Fresh 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

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.

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

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.

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.

Research on the Supply Chain Strategy of Freshippo in the Context of Epidemic

Since the end of 2019, the outbreak of COVID-19 has had a severe impact on the economy and peoples lives. In this paper, Freshippo was selected as the research object to discuss the problems and optimization strategies of its supply chain in the context of the epidemic, to provide reference for supply chain management of fresh food e-commerce enterprises. The research methods used in this paper are literature review and field research. The epidemic has brought historic opportunities to the whole fresh food e-commerce industry represented by Freshippo, but also put forward higher requirements for the efficiency and flexibility of the supply chain. The fresh food e-commerce industry should optimize supply chain management for improving response efficiency and coping with epidemic risk, improve emergency support capacity, ensure freshness of goods and reduce wastage, and share supply chain costs.

Consumer behavior analysis based on Internet of Things platform and the development of precision marketing strategy for fresh food e-commerce.

The traditional approach to e-commerce marketing encounters challenges in effectively extracting and utilizing user data, as well as analyzing and targeting specific user segments. This manuscript aims to address these limitations by proposing the establishment of a consumer behavior analysis system based on an Internet of Things (IoT) platform. The system harnesses the potential of radio frequency identification devices (RFID) technology for product identification encoding, thus facilitating the monitoring of product sales processes. To categorize consumers, the system incorporates a k-means algorithm within its architectural framework. Furthermore, a similarity metric is employed to evaluate the gathered consumption information and refine the selection strategy for initial clustering centers. The proposed methodology is subjected to rigorous testing, revealing its effectiveness in resolving the issue of insufficient differentiation between customer categories after clustering. Across varying values of k, the average false recognition rate experiences a notable reduction of 20.6%. The system consistently demonstrates rapid throughput and minimal overall latency, boasting an impressive processing time of merely 2ms, thereby signifying its exceptional concurrent processing capability. Through the implementation of the proposed system, the opportunity for further target market segmentation arises, enabling the establishment of core market positioning and the formulation of distinct and precise marketing strategies tailored to diverse consumer cohorts. This pioneering approach introduces an innovative and efficient methodology that e-commerce enterprises can embrace to amplify their marketing endeavors.

Fresh product e-retailer’s sales strategy choice: free shipping, package, or combined strategy?

Cold chain technology and online platform have enabled the rapid development of fresh food e-commerce. However, most fresh product e-retailers are losing money. This paper aims to answer the questions: Can the free shipping strategy, package strategy, and combined package and free shipping strategy (i.e., KF strategy) improve a fresh product e-retailer’s performance, and which strategy is the most effective? By deriving the optimal decisions of customers and/or the e-retailer under different strategies, we find that the e-retailer should adopt the free shipping strategy or the KF strategy if the shipping cost is higher than the threshold. Furthermore, some managerial insights are obtained. First, compared with the general strategy, the e-retailer needs to further reduce the price when the shipping cost is lower than the threshold despite bearing the shipping cost under the free shipping strategy or KF strategy. Second, the free shipping strategy or KF strategy is generally used to increase the customer’s single order quantity. However, if the shipping cost is higher than the threshold, the e-retailer should use these two strategies to reduce the single order quantity. Lastly, if the e-retailer wants to reduce its average logistics cost, the package strategy is a better choice.

How household food shopping behaviors changed during COVID-19 lockdown period: Evidence from Beijing, China

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a great impact on food shopping behavior. However, changes in food shopping behavior and related decision-making mechanisms remain unexplored. This study conducted a face-to-face questionnaire survey with 900 residents in three communities in Haidian, Beijing, China, to analyze food shopping behavior during the periods of pre-lockdown, lockdown (January–March 2020), and post-lockdown. Our results indicated that the preference for fresh food e-commerce shopping was accelerated by the lockdown with the usage rate increasing by 48%; the wet markets were seriously hit by the lockdown policy and had not fully recovered by the post-lockdown period (with a 75% reduction in the usage rate during lockdown). The psychological mechanisms of changes in food shopping behavior revealed that the context (e.g., community facilities) and the perceived risk of COVID-19 were two significant factors impacting the four shopping choices investigated. Specifically, the context factors affected behavior directly for supermarkets and convenience stores and indirectly for e-commerce and wet markets. The findings are expected to help in guiding emergency responses during a future pandemic as well as the long-term construction of food supply facilities.

How Brand Knowledge Affects Purchase Intentions in Fresh Food E-Commerce Platforms: The Serial Mediation Effect of Perceived Value and Brand Trust.

The intense competition among fresh food e-commerce platforms in China has reduced the market share of the leading firms. This study aims to establish a model framework based on brand knowledge, perceived value, brand trust, and purchase intention to improve the market competitiveness of fresh food e-commerce platforms. Based on the analysis of 475 questionnaires using SmartPLS software, the results indicate that the established model framework provides an excellent explanation and forecasting (R2 = 45.5%) for consumers' intentions to purchase fresh food. The path analysis results of this study show that there are significant positive effects among the model variables. Among antecedent variables, brand image has the greatest influence on perceived value, perceived value has the greatest influence on brand trust, and brand trust has the most significant impact on purchase intention. Furthermore, perceived value and brand trust have noteworthy mediating and serial mediating effects on brand knowledge and purchase intention. These findings have important implications for theoretical and managerial practices in the context of fresh food e-commerce platforms, providing insights on how to enhance customer purchase intentions.

중국 신선식품 신유통 플랫폼의 서비스 품질 속성이 이용의도에 미치는 영향

This study investigated the relationship between service quality, service-platform fit, relative advantage, complexity, attitude toward Chinese fresh food e-commerce platform, and behavioral intention, applying task-technology fit theory and innovation diffusion theory. To this end, an online survey was conducted in November 2022, a total of 435 responses were used for structural equation model analysis. The results were as follows. First, the service quality attributes of the Chinese fresh food e-commerce platform information―information quality, price, product assortment, delivery quality, and convenience―had positive effects on service-platform fit. Second, service-platform fit had a positive effect on relative advantage, but a negative effect on complexity. Third, relative advantage had a positive effect on attitude, and complexity had a negative effect on attitude. Finally, it was found that attitude toward fresh food e-commerce platform significantly affected behavioral intention. Based on these results, academic and practical implications were derived.