Examining the Influence of COVID 19 Pandemic in Changing Customers' Orientation towards E-Shopping

Current study aimed at examining the change in customer behavior during COVID 19 pandemic towards e-shopping. Variables taken into perspective included (Frequency, Necessity, Method of Payment, Price, and Availability of Product/Service). A simple random sample of (500) citizens in Jordan were exposed to an online questionnaire regarding their consuming behavior before and after the pandemic. Results of study indicated the COVID19 pandemic managed to change customer behavior towards depending more on online shopping and e-payment methods during COVID19 pandemic and the circumstances of lockdown and quarantine, in addition to that, results of pre and post behavior indicated that the influence appeared to be more influenced by gender and academic qualification as females' behavior appeared to be more influential and those who held a diploma. Study recommended that companies need to develop effective marketing strategies and enhance their presence in the e-commerce sector. However, one question remained unanswered; will society’s behavior change after the pandemic's demise, and will this behavior turn into an economic mind that measures things in numbers?


Introduction
Each society has its own culture and civilization, and this culture is formed over hundreds of years, and its personality is formed in comparison to other societies (Pandža Bajs, 2015). According to Kumar et al (2016), the culture and civilization of society is the set of prevailing values, customs, traditions and beliefs, and civilization consists of two elements, one of which is abstract or moral, and is represented in the fundamental values of society, its customs, traditions and beliefs, and the other element is material it is the material product of the members of society, and the continuous interaction between society and the individual leads to the formation of the individual's purchasing and consumer preferences in a way that is compatible with the fundamental values of society, and accordingly the types of products that society is allowed to be purchased and consumed are determined, and these fundamental values of society enjoy the obligation where no individual can deviate from them (Jaakkola and Alexander, 2014). For example, there are some societies whose civilization allows them to eat dog meat and pigs, as some societies allow to eat fish meat alive or to eat frogs, and these behaviors are unacceptable in other societies, especially Islamic societies because their intrinsic values do not recognize this and do not allow it. Based on that, Shah et al (2014) noted that the purchase behavior of individuals is bound to the values and traditions of their societies and do not contradict them, as a result, it can be said that the values of society, its beliefs, customs and traditions in the general behavior of its members constitute their purchasing behavior.
According to Wang (2015), the flow of information regarding a certain change in the environment influences the consumer behavior in a massive way, on the other hand Voinea and Filip (2011) noted that the frequency and availability of goods/services can influence the way a customer behaves; when a certain items item is scarce and not available; customers tend to hoard this item to avoid the trouble of looking for it. Czarniewski (2014) also suggested that some aspects can change customers' behavior like prices and methods of payment; customers tend to adopt a new behavior as soon as they find the financial methods are suitable for them.  Vol. 14, No. 8;2020 private and public organizations that search for products and purchase them for use in achieving their goals and future plans.
It is understood from this definition that every person is considered a consumer/customer, so that the primary motivation for them is to satisfy their needs and desires according to what is available in the market on one hand, and according to their financial and cognitive capabilities and purchasing abilities on the other hand (Yu et al, 2017).

Definition of Customer Behavior
As for consumer behavior, scholars presented many definitions that helped to give overall definitions for the concept, among them Echchakoui (2016) who stated that consumer's behavior is defined as the behavior that the consumer highlights in the search for buying or using goods, services and ideas, which he expects will satisfy his desires or needs according to his available purchasing capabilities, also, Moon et al (2015) saw that customer behavior is all direct and indirect actions and behaviors that consumers perform in order to obtain a good or service in a specific place and at a specific time. From another perspective Singh and Singh (2015) defined customer behavior as the set of mental and muscular activities related to the evaluation and differentiation process, and obtaining goods, services, ideas, and how to use them.

