Food E-commerce Research Articles

Audit Risks and Countermeasures of Fresh Food E-commerce under the New Retail Model

Driven by the new retail model, the fresh food e-commerce field has witnessed rapid development, attracting numerous enterprises to rush in. However, as the market is gradually becoming saturated and the growth rate is slowing down, the competition among enterprises has become increasingly fierce, and the operating pressure has accordingly increased, which has, to some extent, raised the risk of fraud among fresh food e-commerce enterprises. Under the new retail model, certain changes have taken place in aspects such as the operating environment, business activities, and internal control of fresh food e-commerce, presenting characteristics like multi-channel sales and a large amount of structured and unstructured data. All of these pose certain challenges for auditing. This article analyzes the auditing risks that fresh food-e-commerce has under the new retail model and also discusses the corresponding auditing countermeasures. Because only when auditors have a clear understanding of these risks can they formulate appropriate strategies to deal with them. For example, in the face of complex business models and massive data, auditors need to master advanced auditing techniques and data analysis methods to identify potential risks accurately. Moreover, understanding the internal control changes in fresh food e-commerce enterprises is crucial for auditors to assess whether the existing control systems can effectively prevent and detect possible fraud behaviors, so as to ensure the authenticity and reliability of financial information and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of stakeholders.

Factors influencing young adults’ organic food purchase intention on fresh food e-commerce platforms

PurposeUnderstanding young adults’ organic food purchasing behavior in the fresh food e-commerce platforms (FFEP) is crucial for expanding the global environmental product market. The study aims to investigate how specific characteristics of platforms and organic food information impact young adults’ perceived value, leading to their subsequent purchase intention.Design/methodology/approachAround 535 valid responses were collected through an online survey and then analyzed applying a two-stage structural equation model (SEM) and artificial neural network (ANN) approach.FindingsResults of this research show that platform characteristics (including system quality and evaluation system) and product information characteristics (including organic label, ingredient information and traceability information) significantly affect young adults’ perceived utilitarian and hedonic value. The platform’s service quality has a strong effect on their perceptions of hedonic value, while the delivery system strongly influences their utilitarian value. Moreover, the perceived value, as a crucial mediator, plays a significant role in moderating the influence of platform and product information characteristics on the purchase intentions of young consumers regarding organic food.Originality/valuePrevious research has overlooked the credence attributes of organic food and particularities of online purchasing, focusing instead on general platform and product characteristics. This study addresses this gap by proposing a more appropriate model that integrates the characteristics of both the platform and product information. This offers theoretical and managerial implications for effectively stimulating organic food consumption among young adults in online environments.

Factors Influencing Young Adults’Organic Food Purchase Intention on Fresh Food E-Commerce Platform

Factors Influencing Young Adults’Organic Food Purchase Intention on Fresh Food E-Commerce Platform

The Role of Service Quality Attributes and Perceived Value in US Consumers’ Impulsive Buying Intentions for Fresh Food E-Commerce

The Role of Service Quality Attributes and Perceived Value in US Consumers’ Impulsive Buying Intentions for Fresh Food E-Commerce

Paws and Reflect: Assessing the Impact of User Reviews and Ratings on Pet Food E-commerce Purchase Decisions

The pet food industry in the Philippines is thriving as the leading country in Southeast Asia in pet ownership. This study explores this growing sector and its e-commerce landscape, anchored in Rotter’s Expectancy-Value Theory. It uses a quantitative design to examine how online user reviews and ratings influence Filipino pet owners' expectancy & value as the independent variables, motivation with purchase decisions as the dependent variable, and celebrity endorsement as a moderating factor. The study also assesses the credibility and reliability of online reviews and employs Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) for analysis. The study’s results indicate that respondents highly value a product's attributes when making a purchase decision. While product value significantly impacts purchase decisions, expectations about online reviews and ratings do not influence buying motivation. Celebrity endorsements, however, do affect motivation. This study suggests that marketers and pet food retailers should focus on enhancing the quality of user reviews and ratings, engaging with industry experts, and improving customer interactions to foster credibility, trust, and informed purchasing.

