Off the Madding Track : vimarsana.com

by Dulara Vithana, Bhanushi Perera and Kaushalya Kariyawasam
The term, ‘online’, pertains to the Internet. The ‘consumer’ is a person who buys things or enlists services. Therefore, the ‘online consumer’ can be defined as a person who engages in activities and achieves his goals through the use of internet and social media networks. With increasing globalization, humans are becoming busier and more dependent on the Internet. As a result, the number of people who used computers and the internet has increased exponentially, especially after the outbreak of COVID-19, which upended the world and caused almost all countries to be locked down partially or completely. Educational activities from primary to university students, various work-related day-to-day activities, bank transactions, etc., have come to be conducted online, causing an unprecedented increase in the number of online consumers.