Analysis of the New Retail Model of E-Commerce in China

By applying advanced technology in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, businesses are upgrading and transforming all links from the production stage to the final delivery of goods to customers, thereby reshaping the entire e-commerce ecosystem. This paper analyzes the new retail model of e-commerce, and discusses its differences with the traditional model of e-commerce. The goal of this research is to explore which model is more in line with the current trends by utilizing the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) methodology. Experts working at top Chinese e-commerce companies were surveyed on four main criteria (technology, consumer, merchandise, and operation). By analyzing their responses, the reasoning behind why these four major criteria obtained their corresponding weights was studied. The results show that the customer is the most important factor among the four criteria, while technology seems to be less significant. Among the sub-criteria, the convenience of consumption is found to be the most important. The new retail model of e-commerce, which has started to flourish in China, is found to be more in line with current trends. This paper shows the reasons why the new retail model of e-commerce is important at a practical level, and provides a better understanding of its current status in China.