Review of Related Literature

The Review of Literature in this study is divided into four categories. The first

category is all about the Pandemic Fear and the Rise of E-commerce which provides

additional information about how the pandemic gave rise to the e-commerce society. The

second category presents the Surge of E-commerce which focuses on the growth and

demand e-commerce during the pandemic. The third category is all about the Digital

Transformation wherein it discusses how face-to-face businesses and transactions

transitioned digitally. Lastly, the last category in this review of related literature is all

about the Effectiveness of E-commerce during the pandemic and this talked about how

effective the e-commerce is to the society,

Pandemic Fear and the Rise of E-commerce

The spread of the novel coronavirus 'SARS-Cov-2,' which causes the illness

'COVID-19,' has culminated in around 100 million cases and two million fatalities

(World Health Organization, 2020). The fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) is a concise

self-report scale established at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. The problem of how

to evaluate emotions such as fear during a pandemic suggests an important role, as the

COVID-19 epidemic is far from resolved. The FCV-19S is one of the questionnaires

created at the start of the pandemic crisis to assess negative emotions that may arise in

this new and threatening circumstances. The present study's findings demonstrated a link

between levels of fear of COVID-19 and age, gender, and subjective vulnerability to the

disease. It is necessary for scientists and practitioners to predict which people are more

likely to feel greater degrees of fear of the coronavirus in a pandemic situation, since this

type of anxiety can have serious effects from both an individual and a society standpoint.
 The findings indicate that older individuals, women, those who feel vulnerable,

and those with greater degrees of neuroticism are more likely to acquire a higher levels of

the fear of COVID-19, with all of the repercussions it entails. Taking preventative

measures that have the potential to reduce the spread of an infectious illness appears to be

especially crucial during a pandemic. In the case of the COVID-19 pandemic, the

absence of effective therapies, relatively high infectiousness, the existence of

asymptomatic individuals, and the projected protracted course of the pandemic make it

even more necessary to enforce several pandemic regulations. Negative emotions

produced by the pandemic condition might have an influence on obedience (Pilch, I.,

Kurasz, Z., & Turska-Kawa, A., 2021).

Hussain, Fusté-Forné, & Simmons (2021) implies that the interconnections between the

health crisis and the transportation problem are obvious: both contribute to the cause and

the repercussions. The pandemic have spread wider and rapidly as velocity of travel have

risen. During the last quarter of 2020, transportation and tourism were already attempting

to deal with the first stages of recovery, travel restrictions were gradually lifted in some

countries, and the hospitality sector began to prepare for a period in which transportation

and tourism would have to coexist with the virus. The world is trying to

withstand containing the transmission of the disease, and it indicates that thorough hand

cleaning with antiseptic soap and running water, as well as the use the use of alcohol

hand sanitizer, regular surface cleaning, rigid adherence to social distancing, regular

respiratory hygiene, the use of preventative face masks, regular testing, self-isolation,

quarantine, and thorough contact tracing will help deter further spread and control the

transmission of the virus infection (Ayenigbara, et. al., 2020).

monitoring changes in purchasing behavior and social connections of individuals

following the lockdown. While the lockdown may have been partially removed, it is

necessary to keep in mind that the virus still remains. As a result, when they ventured out

of their houses, the respondents had several concerns. These might be classified into five

categories: "fear of COVID-19 and social distancing worries," "hygiene and PPE," "shifts

in lifestyle," "attitude about the role of government," and "economic impact on

households”. In reality, the majority of our everyday transactions included the physical

exchange of money. People are now much more careful about what they touch and who

they come into close interaction with. At this time, social distancing might potentially

save someone's life. Some respondents indicated reluctance to visit busy areas or stores,

while others expressed concerns that this entire notion of social distancing could be

impossible to execute while traveling and attending social gatherings. As a result, even

after the lockdown, footfall in shops and stores is likely to be less. This fear can only be

addressed if the individual is guaranteed that the environment is appropriately sterilized

and sanitary (Lahiri & Sinha, 2021).

According to Bloom (n.d.), that since the economy has had to make a major

transition to working from home using online technologies, the subject of "change to

online" also came up. People turned to internet shopping while brick-and-mortar

establishments collapsed or operated at a reduced capacity. Online grocery shopping has

grown in popularity (Lahiri & Sinha, 2021).

