Food E-commerce Research Articles

The impact of online grocery shopping on stockpile behavior in Covid-19

PurposeThis research is to examine the impact of online channels on food stockpile behavior.Design/methodology/approachIn this study, we use bivariate probit models to empirically investigate the impact of online purchasing channels on Chinese urban consumer food hoarding behaviors with random survey samples.FindingsResults show that fresh food e-commerce channels are more likely to be associated with panic stockpile behaviors due to higher likelihood of supply shortages than offline channels with government assistance in logistic management. In contrast, community group buy, another format of e-commerce, appears superior in satisfying the consumer needs and easing the panic buying perception.Practical implicationsIt suggests that online channels may have diverse impacts on consumers' panic stockpiling behaviors during the extreme situations. Online channels need to develop efficient supply chains to be more resilient to extreme situations and the government shall recognize the increasing share of the online channels together with traditional offline channels when implementing supporting policies.Social implicationsWith ever increasing share of online channels, it is imperative in terms of policy implications to understand how would online channels affect hoarding behavior.Originality/valueWe are the first study in online shopping's impact on food stockpile during pandemics using a random sample. Although food stockpile behavior at times of emergency have been investigated in many literature, there are no empirical studies on the impact of online channels on stockpile behaviors under extreme situations. Unlike disasters that immediately impact every entity in supply chains covering producers, vendors, distribution centers and retailers, pandemics did not render supply chains affected immediately, but rather increase consumers' willingness to shop online to avoid virus. Thus, Covid-19 provides a natural experiment to investigate the online channels' impact on stockpile behavior.

Intelligent algorithms for cold chain logistics distribution optimization based on big data cloud computing analysis

In recent years, the rapid development of fresh food e-commerce in China has brought about more development opportunities for the cold chain logistics industry but has also presented new challenges. With the development of cloud computing and big data technology, it is increasingly important to study the application of big data and cloud computing technology in cold chain logistics. The purpose of this paper is to study the intelligent algorithm of cold chain logistics distribution optimization based on big data cloud computing analysis. Based on the constituent elements of the cold chain distribution problem and using cloud computing technology to obtain real-time traffic information in the transportation system through a unified access interface, this article analyses the distribution time and cost of refrigerated vehicles, thereby establishing a cold chain distribution vehicle path optimization model. By analysing the parallel programming mode of cloud computing, the parallel design and analysis of a coarse-grained genetic algorithm are used to solve the simulation model of the established optimization model. The experimental results show that the method of optimizing cold chain logistics vehicle routing using cloud computing is effective. When comparing 1, 2, 4, and 8 processors, the execution times are 19.89, 14.52, 8.12, and 6.41, respectively. It can be seen that the more processors there are, the shorter the calculation time.

Factor Efficiency of the Seafood E-commerce Industry: An Exploratory Study in Coastal Cities of China

Zhong, C. and Zhao, Y., 2020. Factor efficiency of the seafood e-commerce industry: An exploratory study in coastal cities of China. In: Gong, D.; Zhang, M., and Liu, R. (eds.), Advances in Coastal Research: Engineering, Industry, Economy, and Sustainable Development. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 106, pp. 309–313. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.Fresh food e-commerce in China has shown a booming development in recent years. As a segment of the fresh food market, seafood e-commerce has also developed rapidly. An analysis of the factor efficiency of seafood e-commerce in major coastal cities of China can provide effective suggestions for industrial upgrading and restructuring. Based on the data envelope analysis Banker, Charnes, and Cooper (DEA-BCC) model, this article makes an analysis of the factor efficiency of seafood e-commerce in 38 coastal cities of China and then a comparison between different cities and regions in the integrated efficiency, scale efficiency, technology efficiency, output deficiency, and factor redundancy. The results show: factor efficiency in southern coastal cities is generally higher than that in northern cities; output deficiency is not obvious in both the north and the south; factor redundancy is more serious in all cities.

