This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-pandemic-was-supposed-to-push-all-shopping-online-it-didnt-11650081652

The Pandemic Was Supposed to Push All Shopping Online. It Didn’t.

E-commerce retailers that rode a surge of online purchases in 2020 are now grappling with the fact that some customers have returned to stores

Gabriel Zimmer for The Wall Street Journal

By Peter Rudegeair, Charity L. Scott and Sebastian Herrera

April 16, 2022 12:00 am ET

When millions of locked-down Americans went online during the Covid-19 pandemic, it looked like the possible start of a permanent shift in consumer behavior.

Just like working and watching movies at home, shopping at home was a faster, safer and easier alternative to trekking to an actual store. Companies like Amazon.com Inc., AMZN -3.42%decrease; red down pointing triangle PayPal Holdings Inc., PYPL -1.83%decrease; red down pointing triangle Shopify Inc. SHOP -4.62%decrease; red down pointing triangle and Wayfair Inc. W -7.41%decrease; red down pointing triangle and others notched record profits, as their stock prices hit all-time highs in 2020 or 2021.