**_Figure 3:_** _Share of shopping trips, by type of travel chain and main mode of travel (%)_

<!-- Start of picture text --> a. Bogota b. Buenos Aires<br>24% 24%<br>22% 22% 22.1%<br>20% 20%<br>18% 18%<br>16% 16.2% 16%<br>14% 14%<br>12% 12%<br>10% 10%<br>8% 8% 7.9%<br>5.7%<br>6% 5.6% 6%<br>4% 4%<br>2.8%<br>2% 2%<br>0% 0%<br>Non-motorized Public transport Private motorized Non-motorized Public transport Private motorized<br>Main trip mode Main mode<br>Round trips Chained trips Reduction potential Round trips Chained trips Reduction potential<br>Source: Team’s estimate based on EDM Bogota 2019 and ENMODO 2018<br>Percentage of shopping trips<br><!-- End of picture text -->

# **5. The impacts of the pandemic on e-commerce: Comparative results**

The demand for e-commerce during the pandemic grew in both cities. In Bogota, the share of residents using the Internet to purchase products rose from 18.9 percent to 22.1 percent between 2019 and 2021, according to the Quality of Life Survey conducted annually by DANE. The survey data show a drop in e-commerce adoption in 2020 to 14.7 percent, a result that contradicts the general statistics of e-commerce growth in Colombia. This discrepancy may be related to a higher purchase frequency without expanding the number of users, to methodological differences in accounting for e-commerce transactions or to response biases in the surveys, among others. In Buenos Aires, the pandemic accelerated the growth in the number of online consumers, which had shown signs of stagnation in previous years; 20 percent of Internet users bought online for the first time during the quarantine. This growth was particularly strong in 2020, probably due to the limitations to make physical purchases as a result of mobility restrictions, with clothing and footwear, technological products and food products being the most commonly purchased types of goods (UAI 2020). According to the “Future Shopper Report 2021", Argentina was the LAC country with the highest e-commerce growth. In Argentina overall, the share of users choosing home delivery rose from 65 percent in 2019 to 80 percent in 2020, and in AMBA specifically the convenience associated with home delivery of products was the most mentioned reason for making online purchases (UAI 2020).

The typical profile of the online buyer in both cities is of high income. In Bogota, this is consistent with the purchase order data which shows a higher demand in locations in the north of the city. This trend strengthened during the pandemic, as e-commerce adoption in lower strata has stagnated. Already in 2019, more than 50 percent of people with households associated with stratum 6 used the Internet to shop online, compared to 6.3 percent among people in stratum 1 and 10.7 percent among people in stratum 2. The share of people buying online fell in 2020 to 1.1 percent among people with households associated with stratum 1 and to 5.8 percent among people with households associated with stratum 2. This could have been due to a reduction in consumption among these strata as a consequence of the pandemic crisis. The trend of stagnation of e- commerce among the lower strata and growth among the middle and upper strata was consolidated in 2021.

In 2019-2021, the share of Bogotá residents using the Internet to _sell_ products rose from 1.3 percent to 3.5 percent. Although the adoption of this practice is still much lower than that of online shopping, its growth rate in the 2019-2021 period stands out, in which its adoption has practically tripled. The adoption of online product sales is also higher among the upper-middle socioeconomic strata, especially among strata 4 and 5. Unlike with online shopping, in this case the lower strata also registered growth in the adoption of product sales during 9