# The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Perception of Globalization and Consumer Behavior
## 4 Research Findings and Discussion
Increasing expectations regarding e-commerce and higher levels of ICT skills do not only concern younger consumer groups. The report indicates that \"consumers of all ages are keen for this [trend] to continue\" [15]. Moreover, The pandemic also contributed to the expectations regarding the very high quality of services, including their technology-related aspects, and to changes in the purchasing preferences of a part of the society and the choice of the Internet sales channel in times of post-pandemic reality. The number and value of transactions has increased. There is also a growing group of customers who prefer to buy exclusively online, and the sudden onset of the COVID-19 disease has moved some of the previously held stationary commerce to the Internet. In March and April 2020, there was a jump in sales dynamics in each group of goods [27]. According to _E-commerce in the Times of COVID-19_, \"for individuals, e-commerce enables physical distancing while retaining access to the full product variety\". Before the pandemic, for many consumer groups, e-commerce \"was centred on high tech goods, toys or books\". At the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, it \"increasingly involves goods for which availability is critical to a large share of the population, including groceries, medicine and other necessities\" [28]. Furthermore, the shift related to the type of goods purchased on the Internet may result from the fact that the pandemic adversely affected the financial/material situations of consumers. Interestingly, as the KPMG report also indicates, \"consumers increasingly purchase from organizations they trust, at a time where trust is becoming more complex to build.\" The first aspect, trust, which is particularly significant for consumers, is related to whether companies will continue to put consumer needs first. The second is connected with the sense of security, i.e., related to consumers' confidence that they will be safe dealing with the enterprises as well as the trust that their data will be secure and protected. Additionally, \"younger respondents in particular are concerned about the environmental and social practices of a company\" [45]. As Post-Nord Report E-Commerce in Europe 2020 indicates, the current crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic shows \"the importance of sustainable business practice\" [28]. [PERSON] and [PERSON] stress that consumers' relationships with a company or a brand, as well as their engagement in the production or knowledge sharing process, are also increasingly important for individuals who aspire to be prosumers rather than simply consumers of goods or services [46]. Considering the increasing tendency to resort to online shopping instead of visiting traditional brick-and-mortar shops, the next question posed in the survey was related to the frequency with which respondents shopped online before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Interestingly, before the pandemic, there were respondents who never shopped on the Internet. During the pandemic, all survey participants engaged in online shopping to a lesser or greater extent. The most common choice was shopping once a month. As many as 38.5% of the people surveyed indicated that they shopped online once a month before the COVID-19 pandemic, and 41.7% engaged in online purchases during the pandemic. The number of people who shop online clearly increased during the pandemic. The differences were as follows: making online purchases every few days recorded an increase from 7.3% before the pandemic to 19.8% during the pandemic; once a week online shopping rose from 21.9% to 29.2% since the outbreak of the COVID-19. The most significant change was observed less than once a month; that frequency fell from 29.2% to 9.4%. As can be noted, there is a slight increase in high frequency. There is a sharp fall in terms of the purchases made less than once a month.