Constituents of Customer Behavior
Constituents of customers' behavior is usually influenced and infused by the culture and society that people live in Jung and Yoo (2017), this managed the culture to have a deep impact on how consumers behave in reference to purchase behaviors and intentions. Juaneda-Ayensa et al (2016) argued that customer behavior might be bound to many factors that shapes its final frame, among these factors are the external environmental factors for the consumer; such factors include the external environmental influences that affect the consumer, which are civilizational and cultural influences, social influences, situational influences and marketing influences. Echchakoui (2016) saw that society culture determines the form and philosophy of consumption for its members through the values and beliefs that forms it. For example, the philosophy of consumption in Western societies focuses on material well-being and aims to maximize recreational consumption in the world, while consumer philosophy in Islamic societies reduces the over-exploitation of material enjoyment and requires the individual to maintain a balance between the material and the spiritual side of their life. Sweeney et al (2015) argued that Islamic culture, for example, prohibits the consumption of or trade in some foodstuffs, such as blood, pork, and wines, as the Hindu culture prohibits the slaughter and eating of cows, Consumers buy products according to the culture of their societies, for reasons including: -Consumers believe that the purchased good or service will do its best job.
-Buying the commodity for its shape, form and image.
-Buying a commodity for its symbolic meaning, such as the association of some foods with the religious and national occasions of society.
-The influence of social classes on consumer behavior.
Others scholars saw that constituents of customer behavior is something that can't be defined easily, sometimes customer behavior is influenced by other factors than society including desires, needs, motives, cognitive skills, learning abilities, awareness, and many other factors that in overall would help in defining what constitute the behavior of customers Zhang and Benyoucef (2016); De Mooij (2019); Claiborne and Sirgy (2015); and Sudbury-Riley and Kohlbacher (2016). Mathras et al (2015) emphasized that there is a clear change on the shopping habits of individuals, which became clear more during the past years with the spread of smart and Internet-based mobile devices in all their features, which led to the explosion of electronic commerce and the high level of electronic payment by individuals. Previously, shopping in a store and paying in cash was a common method of commerce that today, shopping through the Internet and relying on electronic payment cards has become a distinctive feature of this era in a way that is -and radically -the behavior of consumers around the world.

The Shift towards E-Payment Methods
One of the important drivers that contributed to the spread of the concept of payment through the Internet was coupled with electronic commerce, which has evolved and has become opportunities for consumers to obtain their needs without the need to move from one place to another and therefore only content with sitting at home and requesting services, goods and goods until Threshold of their house through electronic payment and the use of various bank payment cards (Dakduk et al, 2017).
This tendency towards relying on electronic payment has become an advantage of development and openness, and avoiding cash payment, as there is no need for direct dealing with currencies as long as there is an approved electronic payment method that meets the purpose, and this was in the normal state of countries (Tankovic and Benazic, 2018). Although the World Health Organization confirmed that the emerging coronavirus is transmitted through coughing and sneezing spray, it stressed the ability to transmit it across surfaces and paper currencies which created a huge boost among individuals to deeply embrace e-shopping and e-payments methods as an approach to get all they need from goods and services with the privilege of not using paper money and expose themselves to the dangers of getting infected by the virus (Lin et al, 2018).

Frequency
It is evident from the various reports that sales in the markets of consumer goods and products (food commodities, beverages, refreshments, cosmetics, cleaning materials, etc.) have increased remarkably since the beginning of the year 2020 to mid-century due to the quarantine conditions that accompanied the pandemic, which forced many individuals to rush to the markets Because of the complete closures that various countries have exercised over their sectors (Lim, 2015). Calder et al (2016) stated that in the stage of partial openness, individuals have always avoided mixing and leaving by purchasing their most necessary supplies and relying on electronic payment methods without using regular money. So, this explains the changes in customer behavior during the pandemic to the decrease in the frequency of shopping and attributed to the quarantine and lockdown that was imposed by the government in the country.

Necessity
Lantos (2015) confirms that consumer behavior is greatly affected by the environmental conditions surrounding it, both inside the home, that within the entire country, as the consumer usually tends during exceptional circumstances to change the consumption pattern towards necessities more than luxuries as a way to regulate expenses and not reach the stage of inability to Securing basic requirements (Campbell and Frei, 2010).

Method of Payment
Data pointed out that the fears and dismay of the Corona pandemic led to changes in consumption patterns, as the restrictions imposed on citizens in last April 2020 and obliged the conditions of movement and shopping in a limited geographical area have prompted them to buy their needs from the Internet using electronic payment methods such as cards Credit, PayPal, and so on, which led to an increase in the sales of many stores that offer online shopping services during the first five months of 2020 by a very high rate (Jiang and Chen, 2016).This indicates that the surrounding environmental conditions will affect the behavior of the consumer and push him to reach his needs and desires through electronic payment and shopping methods as long as the service is present and available by the banks that are dealing with it, thus developing the hypothesis that supports the fact that during the pandemic citizens became more dependent on payment methods that doesn't require them to move from one place to another.

Price
Zhang et al (2017) Indicates that changes in the internal environment of consumers, whether in terms of prices, supply and demand, forced many individuals to change consumption patterns that they have been accustomed to for decades because of the unprecedented price hikes that their markets may witness, especially food, whether produced locally or imported. Consequently, this change in the market and the rise in prices may cause individuals to gradually liberate themselves from consumption habits that no longer fit their income and price increases (Vazifedoost et al, 2013). Also, the significant decline that markets may experience as a result of higher living standards in addition to fixed wages may force individuals to change their consumption habits and purchasing patterns (Lu et al, 2010). Öğüt and Onur Taş (2012) added that the changing consumer behavior of citizens is important, even if there is no rise in prices, because this is in the interest of the consumer in terms of controlling its expenditures and not wasting supplies and contributing to controlling the market through moderate demand.
From that point, we can say that changes in Jordanian customer behavior during COVID 19 pandemic was influenced by the prices which made them to make purchase decisions through e-payment portals and methods.