Towards food platforms? An analysis of online food provisioning services in Italy

This paper makes use of a unique dataset on the population of online food provisioning services to shed light on the organization of the food e-commerce in the Italian context. Building on the opposition between pipelines and platforms, we propose a categorization of the different forms of organization within each business model and examine how they differ. Hence, we concentrate on food platforms to discuss the implications this new business model may have for both producers and consumers. We highlight three critical areas that warrant further attention. First, in view of the EU regulatory framework, we discuss the potential implications for consumer protection; second, we reflect on the ways the potential success of the platform model could change labour market relations between producers and platform owners; third, we point out the differences and similarities platforms have with alternative food networks (AFNs). In the conclusion, we reflect on future research developments and on the possible trajectories that online grocery shopping could take in light of the disruption caused by COVID19.

E-Consumers and Local Food Products: A Perspective for Developing Online Shopping for Local Goods in Poland

The constant development of consumer awareness regarding sustainable development has spread to food markets. Decisions related to food consumption are increasingly becoming, for consumers, an opportunity to demonstrate a specific value system, contesting mass and globally distributed food. Local products began to appreciate local produce, which is the opposite of mass production. Local food is gaining popularity, being perceived as healthier, unprocessed, and containing fewer preservative compounds, while also requiring fewer natural resources, leading to a lower environmental footprint. The phenomenon of shopping virtualization has also been growing in strength lately, especially among food consumers. Although Polish food e-commerce is still relatively undeveloped, online food sales have been the fastest growing category of Internet sales. According to experts, by 2026, nearly 40% of all products globally will be sold online. The main purpose of this article was to identify the behavior of Polish consumers shopping online for local food products and to identify barriers to purchase. Our findings were then used to determine development opportunities for this form of trade in relation to local food in the light of new legislative solutions currently in force in Poland. As part of the research procedure, an extensive literature review was carried out. In addition, some of the research findings were cited regarding consumer behavior in the local food market, conducted on a population of 1067 respondents. The study showed that Polish e-consumers of local products are usually aged 30–40, well-educated, and are in a good financial situation. Respondents pointed to high prices as the main barrier to buying local products via the Internet, a drawback which may be remedied to some extent by the recently adopted legislative solutions falling under the scope of what is termed in Poland as agricultural retail trade as well as by the promotion of short supply chains such as the Polska Smakuje initiative.

Air-conditioning and refrigeration: Current status and future perspectives

Air-conditioning and refrigeration systems are essential facilities of health care, transportation and food preservation, which make people able to live and work at the coldest and warmest climates in the planet. These technologies have been applied to a wide range of scenarios, including the distributed air-conditioning, food, medicine, health and sport for people’s daily life, and centralized air-conditioning, heat pump and cryogenics in commercial and industrial applications. In the near future, global warming, urbanization and pursuit of higher living standard will continue to push the demand of air-conditioning. Food preservation for the increasing global population and fresh food e-commerce require more cold storage. Space detection, low-temperature imaging and cryogenic medical treatment will push the cryogenics forward. Except for these listed applications, there are also many other driven forces for the next-step development of air-conditioning and refrigeration, which make its future progress complicated. A comprehensive summary of the current status is necessary for air-conditioning and refrigeration, which will also provide us the basis to analyze its future perspectives. Three typical air-conditioning and refrigeration technologies are introduced at first. These include the refrigeration/heat pump, temperature-humidity control and cryogenics. Vapor compression refrigeration, absorption refrigeration, adsorption refrigeration, ejector refrigeration, solid state refrigeration, refrigeration without thermodynamic cycles and heat pumps are introduced for the first topic, which focuses on the temperature manipulation in normal temperature range. Condensation dehumidification, solution dehumidification, solid desiccant dehumidification and evaporative cooling are introduced for the second topic, which focuses on the interaction of temperature and humidity of air. Gas liquefaction and cryocooler are introduced for the third topic, which focuses on the thermal energy removal under low temperature. Conventional and emerging applications of these technologies are introduced afterwards. The refrigeration and dehumidification could support a wide range of application including air-conditioning, data center cooling, solar cooling, electrical vehicle thermal management and food/drug preservation. The applications of heat pumps include the clean heating supply and industrial heat recovery. The cryogenics could be applied for air liquefaction, liquefied natural gas, hydrogen storage, cryobiology/cryomedicine and big science project. Based on the previous analysis, future challenges on efficiency enhancement, eco-friendly refrigeration and application promotion are presented at last. The efficiency enhancement is driven by the numerous equipments of air-conditioning and refrigeration in use, which consume a large portion of total power consumption of mankind. It could be achieved through the innovation on heat exchanger, thermodynamic cycle and intelligent control. The eco-friendly refrigeration is driven by the environmental protection policies. Low GWP and ODP refrigerants including HFOs and natural refrigerant will be effective solutions. Small-sized heat exchanger with less refrigerant charge is also important. The application promotion is driven by the fact that air-conditioning and refrigeration have already become the basic technology supporting the emerging technologies. Except for the traditional applications, the air-conditioning and refrigeration technologies are becoming fundamental technologies for many multidisciplinary fields, including the data center cooling, electrical vehicle thermal management, clean heating, industrial waste heat recovery, cryobiology/cryomedicine, and big science project.

