The new norm: going online / Norhidayah Ali ... [et al.]

The year 2020 has been marked with an unprecedented pandemic, known as COVID-19. This pandemic has far-reaching impacts on countries, economies, businesses, and societies. It has caused many private and public sectors to stumble, leading to severe threats to the macroeconomy as a whole. This pandemic has affected customers’ online behaviour as most retail outlets were compelled to close down temporarily, including in Malaysia. On 16 March 2020, the Prime Minister of Malaysia Muhyiddin Yassin declared a partial lockdown or also known as the Movement Control Order (MCO) across the country, effective from 18 March 2020. The early phases of the MCO implementation involved practising several standard operating procedures (SOP), including limiting only one person per family that could go out to buy necessities items and only essential private and public companies were allowed to open within certain business hours. Due to these restrictions, consumers turned to online transactions and purchasing activities.