The Impact of E-Commerce and Ride Hailing on Emissions from Shopping-Related Transport: A Case Study of the Shopping Habits of University Students from Ningbo University

Abstract

To clarify the impact of new transport services on consumers’ shopping behaviors and shopping-related transport emissions, a back-propagation neural network shopping channel choice model is established to estimate the number of times that consumers engage in online and offline shopping. A brick-and-mortar store choice model and travel mode choice model are developed, and a method to measure the quality of life of consumers is established to evaluate the impact of new transport services on shopping behaviors and the corresponding shopping transport emissions. The findings reveal that a new passenger transport service increases the number of times that consumers shop in brick-and-mortar stores and correspondingly shopping transport emissions; a new commodity transport service reduces the number of times that consumers shop in brick-and-mortar stores and in turn shopping transport emissions. In a scenario with both new commodity services and new passenger transport services, although online shopping is convenient, consumers are still willing to pay travel expenses for offline shopping; in a scenario with the new commodity transport service but without the new passenger transport service, the emissions from shopping-related transport are the lowest.