E-commerce Boom Research Articles

Assessing the role of information technology in promoting environmental sustainability and preventing crime in E-commerce

AbstractThe rise of e-commerce necessitates sustainable practices for a greener future. While the e-commerce boom offers immense economic opportunities, minimizing its environmental impact and upholding ethical business conduct are essential. Current research on e-commerce heavily focuses on information technology (IT) for understanding and improving consumer acceptance. However, a critical gap exists in exploring IT's potential contributions to sustainability, crime prevention, and environmental safety. This study bridges this gap by exploring the role of IT integration in managerial practices to enhance environmental protection, crime prevention, and foster sustainability within Bangladesh's booming e-commerce sector. Focusing on e-commerce managers' perspectives, the research examines effective leadership strategies for IT implementation. Additionally, it utilizes the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to analyze the relationships between user perception and its impact on e-commerce performance. Using a structured questionnaire, we collected the data from 418 e-commerce managers. The research design incorporates a robust framework, hypothesis formulation, and methodological rigor grounded in TAM principles. The findings reveal a significant positive contribution of IT to environmental protection, crime prevention, and overall sustainability within the e-commerce sector. Managers' perceptions highlight that effective IT utilization ensures environmental safety, safeguards data against criminal activity, and promotes organizational sustainability. Furthermore, this research provides a roadmap for e-commerce businesses to accelerate their sustainability efforts. It also equips academics with valuable insights to advance knowledge on building a secure and sustainable future in the digital age.

Electronic commerce for development: a conceptual analysis and future research agenda for Africa

ABSTRACT Despite the e-commerce boom worldwide, Africa ranks last on all indicators of e-commerce readiness, indicating that it is not sufficiently benefiting from this practice's economic, social, and human development potential. This paper explores the role of research in promoting knowledge on how e-commerce can contribute to Africa’s development. It uses Jakubik’s knowledge creation theory and the scientometric perspective of knowledge diffusion to identify six main conceptual themes that characterize knowledge creation and diffusion through research on e-commerce in Africa using four different science mapping methods. Results show that knowledge created and disseminated through academic research on e-commerce in Africa is not adapted to what practitioners and policymakers need to better understand how e-commerce can promote development in Africa. We discuss six main points regarding this issue and propose recommendations for addressing them in future research.

Revolutionizing Talent Acquisition in Indonesia's E-Commerce Industry: The Transformative Impact of AI and Machine Learning

This research explores the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) on talent acquisition within Indonesia's growing e-commerce sector. While acknowledging the transformative potential of these technologies, the study uncovers significant challenges in their integration into existing talent acquisition processes. These challenges include issues related to data quality, model accuracy, and system adaptability. The study emphasizes the difficulty of acquiring talent with expertise in AI and ML, given the increasing demand for skilled workers in the e-commerce boom. It explores strategies employed by companies to address this talent gap, such as upskilling existing staff and seeking external expertise. The research provides a nuanced understanding of AI and ML applications in the Indonesian e-commerce landscape, highlighting both benefits and obstacles. The insights derived from the study aim to offer actionable guidance for e-commerce firms, HR professionals, and researchers navigating the evolving landscape of AI, ML, and talent acquisition in Indonesia's digital marketplace.

Integrating mobile parcel lockers into last-mile delivery networks: an operational design for home delivery, stationary, and mobile parcel lockers

PurposeThe e-commerce boom presents new challenges for last-mile delivery (LMD), which may be mitigated by new delivery technologies. This paper evaluates the impact of mobile parcel lockers (MPL) on costs and CO2 equivalent (CO2e) emissions in existing LMD networks, which include home delivery and shipments to stationary parcel lockers.Design/methodology/approachTo describe customers’ preferences, we design a multinomial logit model based on recipients’ travel distance to pick-up locations and availability at home. Based on route cost estimation, we define the operating costs for MPLs. We devise a mathematical model with binary decision variables to optimize the location of MPLs.Findings Our study demonstrates that integrating MPLs leads to additional cost savings of 8.7% and extra CO2e emissions savings of up to 5.4%. Our analysis of several regional clusters suggests that MPLs yield benefits in highly populous cities but may result in additional emissions in more rural areas where recipients drive longer distances to pick-ups.Originality/valueThis paper designs a suitable operating model for MPLs and demonstrates environmental and economic savings. Moreover, it adds recipients’ availability at home to receive parcels improving the accuracy of stochastic demand. In addition, MPLs are evaluated in the context of several regional clusters ranging from large cities to rural areas. Thus, we provide managerial guidance to logistics service providers how and where to deploy MPLs.