Research on the joint event extraction method orientates food live e-commerce

In the evolving landscape of food e-commerce live streaming, the profusion of textual data, marked by an excess of promotional vernacular and unstructured formats, presents a formidable challenge for event extraction. Addressing these hurdles, we introduce a tailored ontology-based method alongside FMLEE (Food Marketing Live Event Extraction), a joint event extraction algorithm. This approach simplifies the event identification process through meticulous segmentation and the development of an ontology comprising 5 event categories and 19 argument roles. By integrating context-aware embeddings derived from pre-trained language models and applying an adversarial learning tactic, our methodology not only bolsters the robustness of our model but also significantly refines its accuracy in discerning relevant events within the scarce-resource milieu of food live streaming promotions. The effectiveness of the FMLEE model is validated by its achievement of an F1 score of 73.05%, with the inclusion of adversarial learning contributing to a 2.61% enhancement in performance. This evidences our novel contribution to the domain, offering robust technical support for the optimal exploitation of information within the sphere of food live streaming promotions. Simultaneously, this aids in the investigation of innovative applications for consumer engagement within marketing strategies and the smart regulation of marketing activities.

Resource Scheduling Optimization of Fresh Food Delivery Porters Considering Ambient Temperature Variations

In the context of an evolving socio-economic landscape and rising living standards, the online market for fresh products, encompassing fruits, vegetables, meats, dairy, and eggs, has seen substantial growth, necessitating sophisticated logistics for e-commerce home delivery. This study tackles the distinct challenges of fresh product delivery, which demand rigorous adherence to climate conditions and product mix during transport, significantly influencing the operational strategies and scheduling of delivery platforms. To address these challenges, a comprehensive mathematical model was developed to optimize fresh food home delivery scheduling, focusing on reducing spoilage rates and accommodating the dynamic impact of environmental temperature changes. The model posits assumptions of a consistent and ample supply of fresh goods, standard initial quality loss, and efficient porter assignment for multi-category order combinations. It introduces three objective functions, targeting the minimization of fresh food loss, maximization of customer satisfaction, and reduction of distributor costs. The efficacy of the model and its genetic-algorithm-based solution method was assessed through numerical analysis and case studies, illustrating that the model enhances delivery efficiency and service quality across varying temperature conditions. This substantiates the critical role of environmental temperature management in optimizing fresh food delivery, offering a robust framework for advancing logistical operations in the perishable goods sector and ensuring quality and efficiency in fresh food e-commerce delivery.

Multi-Objective Last-Mile Vehicle Routing Problem for Fresh Food E-Commerce: A Sustainable Perspective

Last-mile logistics poses a pivotal challenge for the sustainable prosperity of fresh food e-commerce. However, there has been insufficient research attention towards optimizing the last-mile vehicle routing from three sustainable dimensions simultaneously based on triple-bottom-line. To narrow this gap, this paper proposes a multi-objective last-mile vehicle routing model for fresh food e-commerce, which takes the three sustainable dimensions as independent objectives. The economic and environment objectives are minimizing the total cost and carbon emission, respectively. For social dimension, a nonlinear function is proposed based on the Prospect theory, which quantifies customers’ satisfaction when they perceive delivery time. Then the social objective is described as maximizing customers’ satisfaction. Subsequently, the model is solved by the nondominated sorting genetic algorithm II and validated by a numerical experiment. Based on the experiment results, this paper recommends that logistics enterprises should prioritize the trade-off among the three sustainable dimensions.

Empirical Comparison of the Effects of Online and Offline Recommendation Duration on Purchasing Decisions: Case of Korea Food E-commerce Company

Empirical Comparison of the Effects of Online and Offline Recommendation Duration on Purchasing Decisions: Case of Korea Food E-commerce Company

Understanding Customer Opinion Change on Fresh Food E-Commerce Products and Services—Comparative Analysis before and during COVID-19 Pandemic

During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, non-face-to-face e-commerce has become a significant consumer channel for customers to buy fresh food. However, little is known about customer opinion changes in fresh food e-commerce (FFEC) products and services during COVID-19. This study investigated the changes in expectations and preferences of FFEC customers on products and services before and during the pandemic from online reviews through a text mining approach. We divided the pandemic into two phases, acute and recovery, and found that eight attributes affect customers’ opinions. Some logistic service-related attributes gained customer attention during the acute phase, but product-related attributes gained more attention in the recovery phase. Customers showed a great level of forgiveness on many attributes during the acute phase, but customers’ dissatisfaction was expressed during the recovery phase. Finally, the results of the comparative importance–performance analysis provide improvement strategies for FFEC and help optimize their resource allocation of FFEC and enhance sustainable operation capacity in the case of a crisis.