Food choice in the e-commerce era

PurposeThis study associated consumers' food choice motives and socio-demographic characteristics with their attitudes and consumptions towards food shopping with four e-commerce modes: business-to-consumer (B2C), online-to-offline delivery (O2O Delivery), online-to-offline in-store (O2O In-store) and New Retail. It also explored consumer preferences for specific food categories within the four e-commerce modes.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey was administered to 954 participants from three Chinese cities: Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. Descriptive analysis and linear regression were used in the data analysis.FindingsThe following food choice motives (FCMs) and socio-demographic characteristics had a significant effect on food e-commerce attitudes and/or consumption, with some or all of the four e-commerce modes: Taste Appeal, Value for Money, Safety Concerns, Quality Concerns, Processed Convenience, Purchase Convenience, Others' Reviews, City, Gender, Household Size, Age, Income, Occupation and Marital Status. Consumers also have different consumption preferences for food categories in the four e-commerce modes.Originality/valueThis is the first study to associate consumer FCMs and socio-demographics with their e-commerce attitudes and consumption regarding food in four e-commerce modes: B2C, O2O Delivery, O2O In-store and New Retail.

A Clustering Based Routing Heuristic for Last-Mile Logistics in Fresh Food E-Commerce

This study considers the fresh food city logistics that involves the last-mile distribution of commodities to the customer locations from the local distribution centres (LDCs) established by the e-commerce firms. In this scenario, the last-mile logistics is crucial for its speed of response and the effectiveness in distribution of packages to the target destinations. We propose a clustering-based routing heuristic (CRH) to manage the vehicle routing for the last-mile logistic operations of fresh food in e-commerce. CRH is a clustering algorithm that performs repetitive clustering of demand nodes until the nodes within each cluster become serviceable by a single vehicle. The computational complexity of the algorithm is reduced due to the downsizing of the network through clustering and, hence, produces an optimum feasible solution in less computational time. The algorithm performance was analysed using various operating scenarios and satisfactory results were obtained.

A Bayesian network model for the reliability control of fresh food e-commerce logistics systems

This paper focuses on the reliability of intelligent logistics for fresh food e-commerce. Based on the development of fresh food e-commerce, this paper analyses the factors that influence the reliability of fresh food logistics from the aspects of information technology, facilities and equipment, personnel operation and external environment. A Bayesian network is used to analyse the influence of each factor on system reliability, and the degree of importance of each factor is calculated. Based on the importance of each influential factor in fresh food e-commerce logistics systems, an intelligent logistics model for reliability control of fresh food is established. The purpose of this model is to improve the economic efficiency and the intelligent level of the fresh food e-commerce logistics system on the premise of meeting the system reliability requirements. Finally, simulation results show that the developed intelligent logistics reliability control model can significantly improve the reliability of fresh food e-commerce logistics systems, and provide practical suggestions for fresh food e-commerce enterprises.

Research on the relationship between Fresh Food E-commerce Consumption Experience and Customer Fit from the Perspective of Value Co-creatio

In recent years, the fresh food e-commerce platforms have been developing rapidly with facing increasingly fierce market competition. From the perspective of value co-creation, the core competitive advantage of enterprises in the future lies in creating unique values with customers. Starting from the perspective of innovation, this study explores the relationship fresh food e-commerce consumption experience and customer fit, so as to provide decision-making reference for the management of the platforms.