Analyzing the Relationship between Online Purchasing Behavior and Levels of Educational Attainment in the Slovak Republic

Objective - The global surge in internet purchases drives economic growth and contributes significantly to developed countries' improved living standards. Methodology/Technique - This unprecedented e-commerce boom, facilitated by the convenience of round-the-clock online shopping, has reshaped consumer behavior. Within this landscape, educational level emerges as a prominent demographic determinant influencing online purchasing patterns. The Slovak Republic has experienced an upward trajectory in internet purchases across various educational segments, highlighting a growing preference for online shopping experiences. Findings – However, it is important to note that a discernible gap in online shopping behavior persists between these educational strata. Moreover, Slovakia's achievement of its convergence goal, aligning with the European Union's admission average, underscores its commitment to growth and development. This accomplishment highlights the nation's progress and reflects the pivotal role of e-commerce in shaping economic trajectories. Novelty - We analyze the trend of online shopping in Slovakia compared to the EU 27 average and top-performing countries, finding that Slovakia exhibits a steeper trend, especially among highly educated individuals. In an era where online interactions and transactions have become integral to daily life, the nexus between educational attainment, online purchasing behavior, and economic advancement demands continued research and analysis. Type of Paper: Empirical JEL Classification: M32, D12, L81 Keywords: E-commerce, Education level, Slovak Republic, Internet purchases, Convergence Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Fedorko, R; Kizák, M; Župina, D. (2024). Analyzing the Relationship between Online Purchasing Behavior and Levels of Educational Attainment in the Slovak Republic, J. Mgt. Mkt. Review, 9(1), 35 – 48. https://doi.org/10.35609/jmmr.2024.9.1(4)

Small Business Boom in Ecommerce: an in-depth Research Exploration

This research explores the transformative impact of e-commerce on small businesses, particularly in the context of their adoption of electronic marketing tools. Focusing on the rise of small businesses in the booming e-commerce landscape, the study delves into the challenges and opportunities faced by these enterprises, especially during and post-COVID. The investigation underscores the essential role of digital platforms, such as social media, in reshaping the global business environment. Emphasizing the importance of building trust and delivering value through customer-friendly websites, the paper also addresses key issues like cybersecurity, customer experience, and distinct value propositions. Through a mixed-methods approach, including surveys and literature reviews, the study provides insights into the strategies adopted by small businesses in embracing e-commerce, revealing a significant shift towards digitization. The findings highlight the multifaceted benefits of e-commerce, positioning it as a vital catalyst for the success and sustainability of small businesses in the evolving digital landscape.

Small and medium-sized French cities facing contemporary challenges in commercial systems and consumption

In the context of significant changes in commerce and consumer practices, such as the e-commerce boom, discount development, increased household mobility, and consumption relocation, small and medium-sized towns are experiencing similar market structure evolutions to those of large conurbations. These changes include the shrinkage of shopping centres and the growth of peripheries and transit trade, which are accompanied by urban structure evolutions, such as peri-urbanization. This article aims to examine the reciprocal effects of urban development and commercial changes in small and medium-sized cities. It is based on French literature in the geography of commerce, as well as related disciplines such as sociology and urbanism. The objective of this article is to present the epistemological evolution of studies on the subject and current key research issues.

Advancing e-commerce user purchase prediction: Integration of time-series attention with event-based timestamp encoding and Graph Neural Network-Enhanced user profiling.

