Online Retail Market Research Articles

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on online consumption share: Evidence from China's mobile payment data

This study investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the online retail market in China and explores the mechanisms underlying this relationship. By developing a theoretical model based on utility theory and consumer risk perception theory and utilizing monthly mobile payment consumption data along with the number of people diagnosed with COVID-19 at the city level in 2020, this study finds that the COVID-19 pandemic has driven an increase in the share of online consumption, thereby changing the structure of the retail market. The primary mechanism is that the pandemic boosts e-commerce activity while concurrently reducing the service quality for consumers shopping offline. Furthermore, this study confirms that online consumption has mitigated the negative impact of the pandemic on overall consumption expenditure. Heterogeneity analyses suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly increased the online share of necessity and upgraded consumption. For city heterogeneity, the effects of the pandemic on online and offline consumption structures are more pronounced in regions with larger consumption scales and lower urbanization rates. Thus, the pandemic has accelerated the development of the online retail market and strengthened consumer inertia for online channels. According to consumer inertia theory, this trend may continue even as the pandemic gradually weakens. The applicability and effectiveness of this study's conclusions and methods provide a new perspective for future research on online retail and e-commerce markets.

Research on Inventory Sustainable Development Strategy for Maximizing Cost-Effectiveness in Supply Chain

This study addresses the challenges of the expanding global online retail market by developing an innovative inventory management strategy that promotes sustainable development. We propose an integrated planning model that utilizes a newly enhanced Parallel Chicken Swarm Optimization (PCSO) algorithm alongside the established Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) model and the (s, S) inventory policy. Our model demonstrates its effectiveness through simulation experiments, showcasing its ability to dynamically adjust inventory thresholds based on daily forecasted demand, which significantly optimizes replenishment strategies. Notably, our model achieves a total cost reduction while maintaining a high service level of 0.761467 and reduces computational time to 82.32 s, highlighting its efficiency and adaptability. The innovation of this research lies in the application of the PCSO algorithm to dynamically manage inventory in real-time, aligning with sustainable inventory management practices. This study significantly contributes to the field by enhancing the economic and environmental sustainability of supply chain operations.

THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

This study delves into the intricacies of consumer behaviour within the realm of social media commerce, aiming to uncover the motivations driving purchases and the types of products preferred by consumers in this digital landscape. Through a quantitative research approach, data were collected via surveys distributed to a sample of social media users. Analysis revealed that trust, authenticity, convenience, and social interactions are significant factors influencing consumer decisions to purchase through social media platforms. Additionally, the study identified a diverse range of commodities transacted on these platforms, with lifestyle and fashion-related items being prominent. The emergence of niche markets and influencer marketing strategies further exemplifies the evolving nature of social media-driven commerce. These findings provide valuable insights for businesses and marketers seeking to refine their strategies and capitalize on the opportunities presented by social media commerce. In the digital age, comprehending the motives and preferences of consumers is crucial for achieving success in the fiercely competitive online retail market. Keywords: Social media, Consumer behaviour, Consumer trust, social media advertising, Online brand presence, social media platforms, Consumer preferences.

Impact of Online Reviews on Brand Reputation and Customer Purchase Behaviors in Online Retail Market

This study investigates the impact of online reviews on brand reputation and customer purchase behavior within the digital commerce landscape. Recognizing the critical role of online customer evaluations in shaping consumer perceptions and decisions, the research synthesizes empirical findings, theoretical insights, and practical observations to explore the dynamics between online reviews, brand reputation, and purchasing actions. Utilizing a quantitative approach, the study employs surveys based on a purposive sampling strategy to collect data from 100 participants, assessing their opinions on online reviews' influence on their purchasing decisions through a Likert-scale questionnaire. Analysis of the data through frequency distribution, descriptive, and inferential statistics reveals significant insights into how online reviews affect consumer behavior and brand perception. The findings highlight a pronounced reliance on online reviews among consumers, with positive reviews significantly enhancing the likelihood of purchases. Age and gender emerge as notable demographic factors influencing the impact of reviews, with younger and female respondents showing greater receptiveness to online evaluations. Despite the study's contributions to understanding online review impacts, it acknowledges limitations such as potential response bias and suggests future research could benefit from a mixed-methods approach for deeper insights. This research enriches the discourse on digital marketing strategies by emphasizing the importance of managing online reviews to bolster brand reputation and stimulate consumer purchase behavior.

