Electronic commerce in Biblián – Ecuador. A comparative study pre and post-Covid

Abstract

E-commerce was on the rise before the outbreak of the disease, but its use was limited; however, the situation took a 180° turn when the pandemic transformed the ways of interacting and, therefore, of doing business. Local companies accelerated their transition to e-commerce during the pandemic in order to survive, consolidating its use after the pandemic. The research seeks to analyze the Pre- and Post-COVID state of e-commerce. The research was descriptive, performing an analysis of the central variable before and after the pandemic. The population consisted of businesses in different market sectors of the Biblián canton, specifying 614 stores that gathered a total of 10,680 consumers whose ages were between 20 and 65 years old. Field work was carried out involving the application of surveys designed for this purpose. The results indicate a consolidation of e-commerce with a mean of 3.85 and standard deviation of 0.7. The pandemic has accelerated the growth of e-commerce, transforming it into an essential part of commerce and benefiting both consumers and local businesses, thus contributing to the economic and social development of the region.