Abstract:

The paper deals with the examination of the fact, whether the e-commerce sector in Slovakia is a suitable target for investors. In more detail, it focuses on finding out the habits of customers behavior when shopping online, to assess whether something has changed in this area as a result of the COVID19 pandemic, as well as on estimated use of e-commerce in the future. The research was carried out in 3 stages: analysis of scientific and professional literature with a focus on investing in e-commerce, formulation of research assumptions and hypothesis, and creation of a research model, statistical verification of hypotheses and formulation of conclusions. The paper used standard methods of scientific work, such as analysis, synthesis, and comparison. The main method was a questionnaire survey on a sample of 646 respondents, who were randomly selected citizens living in Slovakia, older than 18 years. The hypotheses were verified by statistical methods and coefficients suitable for measuring the relationships between nominal or dichotomic variables, namely: chi-square and Cramer´s V, and linear regression was used for the variables measured by the Likert scale.

The analysis of the literature showed the consensus of the authors, that innovations (including e-commerce) are promising for investing.  The COVID19 pandemic also contributed to the attractiveness of e-commerce and accelerated the transfer of human activities to the online environment. The results of research in Slovakia documented a sharp increase in e-commerce. Our survey confirmed the increase in the use of e-commerce in Slovakia due to the COVID19 pandemic, as well as the estimated increased use of e-commerce in the future, which is in line with global trends.