From Occasional to Active Crowdshippers: The Significance of Couriers’ Characteristics

German retail customers increasingly demand immediate, flexible, and sustainable deliveries in the urban area. Simultaneously, Germany is characterized by high urbanization, well-developed infrastructure, and a distinct online retail market. Consequently, crowdsourced delivery (CSD) by outsourcing the last-mile delivery to private couriers provides a promising and increasingly acknowledged delivery concept for German cities. Although existing literature has identified attributes that determine crowdshippers’ willingness to take on CSD, research studies lack the attributes’ relevance in combined consideration and their dependence on crowdshippers’ characteristics. A choice-based conjoint analysis with 193 German potential CSD crowdshippers was performed to examine the present research gap. The results reveal delivery time and remuneration as determinant attributes, whereas the degree of familiarity with the recipient and the parcel weight proved less important. In this way, this study is the first to demonstrate the diverging relevance of CSD attributes in the assignment of deliveries. Furthermore, this study proves that the attributes’ relevance is influenced by the crowdshippers’ surface-level and deep-level characteristics. By conducting a sensitivity analysis, this study is the first to determine how the increase in additional travel time affects the willingness to conduct a CSD. Moreover, the influence of the crowdshippers’ familiarity with the recipient on the overall results is low, indicating an application of the concept also used outside of family networks. For CSD platform operators, the results outline how to individualize CSD orders for active crowdshippers to increase their engagement. Policy makers will be informed about how CSD is an opportunity to make transport in the city more sustainable.

Analysis of the Development Environment and Trend of Cross-Border E-commerce in China

With the conclusion of the novel coronavirus pandemic and the increasingly complex market environment, China’s cross-border e-commerce has entered a new phase of development. The external landscape is evolving rapidly, and there is a gradual improvement in laws and regulations governing cross-border e-commerce, coupled with increased government support. Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the market economy, overall development has been steadily improving. The Internet population is expanding, the online retail market is experiencing rapid growth, the consumption structure is undergoing transformation and upgrading, and the e-commerce market is demonstrating significant potential. The advancement of technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence, blockchain, and supply chain has provided more efficient operational support for the cross-border e-commerce industry. Against the backdrop of the emergence of new forms of cross-border e-commerce in China post-pandemic, this paper utilizes the PEST model to analyze the macro environment of cross-border e-commerce in China and project its future development trends.

The role of membership fees in online retail market competition

In the rapidly growing yet fiercely competitive online retail industry, the prevailing trend of adopting a paid membership system appears to be contradictory to the commonly observed principles of free and subsidized services over the Internet. Thus, this study proposes a competition model based on the assumption of heterogeneity in consumers’ online shopping search costs, in order to elucidate the underlying mechanism of this phenomenon. The findings reveal that e-commerce platforms that implement a paid membership system are best equipped to navigate marketing campaigns. Meanwhile, as long as a certain degree of promotional and discounted activities are present in the online market, retailers seeking profit maximization will find this system to be most effective for generating profits that surpass the market level. Furthermore, the comparative static analysis and numerical simulations in this study offer valuable insights to managers in their decision-making regarding membership fees and retail pricing.

Unveiling the influence of COVID-19 on the online retail market: A comprehensive exploration

The global economy has experienced significant disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, profoundly impacting production and consumption patterns. This paper examines the effect of the pandemic on consumer goods prices, focusing on a sample of hand sanitizers, soap, disinfectants, and baking yeasts. The selection of these products was motivated by multiple and comprehensive criteria, where we considered various factors such as changes in consumption patterns during the pandemic, the relevance of these products in household consumption, consumer behavior, availability of historical price data, their significance in daily domestic life, and their utility in the prevention of the disease. Employing a time-series analysis, the study investigates the relationship between product prices and the S&P 500 index, as well as the presence of structural breaks in the time series. The results reveal a significant correlation between all prices in the sample and the S&P 500 index, indicating the index's efficacy as an indicator of the overall economic state. Moreover, the study identifies a single structural break in each price time series, coinciding with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Notably, hand sanitizers, soap, and disinfectants exhibit particularly substantial price jumps near the time of the break. These findings offer crucial insights into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on consumer prices, which can guide policy decisions aimed at mitigating the pandemic's economic consequences.

Coordination in Multibrand, Multimedia Advertising: Is It Always a Good Thing?

