Consumer habits of fashion products before and during the pandemic COVID-19 with an emphasis on online shopping

The extraordinary circumstances brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic have posed significant challenges to existing business practices and led to significant market changes, both globally and locally. The fashion industry was no exception, experiencing an existential crisis as production came to a halt, retail stores were closed and demand drastically declined. However, the COVID-19 pandemic also provided an opportunity to examine how consumer behavior and fashion have evolved during these uncertain times and how the pandemic have transformed consumers' relationship with fashion products (FP). Therefore, the subject of this paper is consumer habits of FP purchasing both before and during the pandemic, regarding the frequency of purchase methods (physical store vs. online shopping via domestic and foreign websites, and social networks Instagram and Facebook) of FP (fashion clothing, fashion footwear and fashion accessories) based on specific consumer characteristics (age categories - consumer generations, gender and monthly income levels). This study aims to identify the most frequent consumer habits purchasing of FP in Serbia and compare their behavior during and before the pandemic. According to the main research findings, there is a significant difference in the responses of respondents from different consumer generations regarding the frequency of ordering FP in Serbia through domestic and foreign websites, social media platforms (Instagram and Facebook) and types of FP (clothing, footwear and fashion accessories) before and during the pandemic.