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Austynn Sherwood

Mrs. Cramer

College comp Pd. 4

11 March 2022

Gone Virtual

How has the pandemic changed your everyday life? Was it for better or for worse? When

all the stores were forced to close, when tons of jobs were lost, and life was put on hold, the

virtual world opened with new better opportunities for almost everyone. Covid 19 has changed

how we live our day-to-day lives, and our growing technology is going to make the adjustment a

little easier.one of the areas affected was shopping. The pandemic has caused plenty of positive

changes to traditional shopping habits by making it easier to shop, and being accessible 24/7, but

it has made a negative change with the big loss of jobs.

To start off, online shopping offers customers an easier and more efficient way to shop.

With online shopping, there is no longer a reason for people to leave their house to shop. Virtual

shopping has made shopping as easy as just opening an app on one's mobile device. This has

made everyday shopping easier and more accessible to everyone. For example, one source

claims department stores, malls and modern technology continue to make it easier for consumers

to access an increase in diverse range of goods from retailers (“shop”) According to Marcus

Alvarez. “The Covid 19 pandemic has forever changed the economy.” According to senior

criminology and sociology major, Ashley Vagnoni, “online shopping has become increasingly

popular. With the introduction of Amazon and various other popular sites, online shopping is

more convenient than regular shopping."(Alvarez). These sources show that the new developing
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technology and the push from the covid 19 pandemic sending everything virtual, have made

shopping easier for most people. There is no longer a need to leave home to shop for everyday

items.

Another positive change is that the Covid 19 pandemic has brought us with virtual

shopping habits is its better accessibility. Before the pandemic, most grocery stores and malls

closed at dusk. However, after the pandemic pushed everything virtual, the customers can now

have access to online shopping for most stores wherever they want and whenever they want.

Tahir explains an advantage of online shopping in the following quote. “The traditional stores

are mostly closed at night, but online shopping continues 24/7” (Tahir). Online shopping also

gives greater accessibility to customers. Avoidance of parking issues, long obnoxious lines and

crowded spaces are also reasons for customers to prefer online shopping.

Even though the pandemic has made an abundance of positive changes and made

shopping habits easier, there are still some negatives. The pandemic put a pause on our everyday

life. Most stores were forced to close, and plenty of jobs were lost. Although some stores were

able to go fully virtual a large number of stores could not and were forced to close; some were

closed permanently. The number of chain shop closures far outpaced the number of new

openings, meaning that overall numbers fell by 5,251, according to the Local Data Company, a

research firm. (Jolly). This means that even with all new businesses opening virtually or in person, there

are still a large number of businesses that have been forced to close and a large number of businesses that

have to stay closed. Because plenty of businesses have switched to online stores people stopped going to

the stores that were still open in person. According to Jolly, the logic of recent years flipped on its

head as commuters stayed at home, and city centers were left empty. City center shop (outlet
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shops or malls) numbers decreased by 4.3% during the year. Meaning that the closing of malls

and stores has caused an abundance of businesses to decrease in sales.

In conclusion, the Covid 19 pandemic has brought a wide variety of positive changes

when it comes to online shopping by making shopping more efficient, safer, and easier.

However, the pandemic has also brought us negative changes by the loss of many jobs. Over the

past three years people have adapted to the new lives we live due to Covid 19. The virtual world

has opened up and made adapting to the new crazy world we live in much easier. Online

shopping has made it possible to shop whenever and wherever you want, making it more

efficient and safer during the pandemic. However, because most stores are online and people can

shop right off their phone, the shops that could not go virtual are now losing business and some

are forced to shut down. So virtual shopping is the most efficient way to shop today.
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Work Cited

Alvarez, Marcus. "COVID-19 and the online shopping phenomenon." UWIRE Text, 4

Oct. 2021, p. 1. Gale Academic OneFile,

link.gale.com/apps/doc/A677869631/AONE?u=pl1949&sid=bookmark-

AONE&xid=182fda2b. Accessed 10 Dec. 2021.

Batat, Wided. "Getting Phygital with Consumers." Ivey Business Journal Reprints,

Mar.-Apr. 2021, pp. 2b+. Gale Academic OneFile,

link.gale.com/apps/doc/A671226420/AONE?u=pl1949&sid=bookmark-

AONE&xid=df268edb. Accessed 10 Dec. 2021.

"Digital.com Survey Reveals 1 in 4 Small Retailers Don't Have a Website Despite

Surge in Online Shopping." PR Newswire, 9 Aug. 2021, p. NA. Gale Academic

OneFile,

link.gale.com/apps/doc/A671228132/AONE?u=pl1949&sid=bookmark-

AONE&xid=8b5195a2. Accessed 10 Dec. 2021.

"More than 8,700 chain stores have closed in 2021, analysis shows; Pandemic and

shift to online shopping has hit demand for high-street shops, with fashion

stores the worst affected." Guardian [London, England], 5 Sept. 2021, p. NA.

Gale Academic OneFile,

link.gale.com/apps/doc/A676302413/AONE?u=pl1949&sid=bookmark-

AONE&xid=8a6632a3. Accessed 10 Dec. 2021.

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"ONLINE OPTIONS; Changing consumer shopping preferences spark factory digital

retail programs." Automotive News, vol. 96, no. 7004, 20 Sept. 2021, p. S010.

Gale Academic OneFile,

link.gale.com/apps/doc/A676564279/AONE?u=pl1949&sid=bookmark-

AONE&xid=159df680. Accessed 10 Dec. 2021.

"Online Review and Customer Purchase Intention in Social E-Commerce Context;

Role of Trust as a Mediator and Source Credibility as Moderator." Jinnah

Business Review, vol. 9, no. 1, 30 June 2021, p. 25. Gale Academic OneFile,

link.gale.com/apps/doc/A681734550/AONE?u=pl1949&sid=bookmark-

AONE&xid=d66000d9. Accessed 10 Dec. 2021.

"Shop 'til you drop... your phone: Tensions between consumer convenience and

sustainable business practices are reshaping our shopping habits." The

Chronicle of Higher Education, vol. 68, no. 1, 3 Sept. 2021, pp. 28+. Gale

Academic OneFile,

link.gale.com/apps/doc/A682131099/AONE?u=pl1949&sid=bookmark-

AONE&xid=1be41bb0. Accessed 10 Dec. 2021.

"Shopping behaviors become permanent." Chain Drug Review, vol. 43, no. 7, 26 Apr.

2021, p. 55. Gale Academic OneFile,

link.gale.com/apps/doc/A661255826/AONE?u=pl1949&sid=bookmark-

AONE&xid=6fcf6224. Accessed 10 Dec. 2021.

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