In recent years, the global e-commerce landscape has witnessed rapid growth, with sales reaching a new peak in the past year and expected to rise further in the coming years. Amid this e-commerce boom, accurately predicting user purchase behavior has become crucial for commercial success. We introduce a novel framework integrating three innovative approaches to enhance the prediction model's effectiveness. First, we integrate an event-based timestamp encoding within a time-series attention model, effectively capturing the dynamic and temporal aspects of user behavior. This aspect is often neglected in traditional user purchase prediction methods, leading to suboptimal accuracy. Second, we incorporate Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) to analyze user behavior. By modeling users and their actions as nodes and edges within a graph structure, we capture complex relationships and patterns in user behavior more effectively than current models, offering a nuanced and comprehensive analysis. Lastly, our framework transcends traditional learning strategies by implementing advanced meta-learning techniques. This enables the model to autonomously adjust learning parameters, including the learning rate, in response to new and evolving data environments, thereby significantly enhancing its adaptability and learning efficiency. Through extensive experiments on diverse real-world e-commerce datasets, our model demonstrates superior performance, particularly in accuracy and adaptability in large-scale data scenarios. This study not only overcomes the existing challenges in analyzing e-commerce user behavior but also sets a foundation for future exploration in this dynamic field. We believe our contributions provide significant insights and tools for e-commerce platforms to better understand and cater to their users, ultimately driving sales and improving user experiences.

Analyzing the Relationship between Online Purchasing Behavior and Levels of Educational Attainment in the Slovak Republic

The global surge in internet purchases not only drives economic growth but also contributes significantly to the improved living standards of developed countries. This unprecedented e-commerce boom, facilitated by the convenience of round-the-clock online shopping, has reshaped consumer behavior. Within this landscape, educational level emerges as a prominent demographic determinant influencing online purchasing patterns. The Slovak Republic has experienced an upward trajectory in internet purchases across various educational segments, highlighting a growing preference for online shopping experiences. However, it's important to note that a discernible gap in online shopping behavior persists between these educational strata. Moreover, Slovakia's successful achievement of its convergence goal, aligning with the European Union's admission-average, underscores its commitment to growth and development. This accomplishment not only highlights the nation's progress but also reflects the pivotal role of e-commerce in shaping economic trajectories. In an era where online interactions and transactions have become integral to daily life, the nexus between educational attainment, online purchasing behavior, and economic advancement demands continued research and analysis. Keywords: E-commerce, Education level, Slovak Republic, Internet purchases, Convergence

Scenarios to Improve E-Commerce SMEs Activity Based on Their Classification: A Case Study on Romania

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, society has increasingly relied on alternative ways to procure goods, leading to an e-commerce boom. This study analyzes the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that are active in e-commerce in Romania and provides recommendations for entrepreneurs to improve their efficiency. Through unsupervised learning techniques, three classes are identified according to company performance: (1) a class of high-performing companies whose entrepreneurs took the risk of investing in the business, (2) a class of medium-performing companies that maintained their position in the market and (3) a class of financially weak companies whose managers adopted risk-averse, defensive policies. Furthermore, we present scenarios for moving companies from a lower-performing class to a higher-performing class. The research identifies the strategies that managers need to adopt in order to stimulate the activity of e-commerce companies, provides foreign investors a rubric for making investment decisions, and offers a starting point for an entrepreneurship course in academia.

E-commerce Boom and its Effects on European Supply Chain Networks

E-commerce Boom and its Effects on European Supply Chain Networks

IMPACT OF E – COMMERCE ON THE STORAGE OPERATIONS OF AIR CARGO

Like wildfire, the e-commerce boom has spread to virtually every industry. The impact of this new digital commerce model on the air cargo sector is far-reaching and complex. By understanding how e-commerce affects the business operations of traditional air cargo companies, we can better prepare for its future development. Storage occupies a central role in any Supply Chain. The primary purpose of storage activity is to act as a buffer to adopt to the variability of the flow of production, consolidation of products and to add marginal value such as pricing, labelling or customization. Thus, in this research work the main aim of the researcher is to highlight the impact of E- commerce on Air cargo storage operations, followed by the opportunities and challenges associated with it. This study is based on the review of various literatures related to the topic of study. The study highlights that e commerce is changing the way people consume. The goal of increasing delivery speed while remaining cost effective poses significant new challenges for supply chains as they move on to satisfy the growing and fast-changing demand.

