The geography of online shopping in China and its key drivers

Abstract

Many studies shed light on online shopping adoption and its determinants, most of which were conducted in developed countries and focused on sociodemographic factors. However, the influence of spatial attributes remains unclear or underestimated, especially in emerging economies. China is the largest e-commerce market in terms of the number of e-shoppers and the volume of online retail sales, with a distinctive geographical pattern of e-shopping usage. This study developed a conceptual model of China’s e-shopping adoption, examined the spatial characteristics of the e-shopping usage across 1918 counties, and explored its key drivers. The findings indicate a digital divide of e-shopping in China, with counties in metropolitan areas having a relatively high online shopping index (SI) value. The counties’ online shopping levels in China decrease from the eastern coastal regions to the rural-mountainous regions in west China. This study also found that the key drivers of e-shopping adoption are the rate of urbanization, local delivery systems, and the internet connection, which indicates that geographical attributes, rather than socioeconomic problems, have to be solved for improving online shopping adoption.

Factors affecting online shopping frequency: lessons from New Zealand

“…Furthermore, some retailers do not deliver to such areas. Underdeveloped local delivery systems may lower online shopping rates amongst rural and remote dwellers (Song 2021).…”

Assessing the Effects of Delivery Attributes on E-Shopping Consumer Behaviour

“…Ignat and Chankov [9] evaluated the role of information on e-customers preferences and identified that consumers tend to accept longer delivery times and pay more for environmentally sustainable deliveries. Sociodemographic characteristics have already been studied in the context of eshopping consumption [30]. For example, Xiao et al [10] identified that e-shopping frequency is positively influenced by gender, marital status, and the educational level of the consumers.…”

The increase in online shopping during COVID‐19: Who is responsible, will it last, and what does it mean for cities?

“…Most studies further find age to be a primary determinant of online shopping likelihood and have put forth several arguments to support older consumers reluctance to shop online, which include the presence of a digital divide as well as older consumers' reported preference for trying out products in‐person before purchasing them (Hernández et al, 2011; Lee et al, 2015; Trocchia & Janda, 2000; Zhang, 2009). The effect of gender appears to be more convoluted, if at all present, as several earlier studies find men to be the primary users of e‐commerce (Farag et al, 2007), but more recent research suggesting a reversal of this trend (Jaller & Pahwa, 2020; Sener & Reeder, 2012) or reporting no gender effect at all (Lee et al, 2015; Song, 2021).…”