Research on Fresh Food E-Commerce Modes in China and Their Development Prospects in the United States and Canada

In the past two decades, the Internet has profoundly affected China's economic development and promoted the transformation of many industries into e-commerce. The fresh market, which is closely related to 1.4 billion people, has also displayed a variety of retail methods that are different from traditional offline shopping under the promotion of the Internet. This huge consumption market has prompted practitioners in the fresh industry to constantly make innovative attempts and changes in the company's operation and supply chain management, eventually giving birth to several new fresh food e-commerce modes. Based on the background of China's population and city scales, this research compares the differences in the early investment, project operation, and supply chain structure of different modes, analyzes the specific scenarios applicable to each mode and the impact of the COVID-19, and explains the development direction of China's fresh food e-commerce business market in the post-epidemic era. Meanwhile, the United States and Canada have vast fresh consumption markets, and the high internet penetration rate guarantees the development of e-commerce. Combined with the market environment and the shopping habits of consumers in the United States and Canada, this research explores the development prospects of fresh food e-commerce modes with Chinese characteristics in these two countries and puts forward the improvements needed to adapt to the market.

The factors influencing customer loyalty in fresh food e-commerce based on fuzzy sets of qualitative comparative analysis

The factors influencing customer loyalty in fresh food e-commerce based on fuzzy sets of qualitative comparative analysis

Quick commerce and the evolving business models of the food retail industry - Investigating the quick commerce supply chain and the urban impacts of dark stores

The transition to food e-commerce is made possible by the implementation of new technologies, by the arrival of new players, and by the development of new logistics capacities (dark stores and micro-hubs). The quick commerce sector marks an additional step in the development of instant deliveries, which now applies to the entire food and online shopping market. This research analyzes the organization of the quick commerce supply chain (organization based on logistics micro-hubs (dark stores), partnerships with large-scale distributors, third-party logistics operators, organization of the last mile) and also highlights the highly transport-intensive nature (in terms of vehicle movements and delivery flows) of dark stores.

Analysis of the Dilemma and Solutions Faced by the Development of Fresh Food E-Commerce

Analysis of the Dilemma and Solutions Faced by the Development of Fresh Food E-Commerce

Development of Cold Chain Logistics for China's Fresh E-commerce in Post-Epidemic Era

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic presented both unprecedented challenges and remarkable opportunities for China’s fresh food e-commerce industry. This dynamic landscape has underscored the critical importance of advancing cold chain logistics within this industry. Drawing upon established supply chain management theories, this paper identifies key areas for enhancement in the realm of cold chain logistics for fresh e-commerce. Through a comprehensive review of existing literature and current research findings, this study delves into the current state of cold chain logistics for fresh e-commerce, scrutinizing prevalent issues and deriving significant insights. The paper advocates for enterprises to prioritize the integration of cutting-edge technologies, enabling the creation of intelligent logistics systems. Additionally, it emphasizes the implementation of lean supply chain management practices to drive holistic regional development. Furthermore, leveraging policy support for the expeditious establishment of industry standards and protocols is crucial. The conclusions drawn from this research hold tangible implications for understanding the present landscape of cold chain logistics in fresh e-commerce, offering a theoretical and practical foundation to propel its future development.

Development Types Of The Good & Halal Food Industry In Indonesia

This research to determines the type of development of the halal food industry in Indonesia. The growth of the halal industry with the lifestyle of the Indonesian people needs improvement and control from the perspective of Islamic financial institutions and partners of the Halal Product Guarantee Agency known as Halal Product Companion. The research method used is a qualitative descriptive method with an overview of the literature. Based on the results of the analysis, it can be interpreted that the development of the halal food industry can be increased through development in the fields of agro-industry, halal logistics, halal lifestyle Islamic boarding schools, exports through MEA, halal food e-commerce, halal organic and halal finance from Islamic banking. The role of Islamic banking includes providing financial services in terms of controlling halal products, playing a role in supervising companies providing halal logistics services, and playing a role in the literacy of halal products to the public. PPH is tasked with verifying and validating the halal process of business actors' products. With the integration of all parties involved, the halal food industry in Indonesia has better prospects in the future.

