Marketing

2019-20 coronavirus outbreak

Biology

German

Statistics

Virology

Archaeology

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)

Structural equation modeling

Outbreak

Business

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Advertising

Psychology

Relevance (law)

Mathematics

Survey data collection

Social media

Political science

Consumer behaviour

Normative

Infectious disease (medical specialty)

Medicine

Pandemic

Social distance

Disease

Pathology

History

Sustainability

The investigation of established drivers of online purchase behavior is of great relevance during the COVID-19 pandemic, as companies must anticipate consumer behavior during this global crisis to maintain a competitive edge. This study investigates online shopping motives of generation Y and Z during the COVID-19 shutdown in April 2020. We use survey data from 451 German consumers to examine the relations between normative, utilitarian and hedonic motives, and purchase intentions employing structural equation modeling. The results show that normative determinants such as media reports on the economic situation are related to consumers’ purchase intentions, whereas the normative influence of close social networks is not. Furthermore, we find that hedonic motivation is a better predictor of purchase intentions than utilitarian motives and that individuals practicing social distancing, generation Z, and women show higher levels of hedonic motivation. We provide recommendations for e-commerce companies on ways to address consumers’ purchase motives and strategically harness normative influences.

Online Shopping Motives during the COVID-19 Pandemic—Lessons from the Crisis