Background of the Study

"Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2)," a newly

discovered novel coronavirus, produced a highly contagious sickness

known as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The virus was originally

discovered in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, and has since spread

across the globe in less than three months, with the World Health

Organization (WHO) declaring a global pandemic on March 11, 2020. So

far, the ongoing pandemic has wreaked havoc on the world's wealthiest

nations, and it is also posing a serious threat to low- and middle-income

countries (Lone and Ahmad, 2020)

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, as well as the accompanying

preventative measures (such as "stay at home"), which were implemented

in Germany in March 2020, resulted in significant societal and economic

constraints, as well as a massive increase in digitalization. Because of the

required reduction in face-to-face contact, the usage of digital media in the

economy and society has skyrocketed. The focus of this article is on online

grocery retail (e-grocery) and its economic and spatial expansion. Because

of shifting socio-political settings, crises can both create and propel

innovations and their diffusion (Archibugi, 2017). After the use of social

distancing in the efforts to control the spread of the coronavirus epidemic in

Indonesia, electronic commercial (e-commerce) transactions have seen a

rapid development (Covid-19). Initially, people's interest in shopping online

was sparked by the need to purchase masks and hand sanitizers to protect

themselves from the sickness. Then there was a surge in demand for

stationery (due to the growing tendency of working and studying from

home) as well as medical equipment. However, there have been numerous

instances where clients have suffered losses as a result of the utilization of

this form of commercial transaction. There are legislative safeguards in

place for electronic transactions (Matompo, 2020).

In the Philippines, to accommodate the increased demands of people who

are confined in their home, the COVID-19 epidemic has transformed the

retail environment from brick and mortar to online order processing and

linking to last-mile logistics suppliers. E-commerce is the process of buying

and selling goods and services through the internet using numerous

methods (EC). E-commerce refers to the sale of goods and services

through the internet using a variety of methods (EC). According to Castro

(2019) and Magkilat (2020), EC activities are expected to contribute for half

of the country's economy by 2022 (Limon, 2021)

Many elementary and secondary public teachers in Davao del Sur have

been caught purchasing online. With so many different online stores, it's
crucial to determine if the brand value established by these stores adds to

online shopping satisfaction, as this can give shoppers the confidence to

shop. Several studies have already discovered linkages between brand

equity and customer satisfaction in offline businesses that only focused on

tangible brands. The purpose of this study was to fill a gap in the literature

about the impact of customer-based brand equity on customer satisfaction

in an online environment (Balderaz and Campos, 2020).