COVID-19 has significantly reduced in-store shopping due to the widespread

implementation of non-pharmaceutical preventive interventions, and that has increased

was relatively new to citizens prior to the COVID-19 outbreak (Viu-Roig & Alvarez,

2020). E-commerce development has transformed the physical distribution of

commodities in our cities. Interpreting e-commerce as Internet-based business-to-

customer (B2C) transactions, we can state that Online purchases and customized delivery

are the developments having the most influence on urban freight transport networks

(Nguyen, Armoogum, & Binh, 2021). For instance, the recent expansion of e-commerce

has resulted in a considerable increase in direct-to-consumer distribution, strengthening

the importance of "last-mile" logistics. Customers can select not just home delivery

services, but also many other delivery sites such as lockers or pick-up points (Viu-Roig &

Alvarez, 2020).

Surge in E-commerce

E-commerce is a type of company that allows companies and individuals to buy

and sell goods and services through the internet (Sharma,2020). On the heels of the

online shopping boom during the Covid-19 pandemic, the electronic commerce (e-

commerce) surge has many businesses facing an influx in product returns. The popularity

of e-commerce has increased by 17 percent since the outbreak of the covid-19 epidemic,

and it is projected to continue to rise (Sharma,2020). Electronics, fashion and accessories,

health and pharmaceuticals, and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) did exceptionally

well, with an average sales growth of 133 percent. Bhatti et al. (2020) examines that

ecommerce has become a substitute source and considered top in this condition and

consumers bought in superstore traditionally. Coronavirus impact the whole e-commerce

different nature of products, means the impact of COVID-19 on several product is very

high and on some product less impact (Andrienko, 2020). Overall sale of e-commerce

increases because of this virus, people avoiding to go out, keeping social distance and

buying from home, working from home such as Walmart grocery e-commerce increases

74%. Moreover, the media usage also increased in this time and Facebook, google update

their features to connect more people in single time such as Facebook introduce

messenger for 44 people that is competing to Zoom. Similarly, Google also launched

updated version (Sarah Davis, 2020).

E-commerce surge (e-retail in particular) from the final leg of the supply chain:

the last mile( Vakulenko et al.,2019). As the growing flow e-commerce orders continues

to generate new records for annual revenues, Key actors in the last mile face the

challenges of increasing customer demands and transportation volumes. Rosen (Ref. [33],

p. 5) explains that ‘‘e-commerce covers the range of online business activities for

products and services, both business-to-business and business-toconcore competencies,

stage of the life cycle, orientation, nature of existing relationships with business partners,

market power and such. Reverse logistics also plays a radical role in any business’s

sustainable development as a process of reusing, remanufacturing, and redistributing

products (Wang, C. N., Dang, T. T., & Nguyen, N. A. T. 2021). A third-party reverse

logistics provider (3PRLP) has been identified as one of the most important management

strategies for today’s organizations, especially e-commerce players. With a recent surge

in E-commerce market and online shopping in India there is a need for a more efficient,

sustainable and reliable reverse logistics design by including cost, environmental and
social factors into consideration (Dutta, P., Mishra, A., Khandelwal, S., & Katthawala, I.

2020). Different technologies are considered in delivery hubs and mother warehouse

which could result in a more efficient way of transferring and processing products.

Coronavirus impact the whole e-commerce of the world; it has changed the nature of

business. According to research 52% of consumers avoiding to go brick and mortar

shopping and crowded areas. Furthermore, 36% avoiding brick and mortar shopping until

they get coronavirus vaccine. Coronavirus compelled to customers to use internet and

make it habit in their daily routine (Abiad, Arao, & Dagli, 2020).

Mostly buying products during pandemic are toilet paper, disposable gloves,

freezer, bidet, kettlebells, bread machine, paint by numbers, puzzle, peloton, coloring

book, air purifier, treadmill, stationary bike, yoga mat, refrigerator, exercise ball and

exercise equipment (Andrienko, 2020). E-commerce has increased the buyers in

developed countries even in developing countries, such as Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand,

and Pakistan.

In Pakistan e-commerce was started in 2000’s but very poor, just 3% of whole

population was buying online (Bhatti, 2018; Bhatti, Saad, & Gbadebo, 2018; Bhatti,

Saad, & Salimon, 2019; Rehman, 2018) but now in pandemic it is reported that e-

commerce in Pakistan increasing by 10% in daily record, and 15% raise in internet users.

