Analysis of Digital Customer Communities in terms of their interactions during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has redefined procedures in every business sector. In the first half of 2020, companies had to face an unexpected and unpredictable situation that resulted in both threats and opportunities in real time. Almost overnight, brick-and-mortar establishments of most stores closed, and the dominant part of transactions and activities moved from offline to the online environment. The main goal of the paper is to identify changes in the interactions of digital customer communities of selected e-business representatives in the Czech market. Within a sample of almost one and a half million Facebook users, during the first spring COVID-19 lockdown (March to May 2020), the interactions of the five largest Czech e-shops and their customers were recorded on a daily basis. The data were then subjected to a thorough statistical analysis in order to identify the specifics that resulted from the highly non-standard market situation. The results suggest that during the pandemic, there was a major reallocation of interactions in terms of their timing. Most interactions take place during the working week. From a day-to-day perspective, most of the interactions occur at around noon. In view of the findings, it can be stated that in order to maintain the competitiveness resulting from efficient management of corporate resources, it will be necessary to modify the usual procedures of e-marketing communication, as well as human resources management procedures in terms of the optimization of work of employees working from home.

Innovations in the Management of E-Commerce: Analysis of Customer Interactions during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Through their online activities, companies can better stimulate sales and optimize processes, but mainly increase their competitive advantage over their online passive competitors [39][40][41]. Customers maximize their benefits by actively searching for products that best meet their needs [42,43]. Meeting these needs can be both quantitative and qualitative in nature.…”

“…At this point, we come directly to the essence of our research efforts over the last fifteen months [10][11][12]43]. We perceive the optimization of processes related to the effective timing of marketing activities of business entities in the context of our research into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on e-consumer behavior as key, as the constraints related to the attempts to slow down the pandemic in 2020 (in the form of sudden closure of economies) have caused significant changes in traditional patterns of consumer behavior.…”

“…As already mentioned in the introduction, these questions were partially addressed in previous studies [10][11][12]43], and certain limitations were identified that need to be removed. Seasonality and geographical specificity are the determinants that need to be considered when creating an empirical model of the pandemic effects on e-consumer behavior.…”

“…Using allocated resources, we proceeded to Phase 3, consisting of an in-depth statistical analysis of the identified relationships. The product of this analysis was the study [43], which suggested that, during the pandemic, there was a major reallocation of interactions in terms of their timing. Most interactions take place during the working week.…”

Perceptions of new online education models in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. A case study of the Bucharest University of Economic Studies

“…While online education has proven to be an effective method to continue the activities of educational facilities, the challenge now lies in the varied methods and levels of using technology to ensure a quality remote learning from the perspective of the learners as well (Duraku and Hohxa, 2020;Onea, 2020). Distance learning is a formal learning activity, which takes place when students and teachers are separated by geographic distance or by time, while learning is performed through communications technology such as television, videotape, computers, email, and mail (Appana, 2008;Pollák, et al, 2021).…”