Back to Trend: COVID Effects on E-commerce in 47 Countries
We study E-commerce across 47 economies and 26 industries before, during, and after the
COVID-19 pandemic using online transaction data from Mastercard. The online share of total
credit card transactions surged during the pandemic, especially as governments made transfers to
households in lockdown. As the fiscal support and mobility restrictions waned, online shares went
back to pre-pandemic trends in almost all countries. We find little evidence of long-lasting
structural changes in E-commerce spending patterns.