Discussion paper

DP19004 E-commerce during Covid in Spain: One “Click” does not fit All

The share of e-commerce in total credit-card spending boomed during Covid in Spain. In particular, women, youth, and urban consumers used e-commerce proportionally more during the pandemic, especially for services. Using a unique proprietary dataset on credit card transactions, we test conjectures about consumers’ behavior (based on fear, hoarding, or learning) during Covid. Overall, e-commerce share reverted to its pre-Covid trend as the pandemic waned. However, some consumers with lower pre-Covid e-commerce usage tend to permanently use more e-commerce, supporting the conjecture of “learning by locking” for these individuals.

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Citation

Mishra, P, A Ortiz, T Rodrigo, A Spilimbergo and S Vazquez (2024), ‘DP19004 E-commerce during Covid in Spain: One “Click” does not fit All ‘, CEPR Discussion Paper No. 19004. CEPR Press, Paris & London. https://cepr.org/publications/dp19004