The growing online retail market has led to the prevalence of multichannel retailing. Meanwhile, retailers are increasingly combining multichannel retailing with a multibranding strategy. Although this can further increase the retailer’s sales, it brings new advertising challenges. Multibrand, multichannel retailers usually launch advertising campaigns for different brands on multiple media. Thus, their advertising efforts fall into a set of brand-media units. Each unit’s advertising can affect the sales of all brands on all channels. To maximize the advertising returns, a retailer needs to coordinate the advertising expenditures on different units. We develop a stochastic differential equation model that helps the retailer estimate the impact of multimedia advertising on the sales of different brands on different channels. Afterward, we formulate the advertising optimization problems under four coordination strategies: noncoordination, brand coordination, media coordination, and global coordination. By solving the problem for each strategy, the retailers can obtain the optimal expenditure for each unit under that strategy. Finally, we compare the retailer’s profits under four strategies. Interestingly, we find that brand or media coordination may result in a profit lower than noncoordination. Our findings provide insights regarding the selection of coordination strategies for multibrand, multichannel retailers with multimedia advertising campaigns.

Product Returns and Price Discrimination in the Online Retail Market

Product Returns and Price Discrimination in the Online Retail Market

AWARENESS, AGREEMENT, SATISFACTION AND FUTURE EXPECTATIONS ABOUT ADOPTION OF TECHNOLOGIES IN THE SELECTED RETAIL STORES OF GUJARAT STATE: FROM CUSTOMER’S VIEWPOINT

Indian retail industry has emerged as one of the most dynamic and fast-paced industries due to the entry of several new players. It accounts for over 10% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and around 8% of the employment. India is the world’s fifth-largest global destination in the retail space. India ranked 73rd in the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development's Business-to-Consumer (B2C) E-commerce Index 2019. The sizeable middle class and nearly unexplored retail market in India are the main enticing factors for international retail behemoths seeking to move into newer markets, which will help the Indian retail business grow more quickly. The urban Indian consumer's purchasing power is increasing, and branded goods in categories like apparel, cosmetics, footwear, watches, beverages, food, and even jewellery are gradually evolving into business and leisure that are well-liked by the urban Indian consumer. The retail sector in India is expected to reach a whopping US$ 2 trillion in value by 2032, according to a recent analysis by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Increasing purchasing power of consumers has led to growing demand in Indian retail sector. According to the Retailers Association of India (RAI), the retail industry achieved 96% of pre-COVID-19 sales in September 2021, driven by the rising demand from consumers in Indian retail space. And due to that India’s retail trading sector attracted US$ 4.11 billion FDIs between April 2000-June 2022. Online retail market in India is projected to reach US$ 350 billion by 2030 from an estimated US$ 55 billion in 2021, due to rising online shoppers in the country. Online penetration of retail is expected to reach 10.7% by 2024 versus 4.7% in 2019. The present study tries to study Awareness, Agreement, Satisfaction and future Expectations about adoption of Technologies in the selected Retail Stores from the viewpoint of Customer’s residing in Gujarat State. After research on Customers’, the study identified that Customers were least aware about Vending machine. Customers mainly preferred technology implementation because it “saves the time” & provides them “better customer service at an affordable price”. Customers were satisfied about various retailing technologies but they were still not satisfied by Credit Card security as it creates privacy issues in the mind of them.

Müşteri Deneyimini İyileştirmede Yapay Zeka Uygulamaları: Çevrimiçi Perakende Firması Örneği

Artificial Intelligence, which can be basicly defined as systems or machines that can perform behaviors of human and human intelligence, is one of the concepts that have been flourishing and maintaining the popularity since its first appereance. Simultaneously with the development of this concept day by day, its execution areas have expanded and become significant part of life. There is no doubt, marketing is one of the areas where it expands and provides maximum benefit. With the use of Artificial Intelligence based applications in marketing, the customer experience is have been tried to be improved gradually. The aim of this study is to understand the point of view of companies, operating the online retail market, towards technology, to observe how they benefit from artificial intelligence-based applications, and to reveal how they try to enrich the customer experience with artificial intelligence-based applications. In this context, qualitative research methods and the personal interview technique were used in accordance with the main purpose of the study. It is aimed to explore detail about how is companies’ customer journey map for the customer while enriching the customer experience, and how they benefit from artificial intelligence, with the information provided by the experts who work in company while conducting a personal interview. For this reason, interviews were conducted with the regional sales manager and sales specialists of the online retail company.The limitations of the study are that the study only provides an information from the company, does not include whole sample in the market, and the methods applied by the company are open to change due to the dynamic structure of the market and technology. Results revealed that, suggesting some special opportunities to customer, taking decisions to accelerate the delivery of the order, using virtual assistant in customer communication and providing dashboard to see the order status are some of the areas where improvement has been made thanks to Artificial Intelligence. Thus, while the problems stem from human nature are minimized, customer experience is tried to be improvement. Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Customer Experience, Customer Journey Map, Brand Experience, Differentiation

Optimal Channel Strategy for Dual-Channel Retailers: The Bright Side of Introducing Agency Channels

