Abstract

Humanity has been confronted with pandemics all throughout history, but the SARS- Cov-2 pandemic has highlighted a series of unprecedented changes in society. The emergence of a health crisis, such as a pandemic, can affect consumer behaviour significantly. This research focuses on the underlying effects of the SARS-Cov-2 pandemic on consumerism and online shopping in the Romanian society. Our main objectives were to examine the potential correlation between a change in consumer behaviour and the pandemic, and to determine what purchases were prioritised before and after the pandemic, predominantly in e-commerce. Our early findings suggest that Romanian people had a rational approach to shopping, by buying strictly essential products. Furthermore, they were preoccupied with their health, choosing to consume healthy products for fear of infection, and also to buy online more frequently due to necessity, comfort and available offers. Although this research is still in its early stages, it seems that Romanian consumers speculate that they will shop more online than before the SARS-Cov-2 pandemic.