Availability of Product/Service
Steinhart et al (2013) argued that the availability of products and services plays a huge role in changing customer behavior. Authors argued that the availability of products online or through the website may trigger the purchase intention in a customer to make online purchase decisions that are supported by online payment methods.

Methods
Current study adopted quantitative approach in order to realize hypotheses presented before. A questionnaire was developed and appeared in two main sections; the first took into account demographics of study sample, while the other section of questionnaire consisted of statements related to variables of study in two main parts  in order to measure the difference of behavior during the two periods of times. Population of study consisted of all Jordanian consumers during the first half of 2020. A simple random sample of (580) individuals were exposed to the online version of the questionnaire which was uploaded on Google forms. After leaving the questionnaire for 7 weeks online, researcher found total of (500) questionnaires which were properly filled and ready to be exposed to statistical analysis with a response ratio of 86.2%.
Cronbach alpha is used to test the reliability of the scale, it is found that alpha= 0.967 reflects that the questionnaire is reliable since it is greater than accepted percent 0.60 (Sekaran & Bougie, 2016).  Table 1 above showed mean and standard deviation of sample characteristics according to demographics; it appeared through analysis that majority of sample responded to the questionnaire was males forming 52.6% of total sample with frequency 263 individuals which can be attributed to the fact that usually within the Jordanian culture it is the man who takes care of the household needs and necessities. On the other hand, and looking at the age of respondents, it appeared that majority of sample 51% were older than 51 years old compared to individuals within the age range of 18-28 years old forming 11.6% of total sample.

Demographics
When respondents were asked regarding the frequency of their behavior in depending on e-shopping to get their needs; results of study showed that 48% was the majority of sample respondents who depended on e-shopping to get their needs more than 4 times a month, this indicated that the culture of e-shopping and e-payment methods are known and accepted among the Jordanian culture. This was explained when results indicated that 43% of respondents had an income of more than $1001 compared to those who had an income of less than $500 forming 6.4% of total sample. As for education, it was seen that majority of sample responded to the questionnaire 39.6% had an MA degree compared to those who had a diploma forming 4.2% of total sample. Above table 2 presented mean and standard deviation of questionnaire statements as according to respondents' answers to Consumer Behavior (E-Shopping) Pre-COVID19 ; it was seen through analysis that all respondents had a positive attitude towards statements of questionnaire considering that all statements scored higher than mean of scale 3.00 and was seen to be statistically positive.

Questionnaire Analysis
As in the following table 3, it was also seen that respondents' attitude towards Consumer Behavior (E-Shopping) Pre-COVID19 appeared to be also positive given that all variables chosen in current study scored higher than mean of scale 3.00 which is statistically a positive result.  Valid N (listwise) 500 Above table 4 presented mean and standard deviation of questionnaire statements as according to respondents' answers to Consumer Behavior (E-Shopping) Post-COVID19 ; it was seen through analysis that all respondents had a positive attitude towards statements of questionnaire considering that all statements scored higher than mean of scale 3.00 and was seen to be statistically positive. However, in the following table 5, it was also seen that respondents' attitude towards Consumer Behavior (E-Shopping) Post-COVID19 appeared to be also positive given that all variables chosen in current study scored higher than mean of scale 3.00 which is statistically a positive result.

Hypotheses Testing
Previously set hypotheses of study were tested, following tables showed results of testing the hypotheses in accordance with study questions. .000 Paired sample t test is used to test above hypothesis, above table shows that the mean for each variable in the Post-COVID19 scale is greater than the mean for each variable in the Pre-COVID19 scale. Also, t value for each variable and the total variables is significant at 0.05 levels, that means:

H1: COVID 19 had an influence over customer behavior through increasing the tendency towards e-shopping
• COVID 19 had a positive influence over customer behavior through increasing the tendency towards e-shopping • COVID 19 had an influence over (Frequency) variable used as an indicator for customer behavior through increasing the tendency towards e-shopping • COVID 19 had an influence over (Necessity) variable used as an indicator for customer behavior through increasing the tendency towards e-shopping mas.ccsenet.org Modern Applied Science Vol. 14, No. 8; 2020 • COVID 19 had an influence over (Method of Payment) variable used as an indicator for customer behavior through increasing the tendency towards e-shopping • COVID 19 had an influence over (Price) variable used as an indicator for customer behavior through increasing the tendency towards e-shopping • COVID 19 had an influence over (Availability of Product / Service) variable used as an indicator for customer behavior through increasing the tendency towards e-shopping H2: Attitudes toward over Customer behavior (e-shopping) after the appearance of COVID19 are changed due to demographics of individuals  • There are statistical differences in the attitudes toward (Necessity and Price) variables due to Qualification and these differences tend to increase toward those who are holding diploma more than others, as shown in the following table:

