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Journal of Integrative Agriculture  2024, Vol. 23 Issue (04): 1409-1428    DOI: 10.1016/j.jia.2023.10.020
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Impacts of agri-food e-commerce on traditional wholesale industry: Evidence from China

Ruyi Yang1, Jifang Liu1, Shanshan Cao1, Wei Sun1, Fantao Kong2#

1 Institute of Agricultural Information, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China

2 Institute of Special Animal and Plant Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changchun 130112, China

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摘要  

当前数字经济蓬勃发展,电商助力传统产业转型升级,成为其新旧动能转换的主要推动力。作为中国农产品流通的主阵地传统农产品批发业正面临着数字经济发展带来的重大机遇和挑战厘清农产品电商对传统批发业发展的影响意义重大。利用2013—2020年中国省级面板数据,通过熵值法分别测算得出农产品电商发展水平(AEC)和农产品批发业发展水平(AWI),采用面板固定效应模型从数字化基础DIGITAL)、电商基础设施建设和服务(AECI)和电商经济(AECE)三方面探究AECAWI的影响作用,并利用面板门槛模型剖析AECIAWI的非线性影响效应。研究结果显示:(1)从全国层面上看,AWI在研究期内平稳发展,AEC呈现强劲发展势头;(2DIGITALAECE可有效提升AWIAECIAWI产生一定负向影响;(3AECIAWI的抑制作用存在三阶段影响效应,表现为抑制程度先增强后减弱。通过研究得出,随着数字新基建不断夯实,电商发展带来的鲶鱼效应”让传统农产品批发业更具活力。此外,尽管B2B、社区团购等农产品电商分流了传统农产品批发业的部分流量,但两者基本实现了资源共享和经济效益上的互利协同发展



Abstract  

Rapidly expanding studies investigate the effects of e-commerce on company operations in the retail market.  However, the interaction between agri-food e-commerce (AEC) and the traditional agri-food wholesale industry (AWI) has not received enough attention in the existing literature.  Based on the provincial panel data from 2013 to 2020 in China, this paper examines the effect of AEC on AWI, comprising three dimensions: digitalization (DIGITAL), agri-food e-commerce infrastructure and supporting services (AECI), and agri-food e-commerce economy (AECE).  First, AWI and AEC are measured using an entropy-based combination of indicators.  The results indicate that for China as a whole, AWI has remained practically unchanged, whereas AEC exhibits a significant rising trend.  Second, the findings of the fixed-effect regression reveal that DIGITAL and AECE tend to raise AWI, whereas AECI negatively affects AWI.  Third, threshold regression results indicate that AECI tends to diminish AWI with three-stage inhibitory intensity, which manifests as a first increase and then a drop in the inhibition degree.  These results suggest that with the introduction of e-commerce for agricultural product circulation, digital development will have catfish effects that tend to stimulate the vitality of the conventional wholesale industry and promote technical progress.  Furthermore, the traditional wholesale industry benefits financially from e-commerce even while it diverts part of the traditional wholesale circulation for agricultural products.

Keywords:  agri-food e-commerce       traditional wholesale industry        panel threshold model        dual-channel circulation   
Received: 02 March 2023   Accepted: 01 June 2023
Fund: This study was supported by the Leading Talent Support Program for Agricultural Talents of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (TCS2022020) and the General program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (1573263).
About author:  Ruyi Yang, E-mail: 1yry1@sina.com; #Correspondence Fantao Kong, E-mail: kongfantao@caas.cn

Cite this article: 

Ruyi Yang, Jifang Liu, Shanshan Cao, Wei Sun, Fantao Kong. 2024.

Impacts of agri-food e-commerce on traditional wholesale industry: Evidence from China . Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 23(04): 1409-1428.

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