The development of Chinese air express integrators

Despite the significance of the China e-commerce economy and the rapidly increasing air express service, there are few publications on the development of Chinese integrators that are significant contributors to the e-commerce boom. This research explores the network development of China’s three integrators, namely, SF Express, TYO Express and China Post, and assesses the evolution of the networks during the pandemic period with the assistance of the complex network theory. It has been found that their networks underwent great development one year after the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. Their domestic networks are compared with the networks of the world-class integrators in the EU. It appears that the Chinese integrators operate networks with both hub-and-spoke and point-to-point features at their principal hubs (Hangzhou and Shenzhen of SF express, and Nanjing of China Post). SF Express' network in the Chinese domestic market demonstrates different topological features from the ones of its Chinese counterparts and the foreign integrators in Europe, with fewer one-way flights and at a higher density.

The COVID-19 state sales tax windfall.

Policymakers were surprised to find increases in sales tax revenues in 2020 due to expectations that they would drop 8-20%. We investigate this puzzle and provide novel insights into consumption taxes based on this experience. Using a case study from the State of Utah, we document that shifts in the structure of consumption played a significant role in the robustness of sales tax revenue. Two factors stand out in our results. The first factor is the structure of the tax base for sales taxes in the USA. This tax base covers only a subset of personal consumption, excluding, for example, many services. During the pandemic, when services were restricted or shut down, this caused a shift in spending toward goods that are more likely to be in the sales tax base. The second factor is the boom in e-commerce during the pandemic, which boosted sales tax collections. This was catalyzed by recent legal changes that made the collection of sales taxes in e-commerce easier. Interestingly, this e-commerce boost also shifted the point of sale and related sales tax revenues away from urban areas toward suburban areas. Our case study of the pandemic's effect on sales taxes in the USA generally, and Utah's experience specifically, provides lessons for consumption taxes, such as the VAT more broadly, and lessons on the role of consumption taxes for tax revenue volatility.

E-commerce warehousing: An efficient scattered storage assignment algorithm with bulky locations

The problem of assembling a large number of heterogeneous time-critical customer orders from a wide range of products is one of the biggest challenges that E-commerce retailers are currently facing. Unlike the traditional warehouses that could hardly keep up with the surge in demands brought by the e-commerce boom, internet fulfillment warehouses (IFWs) are designed to suit such a fast-paced environment for handling sales and customer orders of online retailers, and scattered storage is one of the trending storage assignment strategies adopted by many of them. Under the scattered storage strategy, the newly arrived items are exploded into a bunch of small stocking lots and purposely scattered around the entire warehouse. Such an assignment strategy enhances the probability of always having a nearby location containing the requested item. Thus, it potentially shrinks the order fulfillment time. This paper presents a novel scattered storage assignment approach suited for IFWs operations. Compared with the existing literature, this assignment approach pays more attention to handling the inevitable quantity fluctuation of customer ordering patterns. The proposed problem is mathematically expressed as a MIP model, and a heuristic algorithm, consisting of a feasibility checking procedure and a two-stage item allocation procedure, is developed to generate a high-quality solution in a time-efficient manner. Numerical studies are then conducted to assess the computational performance of the proposed algorithm and to justify if the proposed model is efficacious and improves order-picking efficiency.

Transformation of last-mile delivery as a method of improving customer experience in the Russian Federation

Aim. The presented study aims to analyze transformations that last-mile delivery has undergone during the years of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic in the Russian Federation, considering that, on the one hand, the final stage of delivery is considered the most problematic part of the delivery process, and on the other — the last mile is often a factor determining the customer’s choice and satisfaction when interacting with the company.Tasks. The authors identify problems that companies face due to changes in customer behavior and experience; search for possible solutions to these problems; analyze how satisfaction with the quality of last-mile delivery affects the customer’s decision to order goods from a particular supplier.Methods. This study uses the method of descriptive literature review, as well as methods of analysis, synthesis, comparison, and generalization.Results. Today, customer experience is as important an element of brand perception as product offering. Customers constantly seek more personalized, convenient, and secure ways to receive delivery services. Research shows that many buyers consider efficient and fast delivery a priority when making a purchase, not the price of goods. The increasing customer demand for quality of service and the boom in e-commerce have led to the development of new last-mile delivery methods that optimize the quality of customer service and contribute to building a strong relationship between the customer and the brand.Conclusions. Improving the quality of customer service through last-mile logistics can be a powerful tool in the competition, as delivery often turns out to be a key factor influencing the consumer’s purchase decision. The result of this study is the formation of an idea about the possible future development and prospects of last-mile delivery.

