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The impact of online grocery shopping on stockpile behavior in Covid-19

Na Hao (School of Economics, Beijing Technology and Business University (BTBU), Beijing, China)
H. Holly Wang (CARD, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China) (Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA)
Qingjie Zhou (School of Economics, Beijing Technology and Business University (BTBU), Beijing, China)

China Agricultural Economic Review

ISSN: 1756-137X

Article publication date: 12 August 2020

Issue publication date: 20 August 2020

11494

Abstract

Purpose

This research is to examine the impact of online channels on food stockpile behavior.

Design/methodology/approach

In this study, we use bivariate probit models to empirically investigate the impact of online purchasing channels on Chinese urban consumer food hoarding behaviors with random survey samples.

Findings

Results show that fresh food e-commerce channels are more likely to be associated with panic stockpile behaviors due to higher likelihood of supply shortages than offline channels with government assistance in logistic management. In contrast, community group buy, another format of e-commerce, appears superior in satisfying the consumer needs and easing the panic buying perception.

Practical implications

It suggests that online channels may have diverse impacts on consumers' panic stockpiling behaviors during the extreme situations. Online channels need to develop efficient supply chains to be more resilient to extreme situations and the government shall recognize the increasing share of the online channels together with traditional offline channels when implementing supporting policies.

Social implications

With ever increasing share of online channels, it is imperative in terms of policy implications to understand how would online channels affect hoarding behavior.

Originality/value

We are the first study in online shopping's impact on food stockpile during pandemics using a random sample. Although food stockpile behavior at times of emergency have been investigated in many literature, there are no empirical studies on the impact of online channels on stockpile behaviors under extreme situations. Unlike disasters that immediately impact every entity in supply chains covering producers, vendors, distribution centers and retailers, pandemics did not render supply chains affected immediately, but rather increase consumers' willingness to shop online to avoid virus. Thus, Covid-19 provides a natural experiment to investigate the online channels' impact on stockpile behavior.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Beijing Municipal Education Commission Social Science Funding, SM201810011002; Beijing Technology and Business University Young talent research funding, PXM2018_014213_000033; and 2017 Beijing high level group building program, IDHT20170505.

Citation

Hao, N., Wang, H.H. and Zhou, Q. (2020), "The impact of online grocery shopping on stockpile behavior in Covid-19", China Agricultural Economic Review, Vol. 12 No. 3, pp. 459-470. https://doi.org/10.1108/CAER-04-2020-0064

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited

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