Determinants of Continuous Intention on Food Delivery Apps: Extending UTAUT2 with Information Quality

This study empirically analyzes an extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2) model that augments information quality to identify the determinants of continuous use intention for food delivery software applications. A sample survey of 340 respondents who had ordered or purchased food through delivery apps was used for the analysis. The results indicate that habit had the strongest influence on continuous use intention, followed by performance expectancy and social influence. Furthermore, information quality had an indirect effect on continuous use intention via performance expectancy. Consequently, this study confirms the importance of information quality, performance expectancy, habit, and social influence as factors in inducing users’ continuous use intention for food delivery apps. These findings expand previous research in online-to-offline business in the field of food services and suggest practical implications. Ultimately, the model proposed and validated in this study may be employed as a basis for future research on consumer behavior in the field of food e-commerce services.

The Coordination Decision of Dual-Channel Fresh Food Supply Chain

More and more suppliers in fresh food supply chain expand online channels using fresh food e-commerce platform, forming a dual-channel supply chain model. The competition of market resources will lead to channel conflict in the dual-channel fresh food supply chain. The level of service is one of the important reasons for the conflict in the fresh food supply chain. Service is an important factor influencing the shopping decision of consumers. This paper studies a dual-channel supply chain consisting of a fresh food supplier and a fresh food retailer. The supplier wholesale fresh food to the retailer while developing its own online channel. In this paper, the Stackelberg game model is used to solve the equilibrium state of service level between the supplier and the retailer in the dual-channel supply chain. Both the supplier and the retailer aim to maximize profits. The supplier is the game leader. It first decides the wholesale price and the service level of the online channel. The retailer is the follower. It makes decisions based on the supplier’s decisions. The study found that the supplier and the retailer can attract more customers by improving service level, thus increasing profits. Weighing the relationship between service level and operation cost is a major problem in operation.

Local Food Shopping: Factors Affecting Users’ Behavioural E-Loyalty

While most research on electronic commerce has focused on customer behaviour according to websites’ functional tasks, consumers are influenced by many other factors such as website content and design, especially in online food shopping. This is the first study that aims to examine which variables best explain satisfaction and behavioural e-loyalty (to return to the website and purchase) regarding online local food shopping. It empirically tested a model with a local food e-commerce website using a sample of 305 real e-buyers. The partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique was used to estimate the structural relationships. The findings revealed that all the tasks of a website could be strategically designed to enhance users’ loyalty, and stressed the importance of measuring how all website features jointly influence perceived flow and control. This study makes a significant contribution to the consumer literature that deals with local food websites, a subject which is currently under-researched, and the eventual impact on behavioural e-loyalty.

Influence of customer perceived value on the online shopping intention of aquatic products under B2C E-commerce

Fresh food e-commerce enter into the golden period of development in the network age. Based on the perspective of consumers’ perceived risk of aquatic products, 306 questionnaires were used to construct the impact model of perceived value and perceived risk on the intention of online shopping, and the moderating effect between the customer perception and online shopping intention was studied by using the website specialization as an moderator variable. The results show that consumers’ perceived ease of use and usefulness will enhance their willingness to buy aquatic products, and perceived economic risks and perceived privacy risks have negative impact on online shopping aquatic products. The website specialization of aquatic product has a moderating effect among the consumer's perceived ease of use, usefulness and perceived economic risk, but it does not play a moderating role in the consumer's perceived privacy risk.

An Exploratory Study of Fresh Food E-Commerce in the UK and China

Fresh food e-commerce has become a burgeoning branch in online markets and changed the circulation of fresh food. Concerning the background of e-commerce, this study tries to relate suppliers' awareness of promoting fresh food business with the logistic obstacles and consumer impacts. The article first introduces five guiding questions after reviewing present literature. To better understand the fresh food markets, it analyzes the operational model of respective suppliers in the UK and China separately. The article also describes primary data collection through the distribution of questionnaires to the sample population. According to the valid feedbacks, the article concludes different consuming trends in fresh food markets and finds that logistical services are still the biggest challenge which need to be improved. Based on the results, it provides recommendations to suppliers for improving the fresh food e-commerce.