Driven by the prosperity of the online retail market and the success of the agency selling format, dual-channel retailers have engaged extensively in online retailing. However, whether dual-channel retailers act as intermediaries to introduce agency channels for third-party sellers in their online stores has not yet received sufficient attention. To address this problem, we perform game-theoretic analysis of the optimal channel strategy of a dual-channel retailer under three channel structures: No-agency mode, manufacturer-agency mode, and e-tailer-agency mode. Under each structure, the price competition model is studied, with the manufacturer as the Stackelberg leader and the retailer or authorized e-tailer as the follower. We analyze the optimal prices and profits of different structures and study the influence of agency channels. Our analysis shows that when the commission rate is higher than a certain threshold, the dual-channel retailer will introduce an agency channel for the third-party seller, and when the commission rate is high, the dual-channel retailer prefers to introduce an agency channel for the manufacturer rather than an authorized e-tailer. However, higher offline operating cost reduces the willingness of the dual-channel retailer to introduce an agency channel. Furthermore, the manufacturer will always benefit from the agency channel and, because of the mitigation of double marginalization, the manufacturer is most profitable in the manufacturer-agency mode. Finally, introducing an agency channel for the third-party seller can create a “win-win” outcome for the manufacturer and the dual-channel retailer, while the e-tailer-agency mode can increase the dual-channel retailer’s relative channel power under certain conditions.

Online Grocery Shop

Abstract: Online shopping has been known as a rapidly growing business, and although online grocery shopping has not followed these same growth patterns in the past, it is now being recognized for its potential. As such, the focus of previous online shopping research has seldom encompassed this specific retail market, with the existing studies focusing essentially on consumers’ motivations and attitudes, rather than how consumers actually shop for groceries online. Therefore, this dissertation has the objective of uncovering some of the details of consumer decision making processes for this specific online retail market, details which can help further both academic research and managerial knowledge. The general consumer decision making process is characterized by a pre-decisional, a decisional and a post-decisional phase. All of which were addressed in an exploratory fashion, through a mixed methods strategy which combined both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection. One of the main results obtained through this study is the complementarity of retail channels - as it was found that online grocery shopping serves essentially for major shopping trips, being complemented with smaller trips to traditional stores. Keywords: Xampp Server- Version 8.0.11 size 671bytes, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP- Version:-7.3.21, MySQL- Version:- 8.0.13, QR Code

English

Retailing in India has attracted many global players and has reached nearly 350 Billion USD according to KPMG in 2010. While the retail environment is experiencing a significant growth, Indian consumer tastes and preferences are also changing rapidly forcing retailers to grow in numbers and formats. Technological advances and expansion of internet have also paved the way for electronic retail channels. India, as an emerging economy, offers substantial opportunities for e-retailers. In addition, Internet shopping offering more flexibility, interactivity, customization and low risk during the pandemic reached remarkable popularity in the country. Particularly since the outbreak of Covid-19, major on-line sellers have been attracting more and more customers. In the light of growing on line shopping, retailers have embraced a variety of technologies to engage their customers during their on-line shopping experience. Artificial intelligence is an area which clearly facilitates this for the retailers. In this study, the aim is to better understand how use of artificial intelligence tools during on-line shopping leads to customer satisfaction and loyalty. The intent is to provide recommendations on the most effective Artificial Intelligence tools to use for decision makers at companies and retailers. The scope of the study is artificial intelligence tools used in-on line retail in India.   Key words: Artificial Intelligence, on-line shopping, Indian on-line retail market.

A Study on Customer Expectations from Local Online Shopping Application to Buy Local Products

Indian online retail market is set to become the third-largest across the globe. Experts believe that the GMV (Gross Merchandise Volume) will reach $ 350 billion by 2030. In today’s economically turbulent and environmentally unfriendly times, many consumers choose to shop only within their own town or state. Community resilience and environmental integrity are at the heart of the “buy local” movement. The Primary objective of the study is to find out the customer’s expectation from the local online shopping application to buy the local products. The sample size selected for the study is 250. The area taken for the study is Tiruchirapalli city. ANOVA is used because the technique involves first finding out the total variation among the observations in the collected data, then assigning causes or components of variation to various factors and finally drawing conclusions about the equality of means. Offering more options like in-store pick-ups, one-click shopping, recurring orders, voice activated shopping, can all make life that little bit easier for customers. If they change the way they interact with your customers that fits in with their lifestyle will create lasting loyalty. Offering flexibility will allow the customers to shop on their own terms and enjoy the experience. The local online shopping applications can provide good customer support by answering their queries promptly and informatively.

