Abstract
Spanish agri-food producers, particularly organic producers, have faced commercial problems for years. Websites are able to combine informative, relational and transactional functions. This ability makes them attractive sales channels in sectors such as the organic agri-food sector, which has traditionally had major commercial shortcomings in these three areas. This study is built on this premise. The study explored whether organic agri-food producers and conventional producers differ in terms of their use of websites as a sales channel and their degree of interaction with users. The extended model of Internet commerce adoption (eMICA) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) were used. Other statistical techniques were also used. The fieldwork began with a sample of 998 producers (239 organic and 759 conventional). The results reveal differences between organic and conventional olive oil producers regarding website adoption and use. In terms of attracting website visits, the results also reveal the relevance of being an organic producer and having a capitalist or cooperative company structure.
Highlights
The relentless advance of technology and its spread throughout society in recent decades has promoted online transactions and made the Internet a powerful competitive weapon (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010) in domestic and international markets
The aim of this study was to test whether organic agri-food producers and conventional producers differ in two key areas related to online business activity: the extent to which they exploit websites as a sales channel and the level of interaction with users
The results suggest that organisations with certified organic status are aware of the importance of websites for their business
Summary
The relentless advance of technology and its spread throughout society in recent decades has promoted online transactions and made the Internet a powerful competitive weapon (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010) in domestic and international markets. According to Internet World Stats (2018), more than 55% of the world’s population had access to the Internet in 2017. The potential of the online market has not gone unnoticed by firms. In the EU28, the percentage of firms that sold their goods or services online increased by 5 percentage points between 2010 and 2017. One in five European firms sold their goods or services online in 2017 (Eurostat, 2018).
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