Analyzing the Relationship between Fear of Covid-19 and Intention Toward Online Shopping in Turkey

Digitalization took a tremendous boom with the arrival of the pandemic. As a result of strict lockdown and people being isolated and the fear of getting transmitted influenced the consumer purchase intentions. Across the globe, citizens across the countries shifted to online mediums to shop. Based on this, the research aimed its focus to examine the impact of online mediums of shopping on the consumer purchase intention and the fear of COVID-19 among the Turkish citizens. The study determines how fear influenced the purchase intention of consumers in making purchases online. The study follows the quantitative research method, taking support of a Questionnaire-based survey and convenience sampling among 200 participants. The quantitative analysis revealed that Turkish citizens likewise citizens from other countries demonstrated online shopping behaviors and positive consumer purchase intentions due to the fear of COVID-19. Though Turkey has observed good growth in the ecommerce market previously, the arrival of the pandemic resulted in the boost of online channels and many retail businesses shifted to digital mediums. The customers tend to show positive intentions due to the ease of access as well as for safety reasons. However, the need to integrate and enhance the technology, delivery mediums and design of new marketing strategies that fits best with the online channel still remains an important part of online business to compel the buyers.