Author Bayad Jamal Ali
268
Introduction
Online shopping has revolutionized the marketing strategies of many sellers in recent
decades as consumers have grown accustomed to online purchasing and the door-step-
delivery of products from anywhere in the world (Bucko, Lukáš and Martina 2018;
Mohammad et al. 2018). With the eruption of COVID-19, this shift in buyer behavior has
greatly accelerated, prompting businesses to reach even their most loyal brick-and-mortar
consumers in the digital space. This massive challenge is unprecedented and has forced
organizations to formulate novel solutions to adapt to the new normal (Carnevale and Hatak
2020). Restrictive lockdown rules and social-distancing practices have severely disrupted
consumer behavior worldwide (Sheth 2020a). As a result, various types of businesses have
been forced to find new ways to reach homebound consumers and to re-penetrate their
markets. As consumers embrace new digital technologies in their sequestered lifestyles, their
daily routines and habits are transforming the space of online shopping (Bucko, Lukáš and
Martina 2018). In Iraq, companies have found it difficult to invest in the online-shopping
space, because, within its economy, Iraq has not succeeded in creating the large healthy
companies that can support the vast changes. Furthermore, Iraqi consumers have been hesitant
to invest. Many factors have contributed to this lack of consumer confidence, including
political instability, economic uncertainty, and a lack of transparency (Ali 2016). According
to Al-Najjar and Jawad (2016), e-commerce adoption in Iraq has faced many obstacles, such
as e-payment problems, lack of trust, the fragility of government regulations, the unreliability
of telecommunications, the limited availability of technology, and socio-cultural barriers.
Apart from these obstacles, given the appropriate infrastructure, e-commerce could increase
in Iraq. Jaffar Mazen and Karzan (2016) further examined the challenges of implementing e-
commerce in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, identifying several issues obstructing sector
growth, including a lack of infrastructure, the difficulty of using the Kurdish language in these
systems, deficiencies in online banking, instability of the political system, and the lack of
compatibility of these systems with the religious views of consumers.
Consequently, the use of credit cards in Iraq is minimal, with consumers mostly relying on
cash for their daily transactions. According to Ahmed (2020), banks and other financial
institutions have not been able to provide the services required for issuing credit cards; the
institutions lack the proper infrastructure. Regardless, consumers in Iraq’s Kurdistan region
have shown favorable inclinations toward the use of credit cards. However, their attitudes
toward online payment systems have not grown enough to meet the preconditions of online
shopping. Demir and Fakhir (2017) argued that, although online banking is nonexistent in
Iraq’s Kurdistan region, individuals under 35 years old remain enthusiastic about these
services, as opposed to the older generations. Furthermore, a study by Salman and Sahi (2017)
examined Iraqi buyer behavior toward e-shopping and observed an increase in demand,
This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3729323
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