Optimization of Open Distribution Path for Rural Fresh Food under Genetic Algorithm

In recent years, as the market scale of China's cold chain logistics continues to expand, the use of fresh food e-commerce platforms such as Temu, Taocaicai, and Meituan Grocery has become more and more popular in rural areas. In order to reduce the cost of rural fresh logistics, this paper introduces the fresh electricity supplier "community group purchase" distribution mode, starting from improving the distribution efficiency of rural fresh logistics, and comprehensively considering the commodity demand of rural users, the freshness of fresh goods delivered to users, open route planning distribution vehicles and other factors. A capacity-constrained open vehicle routing optimization model with the goal of minimizing the total distribution cost was constructed and solved by genetic algorithm. This paper proves that the open vehicle distribution can improve the efficiency of logistics distribution more effectively, reduce the total cost of logistics distribution, and promote the development of rural fresh food market.

Research Progress, Hot Spots, and Prospects of Internet Plus Specialty Fruits

Based on the 627 journal articles collected in CNKI database from 2011 to 2022, this paper analyzes the research progress, hotspots and hot topic evolution in the field of domestic Internet plus specialty fruits by using CiteSpace visualization software, and then puts forward the research outlook. The results show that: (1) In the field of Internet Plus Specialty Fruits, the number of articles published shows a general trend of "gradual increase in the early stage and relatively flat in the later stage", the cooperation of authors shows the characteristics of "local concentration", and the cooperation of institutions shows the characteristics of "global dispersion". (2) Fresh food e-commerce, Internet plus agriculture, industrial poverty alleviation are the three major research hotspots in the field of Internet Plus specialty fruits. (3) The research hotspots of Internet Plus specialty fruits present such stage characteristics: evolving from the classic themes of fresh e-commerce, e-commerce platform and Internet plus to the emerging themes related to rural e-commerce and rural revitalization. Therefore, in the future, we should strengthen the basic theoretical research in the field of Internet plus specialty fruits, pay more attention to the hot issues such as "Internet Plus" agriculture, and focus on the training of talents in the field of "Internet Plus".

Price strategy of community fresh food e-commerce considering the heterogeneous needs of consumers and fresh quality transparency

High online operating costs and low consumer utility still need to be addressed in the sales of community fresh e-commerce. Herein, we develop a new community fresh marketing model composed of retailers for online operating costs and consumers for low consumer utility by dividing community consumers into essential type and expectant type in this study. Then, the profit functions of community fresh retailers are developed in this study according to utility theory. Finally, a revised model of the fresh quality transparency (FQT) factor is conducted and discussed in this study. The results suggest that the profits obtained from essential consumers and expectant consumers by the community fresh e-commerce retailers are higher within a certain range of freshness costs compared to the basic model’s projection; meanwhile, the profits from expectant consumers contribute more than those from essential consumers. However, if the freshness cost exceeds a certain critical value, the abovementioned profits predicted from the new model will be lower. This study enriches the supply chain theory of community fresh food and provides retailers with theoretical guidance on differentiated services and pricing to better match the needs of community consumers.

How does platform certification affect the marketing performance of sellers in food e-commerce? Interaction with reputation mechanisms

PurposePlatform certification constitutes an effective mechanism for managing the lemon problem concerning food e-commerce. This work aims to evaluate the market effect of platform certification and analyzes its correction mechanism for lemon problem combined with reputation mechanism.Design/methodology/approachUtilizing the Gold Seller certification of Taobao.com to serve as an illustration, the authors conducted an empirical study based on the sales data of hairy crabs among 2,239 sample sites over six points in time from October to December 2019, systematically examining the market effect of food e-commerce platform certification along with the interaction between food e-commerce platform certification and reputation mechanisms, followed by a heterogeneity test by product price.FindingsThis study finds that sellers with platform certification can significantly increase their sales. The market effect of platform certification is more easily observed in the low-price product market. In addition, platform certification and reputation mechanisms have complementary effects. In a low-price product market, the complementary effect of platform certification and product reputation diminishes, while the complementary effect of platform certification and seller reputation disappears.Originality/valueThis study explores the market effect of food e-commerce platform certification, reveals the market effect of certification mechanism when multiple signaling mechanisms exist simultaneously and conducts an empirical test based on real market data. It provides a better comprehension of how platform certifications work in food e-commerce.