30-40% surge the demands of products. For quick service food panda is launched to

provide easiness to people. It is good hope for Pakistan in term of e-commerce that e-

commerce trend is move upward (Abdullah Niazi, 2020). Products that significantly

impacted by virus such as disposable gloves, cough and cold, bread machine, soups, dried

grains and rice, packaged food, fruits cups, weight training, milk and cream, dishwashing
supplies, paper towel, hand soaps and sanitizer, pasta, vegetables, flour, facial tissues and

allergy medicine and many more. On the other hand, the products that declines by

coronavirus are luggage and suitcase, briefcase, cameras, men’s swimwear, women

swimwear, bridle dress, men formal dress, gym bags, rash guards, boys, athletic shoes,

toys, lunch boxes, wallets, watches, girl’s jackets and coats, boy’s top’s and caps etc.

Retail sales of ecommerce shows that COVID-19 has significant impact on e-commerce

and its sales are expected to reach $6.5 trillion by 2023 (Jones, 2020). Many challenges

facing by retailers in e-commerce, such as extend the delivery time, difficulty face during

movement control, social distance and lockdown (Hasanat et al., 2020).

The Internet has brought about new possibilities for innovation and radically

changed business activities. Internet shopping is a prime example of increasing

popularity, which is exacerbated due to the recent pandemic (Pourhejazy, P. 2020). It is

expected that e-commerce will accommodate more than a quarter of the total retail sales

worldwide in the next few years. Applying the Fuzzy Decision-Making Trial and

Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method, the interrelationships between the decision

factors are investigated and the decisive considerations are identified (Pourhejazy, P.

2020). Rapid technology adoption led by an increase in the use of smart devices and

access to the internet through broadband, 3G led to an increased online customer base

(Shetty, A. D. 2017).. A number of developed economies like the USA, China and the

UK have demonstrated a clear leadership in e-commerce attributing to higher internet

penetration, technological advancement, infrastructure facilities and the increased use of

smart phones, laptops/PCs and tablets. However, India, being a developing economy, is

experiencing a much slower growth of e-commerce in spite of having a larger number of

& Dixit, S. 2017).

Digital Transformation

There were also several pandemics in the history that caused change in human

life. Recent decades have also experienced global pandemics such as, e.g. SARS in 2003,

H5N1 in 2006, H1N1 in 2009 and all these pandemics became hindrances to business and

economic growth during those times. The coronavirus drastically changed the global

trends. A rapid change has occurred in every business. It changed the behavior of

humans, nature of trading, business and even the way of life. It spread the scares among

people they avoid to interact with others (Bhatti et. al. 2020). Lockdowns were

implemented in order to prevent the spread of the virus, which on the other hand actually

increased the use of e-commerce and mobile commerce as means of shopping during the

pandemic. The increase of the usage of these platforms were then utilized by e-commerce

and mobile commerce industry by providing various attractive offers for consumers. The

consumer does not need to interact with the seller and the items needed will be sent

home.

The development of technology has a great impact on human life,

including in business matters. Currently, almost all business activities have been carried

out by utilizing technology, both in whole and in part. Businesses cannot leave

technology in developing business, inevitably businesses must utilize technology. This

development then gave rise to a term called e-business in which businesses not only used

technology as a tool but also used the internet as a means. The internet is used in every

business transaction, from making business strategies to buying and selling products. In
its development the emergence of e-business then gave rise to various other facilities that

facilitate business with the use of the internet.

E-commerce is one of the impacts that occur due to the development of the world

of technology, in this case business transactions. Initially it must be done face to face

between the seller and the buyer, through e-commerce can be done by utilizing

computers and the internet. The development of technology then also made this form

of e-commerce develop into mobile commerce. That is a simpler form of e-commerce,

because through mobile commerce business transactions can be accessed through mobile

devices which are now always an inseparable part of humans. Consumers spend more

time online purchasing via mobile devices than computers. This is due to the use of the

internet today which can be accessed through mobile devices not just computers. Because

of practical reasons humans more often access cellular devices than computers. The use

of mobile applications allows consumers to search for products, categories, and brands

which are then compared before making a purchase using a mobile device (Sardjono

et.al. 2020).

The use of e-commerce and mobile commerce is considered to have

various conveniences that make consumers comfortable doing transactions online.

Consumers given various alternative choices according to their needs, then can do a

comparison in a short time. This results in convenience to foster customer confidence.

Besides the development of technology makes the development of e-commerce and

mobile commerce even higher. Currently, the use of e-commerce and mobile commerce

is considered to be able to provide comfort and convenience in transactions carried

out by consumers. Ease of transaction provides a pleasant experience for consumers

experience then becomes a trend that continues, even in covid-19 conditions this trend

becomes the first and only choice that can be done from inside the house (W Sardjono et

al 2021).

