At the beginning of the pandemic I definitely was doing more online shopping. But my wife and I have definitely shifted into the 'bunker down and be prepared' mentality. We're stashing cash and loading up on canned goods. We both have good reliable jobs, but between an unexpected tax bill and worry over how the COVID situation is being handled we're bracing for bad weather.
I'm the complete opposite, I've buying more things online than ever. I guess I'm buying things in order to make up for the fact that I can't go out and do things.
Thats how I was at the beginning. I'm an extrovert and my wife is an introvert. I think I was buying a bunch of stuff for time wasting projects (HD bird cam with live streaming from a RasPi, tons and tons of LEGO sets) to keep my mind off of being stuck at home. But as I've settled into this new normal (and not gonna lie, the tax bill helped) our spending has massively shrunk.
All the benefits of brick and mortar retail shopping basically disappear when you add all the friction and hassle of wearing masks, standing apart from people, avoiding contact, etc. The shopping experience of going to a mall, trying on clothes, etc or a chatting it up with a clerk at a video game store is not matched by ecommerce, but in the current situation, buying online saves even more trouble or time than it normally would. It's very unfortunate. I fear that so many businesses will never recover.
I don't think, I'll ever go back to the grocery store after using Prime now from last 4 months.
I was thinking to pick up some Amazon stocks yesterday but the stock seemed too expensive.