Study of the COVID-19’s Impact on the Online Customer Flow of Daily Commodities: A Big Data Approach

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has hit the brick-and-mortar business hard, but how would it affect the online business? The research group collected big data on the customer flow of 1,000 daily commodities for two weeks before and after the pandemic outbreak from Taobao online shopping platform. It was found that: the Covid-19 has caused a significant negative impact on the online customer inflow, and its overall growth rate decreased. The products related to personal care, gifts and business stationery experienced the most significant decline, while daily necessities maintained a relatively stable customer flow, with little or no decline. In contrast, the products related to pandemic-control exhibited substantial growth in both customer flow and page views. Accordingly, the research group believes that developing contactless logistics and contactless production, building a time-space separation balanced supply system for pandemic-control products, and promoting altruistic social spending are necessary countermeasures to restore the negative impacts of the pandemic on online business.