Discussion
Examining the above tables; it was seen that both hypotheses of study were accepted and there appeared to be an influence of COVID19 pandemic on customer behavior towards adopting e-shopping. In examining results of testing the first hypothesis "H1: COVID 19 had an influence over customer behavior through increasing the tendency towards e-shopping" the following were asserted: • COVID 19 had a positive influence over customer behavior along with its adopted variables (Frequency, Necessity, Method of Payment, Price, and Availability of Product/Service) through increasing the tendency towards e-shopping In other words; results of study indicated that online shopping using a website or application has become an increasingly important base for many consumers in the country, interest in e-shopping for grocery and other basic needs reached its peak in April, before it receded during May, which was expected given the circumstances of the lockdown in many country especially Jordan which has chosen the option of total lockdown for all sectors except healthcare sector which were adopted to accept infected individuals in special medical circumstances.
As for the 2 nd hypothesis of study articulated "H2: Attitudes toward Customer behavior (e-shopping) after the appearance of COVID19 are changed due to demographics of individuals"; results also supported the fact that demographics played a role in asserting the change of customer behavior attributed to COVID19 pandemic. Results indicated that the change of customer behavior during the pandemic was attributed to demographic variables manly gender in which females appeared to be more influence and those who had a diploma in terms of educational level as a demographic variable.
Based on what was mentioned above, study questions were answered and the pandemic of COVID19 played a role in changing customer behavior towards accepting e-shopping and depending on it as a daily life choice. This can be explained as individuals live in a set of circumstances specially designed for new behaviors that they need in their emergency position after the Corona pandemic, so when the right time comes and the days return to their former times, they feels as if they was born again, the isolation may be lengthened or shortened, and it can be said that building the affected souls is one of the variables, unexpected or surprise is available or remains in the chain of normal shifts.
Results of study matched what came along with Gössling et al (2020) when they argued that the emerging corona virus changed the behavior of the consumer and its interests and largely determined commodities, corrected consumer concepts with its keenness to save and save, as far as possible from random expenses, crisis management, resorting to financial planning and spending, and many daily habits decreased through delivery applications and visiting restaurants. The acquisition of all new electronic devices and smart phones, especially as people suffer mainly from a craze for technology, but the majority have changed their programs and behaviors at the economic and social level.
Building on this new consumer behavior in the world during the Covid-19 pandemic, the study drew a change in consumption habits and its contents in the world that might lead to a change in consumer thought. Also, new consumption patterns may become long-term, that is, to continue in the post-pandemic era. This is consistent with what consumers in some countries refer to as they intend to adopt long-term behavioral changes to continue beyond the current situation which appeared to be rhyming with what Roggeveen and Sethuraman (2020) regarding the change in retailing business during the quarantine and lockdown that results from the spread of the pandemic.
In addition, the study demonstrated that new consumption patterns may affect the supply and demand network. For example, when consumers are accustomed to staying at home depending on online shopping, their lifestyles such as "eating at home" may provide more opportunities for the fresh food and grocery delivery industry. The vegetable and fruit markets, which used to be a major offline mode, may turn into an online mode, such as offering online sales and delivery services which came as according with a study by Penela et al (2010).

Conclusion and Recommendations
When dangerous indicators begin to appear within societies, they appear dangerous because they threaten the composition of the secure economic fabric, as well as sudden changes in the consumer composition and subjecting many behaviors to accountability and review, there is a very high possibility that touches the realization that many may face questions that they cannot answer, and provides options unaware of its consequences, leaving it without management and control, in light of the spread of the Corona pandemic that has befallen the world.
In fact, the immediate economic impact of the pandemic began to become clear, which contributed to setting a global emergency plan and technology setting goals, disclosing intentions, and activating precautionary and solidarity measures that will protect economies from potential harm and what the world can do about it, but rather about the whole matter.
In this regard, due to the convenience that consumption via the Internet provides while staying at home, and with the generalization and spread of technology and the development of smart phone applications, the digital and electronic aspect of retail business may be strengthened faster than previous expectations worldwide.
Based on the above; current study raises the following questions: -Will society's behavior change after the pandemic's demise, and will this behavior turn into an economic mind that measures things in numbers?
There is a need not to forget that the Corona pandemic has a major impact on the political, economic and social path, and this has contributed to educating people, which makes us believe that its mission is only to monitor the change of our consumer habits.
Based on above results, current study recommends the following: -Retailers and service providers need to adopt a new strategy based on two basic pillars: providing new and distinct value to the consumer and constantly increasing production capacity.
-Companies need to develop effective marketing strategies and enhance their presence in the e-commerce sector.
-The importance of personalizing the consumer experience to ensure successful results.
-Achieve outstanding value for consumers and enhance its ability to develop a strong e-commerce strategy