Analysis and Prediction of Online Beer Sales Based on SARIMA Model

With the boom of e-commerce in China, online shopping has become the mainstream way of shopping in Chinese. To explore the impact of online shopping on beer sales, this paper uses a time series SARIMA model to analyze online beer sales data from January 2020 to September 2022 obtained from Internet platforms and predicts online beer sales from October 2022 to September 2023. This paper first introduces the current research on beer sales in China, and then briefly analyzes the current situation of the beer industry. Thirdly, based on the real data of beer online sales on the Internet platform, SARIMA model is used to forecast the sales volume of next year. The result shows that beer online sales are expected to show an upward trend, with the industry being the most competitive in June 2023, and a small sales peak both in November 2022 and January 2023 due to the e-commerce carnival. Therefore, beer online sales are significantly affected by seasonality and platform promotions.

Online Business: The Growing Share of E-Commerce and New Opportunities for Indian Business

With the exponential expansion of e-commerce, especially in India, business has changed dramatically. The rise of internet commerce has changed retail paradigms and offered Indian enterprises new and exciting opportunities. This move towards e-commerce has been hastened by internet access, smartphone use, and customer convenience-seeking. Indian e-commerce has opened several doors for enterprises in numerous areas. SMEs may now access a global audience without geographical limits. Traditional entrance hurdles like finance and storefronts have been lowered, creating a more accessible business climate. This is especially beneficial in diversified India, where many goods and services may find specialised consumers online. The e-commerce boom has changed supply chain and logistics. Last-mile delivery networks and new warehouse solutions have made distribution quicker and more dependable, solving a longtime problem in India. Advanced analytics and artificial intelligence have improved client personalisation, allowing firms to adjust their offers to individual interests and increase customer happiness and retention. The Indian e-commerce business faces hurdles as it grows. Intense competitiveness, legislative complexity, and data security and privacy problems need careful thought. Innovation and compliance must be balanced for continued success in this changing world. Growing e-commerce transforms the Indian commercial environment. It's broken down boundaries, opened new paths for entrepreneurship, and changed how firms interact with customers. While problems exist, innovation and growth are huge. As Indian firms adapt and use e-commerce, the future is bright, interconnected, and full of opportunity for those ready to shift.

Optimal channel strategy of luxury brands in the presence of online marketplace and copycats

The strategic interaction between authentic luxury brands and their copycats has evolved since the proliferation of online marketplaces. Using a game-theoretic framework, we examine how an authentic luxury brand, observing the strategic behavior of its competing copycats, should make its optimal entry decision to a third-party online marketplace. Our findings reveal that the authentic luxury brand does not sell on the online marketplace when either the quality or the physical resemblance of the copycat to the authentic luxury brand is high. This contributes to the related literature by offering an explanation for the increasing quality of copycats amid the e-commerce boom —improving the quality of the copycat can deter the authentic luxury brand from selling on the online marketplace. Furthermore, by comparing our equilibrium outcome with the benchmark case where the authentic luxury brand does not consider selling on the online marketplace at all, we show that the authentic luxury brand’s potential entry to the online marketplace is sufficient to induce the copycat to improve its quality and lower its price, thereby improving the aggregate consumer surplus. In addition, the online marketplace can always be better off allowing the entry of the copycat if there is no external enforcement against copycats. We show that our key results are valid in various extensions and they offer multiple managerial implications.

Factors Influencing E-Retailer Choice of Courier Service Provider: A Conceptual Paper

The booming of e-commerce has encouraged the e-retailer to consider courier service quality as an important characteristic to gain a competitive advantage. As many studies in courier service quality focus on the perceptions of e-shoppers, studies exploring the perceptions of e-retailers are lacking. Thus, this conceptual paper attempts to fills in the gap by exploring the courier service quality from the perception of the e-retailer. A qualitative methodology has been adopted to collect the primary data from semi-structured interviews. The findings can be a reference to improve the existing theory on courier service quality. The new develop framework aiming to offer a holistic approach to increase the efficiency of courier service providers by segmentizing their market as well as the need in every phase of the parcel delivery process.