The environment with which the world has encountered as a result of the pandemic has turned out to be quite difficult for all. Companies and consumers alike have grappled with the fallout from the pandemic. Due to restrictive measures taken by government authorities and the difficult global market situation, consumer behaviour is changing more and more rapidly, which is reflected in the structure and volume of consumption in all categories of goods and services, including food, apparel, healthcare, etc.
Changes are happening at such a speed that what seemed unusual yesterday has already become familiar today. The digitalization of everyday life, which has become the main catalyst for change, is helping to open up new opportunities for both consumer companies and consumers themselves, accelerating market transformation and consumer consciousness.
Therefore, it is important to understand how consumer behaviour and customer experience have changed so far and how they will evolve in the future. Companies that do not have such an idea and do not take measures to adapt to the "new reality" will be left behind those who manage to win the attention, loyalty, and respect of consumers.
In the course of analysing the results and looking for an answer to the question of how the latest events in the world have influenced the consumer shopping habits in Azerbaijan, the study focused on digital interaction, namely how buyers perceive online shopping, as well as which product categories, including grocery ones, have increased or decreased in demand.
Starting with the H1, which indicates that with the start of the pandemic, respondents started to spend more money on safety needs. According to the results of the study, it is obvious that the overwhelming majority of the study participants noted that indeed, with the advent of the pandemic, they began to spend more money on things that are related to maintaining health, including the purchase of products to maintain hygiene, as well as food primarily to ensure life.
Thus, referring to the result H1 is suggested not to be rejected.
H2 states that pandemic resulted in the decrease of consumers spending money on social needs. Social needs mean spending in places where a person socializes with respondents with whom it is pleasant to spend time. This can happen both with the family and in public places like bars or restaurants (Watts, 2019). taking into account the results of the survey, with the advent of the pandemic, respondents began to spend less money on going to bars, restaurants,
and cafes where they went to socialize, to spend time with friends, relatives, or to find new acquaintances. Based on that, H2 is also suggested not to be rejected.
Considering the food habits of consumers, the following two hypotheses state that with the onset of the pandemic, respondents began to buy more fresh food, such as vegetables and fruits, and also buy more products belonging to the cupboard category, such as pasta, flour, oil, grains and etc. (H3). And on the contrary, the demand for sweets and confectionary has dropped (H4). According to the responses of the participants, who from the list of presented products, which was created together with the representative of supermarket chains in Azerbaijan
"Bravo", should have noted which products they began to buy more, less or the same amount since the beginning of the pandemic. The results of the data for both hypotheses showed that, in general, the demand for fresh fruits and vegetables, products of cupboard category (grains, flour, oil, etc.), sweets, and candies did not change. Consequently, H3 and H4 are suggested to be rejected.
Nevertheless, the information provided by the representative of “Bravo” supermarket chain in Azerbaijan states that cupboard food category underwent an incredibly increased demand from buyers and the category of sweets, on the contrary, suffered from a decrease in demand.
The transition to a part of how buyers in Azerbaijan perceive online shopping, namely, how "Access convenience," "Transaction Convenience," "Search Convenience," "Evaluation convenience," "Post-purchase Convenience," and "Possession Convenience" influence shoppers' intentions to use and shop through online channels.
According to the results that were obtained using correlation and regression analysis, it can be concluded that independent variables "Access convenience" and "Possession Convenience" are the variables that have a significant impact on the dependent variable
"Behavioural Intentions." This means that the quality of delivery, which includes timely delivery to the final customer, the price of the delivery service, in what condition the ordered product is delivered, damaged or whole, and whether everything ordered is delivered plays an important role in shaping experiences that affect the intention of the consumer to further use the online shopping method. Therefore, H5 and H9 are suggested not to be rejected.
Despite the fact that the results of the correlation analysis showed that all of the above-mentioned independent variables have a significant effect on the dependent variable
"Behavioural Intentions," Regression analysis showed the opposite, with the exception of
"Access convenience" and "Possession Convenience" variables, "Transaction Convenience,"
"Search Convenience," "Evaluation convenience," "Post-purchase Convenience" variables do not have a significant impact on "Behavioural Intentions."
On the basis of this, it can be concluded that for buyers in Azerbaijan, how easily and conveniently can the client find information about the desired product, how the seller describes and provides the product in the digital space, the convenience of the transaction, and the availability of choice for the payment method do not affect the desire and intention to use online shopping. According to such indicators H6, H7, H8, and H10 are suggested to be rejected.
Nevertheless, if we collect all the independent variables into one integer variable (Table 6), then the results show that overall convenience has a significant impact on intention to use the online shopping method.