Exploring the impact of socio-demographic characteristics, health concerns, and product type on home delivery rates and expenditures during a strict COVID-19 lockdown period: A case study from Portland, OR

E-commerce volumes and home deliveries have experienced steady growth in the last two decades. Strict COVID-19 lockdowns made home delivery an essential service and a lifeline for many households that, for travel restrictions or health concerns, were not able to utilize traditional shopping methods. This research studies the impact of socio-demographic variables and e-commerce attitudes on household deliveries for seven product categories (groceries, meals, electronics, household and office goods, recreational items, and fashion, beauty and personal care products, and medicine/health-related products) during the lockdown period in the greater Portland metropolitan region. To understand these impacts, exploratory factor analysis and choice models with latent variables are estimated utilizing data collected from an online survey representing the population in the greater Portland metropolitan region. The results indicate that each factor has a unique profile in terms of significant socio-demographic variables. A novel contribution of this research is to study the impact on home deliveries of non-traditional variables like health and safety concerns and the presence of household members with disabilities during a pandemic. The results show that health concerns are very influential and that there are substantial differences across factors on delivery rate and expenditure levels. Key findings and perspectives regarding future delivery rates and implications for transportation agencies and logistics companies are discussed.