# The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Perception of Globalization and Consumer Behavior
## 2 Literature Review
Therefore, this study aims to investigate the emergence and shaping of consumer behavior before and during a significant period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Among the countries of this region, Poland has a well-developed IT infrastructure for e-commerce, banking and payment services that support them very well. It is also characterized by a high level of competence in terms of the use of social media, today accessed most frequently via mobile devices. Our research shows that the growth and frequency were only slightly greater during the pandemic than before it. This proves the sustainable and permanent nature of certain acquired behaviors (treated as habits) in the analyzed periods. On the other hand, at the moment of \"loosening\" the restrictions in some areas (e.g., shopping for food products), there was a withdrawal from digital behaviors and a return to visiting traditional brick-and-mortar shops and direct (face-to-face) interactions with other people in other analyses carried out by the authors (data removed for refereeing). Over the years, e-commerce has been gaining in value and popularity. The e-commerce sector is currently the fastest-growing retail segment. In 2015, the global market was worth approximately USD 1 trillion. The data for 2020 show that it exceeded USD 3 trillion, and the global e-commerce market is growing by 20% each subsequent year. However, the outbreak of the pandemic significantly accelerated the pace of development of the trend that could be observed over the last decades [27]. As was predicted in the Post-Nord Report, the growth of e-commerce globally in 2020 was significantly higher, \"especially in mature markets that have had the capacity to scale up their e-commerce in conjunction with increased demand during the coronavirus pandemic\" [28]. ICT research looks at the mechanism of the emergence of repetitive behaviors, that is, habits in the use of information and communication systems and their effects in various contexts. For instance, [PERSON] et al. [29] and [PERSON] et al. [20] introduce the issue of habits in the context of using information and communication systems and find various factors contributing to their formation. A very important aspect analyzed in this study is the process of globalization, understood as \"the convergence of income, media and technology, which in turn is expected to lead to homogeneous consumer behavior\" [30]. However, our research on globalization perceptions from the point of view of consumer behavior is conducted in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. As lockdowns became the new normal, businesses and consumers increasingly \"went digital,\" purchasing more goods and services online, increasing the share of global retail trade from 14% in 2019 to approximately 17% in 2020. Due to insufficient resources in most countries, frugality started to be seen as a response to prevent economic crises and financial struggles of households from spreading [31]. This trend is visible in consumers' choices of goods and services and their social behaviors. [PERSON] claims that over the last three decades, \"the world has become interconnected in a manner hardly witnessed before\" and \"the scale and speed of the interconnection have been remarkable\" [32]. The shift toward e-commerce has definitely contributed to this situation. Together with obtaining new levels of computer literacy, consumers started to increase both the frequency and value of their online purchases. They also started to use the new opportunities created by the rapid development of new ICT technologies. Consumers started to use the Internet for many intents and purposes such as: networking and developing relationships through social media, accessing the latest news, learning and gaining new knowledge or obtaining information, engaging in entertainment-related activities related to watching films, series and other types of digital content using streaming platforms, listening to music, playing online games, shopping for goods and services, remote work and contacts.