Study on storage efficiency of the fresh food e-commerce

As the last cake in the area of e-commerce industry, the temperature of fresh food e-commerce is always rising starting from about 2014. This paper is based on the imperfection that the existing study about fresh food e-commerce is lack of studies on storage efficiency. And we took some variables in this paper such as consumers’ satisfaction and length for preservation and storage time. On this basis we built the model of storage efficiency of fresh food e-commerce. We find that as the development of fresh food e-commerce, the fresh food e-commerce enterprise will pay more attention to the consumers’ satisfaction. They can take some effective ways like reducing the wastage of fresh food and lengthening the refreshing time of fresh food and so on.

Forward and reverse logistics network and route planning under the environment of low-carbon emissions: A case study of Shanghai fresh food E-commerce enterprises

In view of the rapid development of low-carbon economy, the increasing distribution demand and returned demand which caused by the short shelf life and spoilage of fresh food, network and route planning model of a two-stage forward/reverse logistics is firstly proposed for fresh food e-commerce enterprises under the environment of low-carbon emissions (The objective in the first stage is to minimize the overall cost of the system, and the minimum overall cost of the circulation-type distribution vehicles routing is considered in the second stage). And the validity of the model is verified by adopting genetic algorithm (GA) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm with the study of the fresh food e-commerce enterprises of Shanghai. Furthermore, a good reference can be provided to build the forward and reverse logistics network and optimal route planning model of fresh food e-commerce enterprises and reduce the carbon emissions during its operation process.

Pratiques et lieux du e-commerce alimentaire

La pratique du e-commerce est largement diffusee dans la population francaise. Si les produits culturels, l’habillement, l’electromenager sont aujourd’hui frequemment achetes en ligne, les achats alimentaires sur Internet demeurent une niche malgre une augmentation significative ces dernieres annees. La gamme des produits alimentaires que l’on peut acheter sur Internet tend par ailleurs a s’elargir tout comme leur mode de livraison et de retrait. En particulier, le point de retrait devient une alternative forte a la livraison a domicile dont les contraintes logistiques en font un modele fragile et de plus en plus specifique. En analysant les formes de e-commerce alimentaire en France et leurs modalites en termes de reorganisation des chaines logistiques et de mobilites des consommateurs, nous proposons d’eclairer les enjeux territoriaux lies a ces nouvelles pratiques d’achat.

Analysis of Food E-commerce Consuming Behavior Based on Web Data Mining Theory

Consumer behavior analysis is an important part of customer relationship management, the traditional analysis is based on the basic theory of economics, no quantitative studies, the results have certain limitations. In the development of the new technology, data mining technology is a powerful data analysis technique and its application in customer relationship management is getting more and more attention. However, from the point of view of the application layer, data mining and customer relationship management have quite one part is in the field of commercial applications, application in non business areas have great development. In this study, the knowledge of related fields are introduced in detail and analyzes the typical application of data mining technology in the application of customer relationship management system. Combined with project management, provides a project implementation process model based on data mining.

Research of the Operational Mechanism of the Fresh Food E-commerce Supply Chain and “Agricultural and Supermarket Docking” Mode in China

As an emerging field of e-commerce in China, fresh food e-commerce is still in the development period. In order to facilitate an in-depth study, this paper summarizes the operational mechanism and the characteristics of the fresh food e-commerce supply chain, and proposes suggestions about fresh food e-commerce operation and development. One of the challenges in the implementation of “agricultural and supermarket docking” mode is that fresh agricultural products circulation is not fluent. Public information service platform enables the enterprise information resources sharing within the scope of supply chain. It uses information technology tools to integrate the involved enterprise's information resources in supply chain with Internet advantages. In the logistics business, under the premise of sharing of information, retail supermarkets and third party cold chain logistics services company combine business situation and adjust the logistics business process. In the process of circulation of agricultural products, it works together in the process of transportation and distribution of agricultural products based on the public information service platform in both orders and waybill operation independently. Its systematic operation includes cold chain transportation and cold storage resource, reducing their operating cost, improving the benefit of enterprises and improving the service level. Through the application of Internet technology, it can solve the traditional information service platform of the quality of agricultural products and transportation problems.