Application of Value Stream Mapping in E-Commerce: A Case Study on an Amazon Retailer

In recent years, the e-commerce market has grown significantly, and the online retail market has become very competitive. Online retailers strive to improve their supply chain operations to reduce costs and to improve customer satisfaction. Value stream mapping (VSM), a tool created by the lean production movement to identify and reduce errors, losses, and lead time and to improve value-added activities, has been proven to be effective in many manufacturing processes. In this study, we investigate the application of value stream mapping (VSM) in the supply chain of an e-commerce retailer on Amazon. By visualizing the entire supply chain with VSM, the waste that is produced during the delivery process from the retailer to the customer was identified. The five whys method was then applied to find the root cause of the waste. Furthermore, a scoring method was developed to evaluate and compare two different supply chain logistic models to identify a strategy for improvement. This study provides a systematic methodology to understand, evaluate, and improve the entire e-commerce supply chain process utilizing VSM. It was demonstrated that the methodology could improve supply chain management efficiency, customer satisfaction, and cost reduction.

The Impact of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Economy Consumer Online Shopping Behavior on Market Changes

The rapid development of online technology has facilitated the gradual growth and development of e‐commerce and online marketing, creating a new business model and new opportunities. This has had a major impact on the future development of the market economy and the international competitiveness of companies and countries. At the same time, its appearance has also subverted the traditional retail market, and the convenience, reliability, and security of payment have been quickly recognized by people. Technological innovations represented by artificial intelligence have driven the development of the digital economy for decades. In order to better strengthen the statistics of the online shopping market and promote the development of the real economy, this study discusses the analysis of consumer behavior in online shopping based on the market changes of artificial intelligence and digital economy. Through the questionnaire, it can be found that all age groups have been exposed to online shopping, most of them are young people, and the number of shopping per month is still concentrated between 4 and 11 times. The study also examined the size of China’s online retail market and found that there were 820 million Internet shoppers in China by December 2021, which is forecast to be 910 million by 2022. The report also found that the B2C market share will reach nearly 61% in 2021 due to the B2C model featuring higher quality goods and more guaranteed services.

Nicotine content, labelling and flavours of e-liquids in Canada in 2020: a scan of the online retail market.

The e-cigarette market in Canada has rapidly evolved following the implementation of the Tobacco and Vaping Products Act in May 2018, which liberalized the promotion and sale of vaping products. To date, there is little data on the market profile of key product attributes, including nicotine content, labelling practices and flavours. An online scan of vaping product retailers (manufacturer, two national, five provincial) was conducted in 2020 to assess the e-liquids available on the Canadian market. Data were extracted from websites and product images regarding the nicotine content, labelling and flavours of e-liquids. We identified 1746 e-liquids, with a total of 4790 different nicotine concentrations. Approximately half of the e-liquids were offered with salt-base nicotine (46.6%) and half with freebase nicotine (53.2%); the remainder were hybrids (0.2%). The mean nicotine concentration of salt-base e-liquids (3.4%) was higher than freebase e-liquids (0.5%) (p < 0.001). Labels indicating the presence of nicotine were visible on twothirds of e-liquid packaging displayed online (63.2%) while three-quarters of packaging displayed the nicotine concentration (73.7%), and more than half of packaging displayed health warnings (58.9%). A variety of flavours were also identified, with fruit being the most common (43.6%), followed by candy/desserts (27.6%) and non-alcoholic drinks (12.5%). Findings demonstrate the diversity of the online e-cigarette market in Canada, including the availability of higher-concentration salt-base nicotine products. Flavour restrictions have the potential to dramatically reduce the number of e-liquid flavours on the market, while restricting nicotine concentrations to < 20 mg/mL will predominantly restrict salt-based e-liquids.

Monopoly Characteristics and Policy Analysis of China's Online Retail Market

The network retail industry has been in a highly centralized pattern. According to the relevant concepts in the traditional industrial organization theory, this highly concentrated market needs regulation. Behind the rapid development of industry is the hidden worry that is constantly exposed. In 2011, Taobao announced a substantial increase in annual fees and software service fees, which caused conflicts with small and medium sellers. In the price war in Jingdong, it may have been sold at a price lower than the cost. The traditional industrial organization theory usually thinks that the monopoly market structure is not good. Because of its pricing model based on its own marginal cost and marginal income, it will cause welfare losses to consumers, resulting in low market efficiency and unnecessary losses. This paper first expounds the basic connotation and judgment criteria of monopoly, analyzes the monopoly and characteristics of online retail industry in the "Internet +" era, and finally puts forward some governance strategies for the monopoly problems existing in the current online retail industry.