiang Program [2020PJC112]. The authors would like to thank the editor and reviewers for their insightful comments to improve the quality of this paper.
Citation
Lu, M., Wang, R. and Li, P. (2022), "Comparative analysis of online fresh food shopping behavior during normal and COVID-19 crisis periods", British Food Journal, Vol. 124 No. 3, pp. 968-986. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-09-2020-0849
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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