According to (Harahap et. al. 2021), Digital Business Transformation is the

application of technology to build new business models, processes, software and systems

that results in more profitable revenue, greater competitive advantage, and higher

efficiency. It is disrupting face-to-face business industries by breaking down barriers

between people, businesses and things. By breaking the barriers, they are able to create

new products, services and find more efficient ways of doing business using online

means. These innovations are happening across organizations of all types. One of the

approaches to exploring digital transformation is the grouping of changes in three areas:

consumer behavior, business processes and business models.

COVID-19 has significant impact on e-commerce of the world and in some cases

negative impact but overall e-commerce is growing rapidly because of virus. Coronavirus

compelled to customers to use internet and make it habit in their daily routine (Abiad,

Arao, & Dagli, 2020). Furthermore, many challenges facing by retailers in e-commerce,

such as extend the delivery time, difficulty face during movement control, social distance

and lockdown (Hasanat et al., 2020). The process of shipment and supply is quite slow

now, but still people buying because they do not have another alternative. Hence, people

moving towards technology due to virus. Furthermore, some products are very high in

demand in market. Even retailers cannot fulfill the customer’s demands such as hand

sanitizers, toilet papers, disposable gloves, grocery, and dairy products. On the other
hand, negative effect of COVID-19 on tourism industry, flights are in loss, international

trading is very slow and stuck in their position.

Effectiveness of E-commerce during the Pandemic

Customers reaped immediate benefits by taking part in e-commerce entities'

marketing activities, which typically come in the form of: (1) competitions (maximizing

the benefits in terms of the possibility of free product procurement); (2) discounts (trying

to maximize the benefits in terms of financial resources saved when purchasing the

products in exchange for online activity); and (3) bringing awareness (attaining benefits

in terms of greater complex satisfaction of the needs). Businesses reaped the largest

benefits in terms of higher turnover, with e-commerce becoming nearly the only means to

obtain the majority of consumer items (excluding basic consumer products) (Pollak,

Konecny, & Sceulovs, 2021).

Several Indonesian e-commerce and mobile commerce sites reported a rise in

transactions during covid-19. Shopee is one example of an e-commerce and mobile

commerce that has grown. Visits and transactions that occurred during Covid-19 have

also changed significantly. Almost all e-commerce and mobile commerce in Indonesia

has seen an increase in sales. The requirement to carry out all activities from within the

house does not preclude the community from engaging in shopping activities. Even e-

commerce and mobile commerce utilize the covid-19 pandemic challenges to drive sales

by running free shipping promotions, discounting items for basic necessities and health,

and updating covid-19 information. Furthermore, Covid-19 has caused a shift in client

motivations for online buying, which was previously a desire to become a need (Sardjono

et. al., 2021).

reflected by the numbers of users of the Facebook profiles of the Czech Republic's main

e-commerce industry representatives, optimized their benefits during the country's

economic forcible shutdown by boosting their activity in the digital environment.

Through the perspective of the Czech market, they confirm the theoretical assumptions

about the market's nature and behavior. It is a complicated and competitive e-commerce

market with significant local participants. The strength of these businesses is supported

by their efforts to expand in (but not limited to) Central European markets. Domestic

consumers claim significant market vitality as well. Customers are said to participate

actively in the e-marketing activities of profile managers of chosen e-commerce

businesses.

In less than one year, they have experienced a more than 12% rise in client

groups. Examining at developments in Czech e-consumer behavior, They saw a shift in e-

habits that applies to all monitored indicators. The working week, and especially the

period that can be referred to as working time, has become the dominating component of

the interactions. The abrupt change in the economy's initial closure generated behaviors

that are gradually becoming the new standard.

Based on the measured characteristics, it is possible to conclude that users have

overcome their shyness of maximizing the advantages of their online activities during

working hours. At the same time, they spent the majority of their working hours working

from home. According to a descriptive study of data acquired over the Christmas season,

Czech consumers commit a considerable portion of their working day to maximizing the

benefits of e-commerce.
 Similarly, ordering food with delivery was the most often engaged e-commerce

food service in the general public. All of the reasons for online food delivery

that included were more frequently indicated by frequent users than by the other

segments, with the most important reasons for this group being: the ability to choose

from a wide wide variety of dishes, the fact that friends use online orders, and the

pleasure experienced while using modern technologies (Kowalczuk et. al., 2021).

Thomson et al. (2003) also underlined the motivating value of freedom of choice. No less

important were reasons for buying food online such as convenience, time savings, and the

ability to use loyalty programs, which were discovered by researching the purchase

motivations of e-consumers according to which convenience is the major incentive for

ordering food online (Kowalczuk et. al., 2021).