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Electronic Commerce Research - Editor's Pick

  • AI pricing algorithms under platform competition (this opens in a new tab)
    by J. Manuel Sanchez-Cartas &Evangelos Katsamakas (Published online: 28 February 2024

    "The authors' research stands out for its unique approach, exploring the performance of two machine-learning pricing algorithms on electronic commerce platforms.  Q-learning and Particle Swarm Optimization are benchmarked against industry-standard price-matching algorithms. This novel approach adds to the substantial industry and academic research seeking to set optimal price structures that can internalize network effects. The study found that no single algorithm is always the most profitable and that this equivocality resulted from competing algorithms and market characteristics, such as differentiation and network effects."
     
  • The impact of FinTech firms on bank financial stability (this opens in a new tab)
    by Md Safiullah & Sudharshan Reddy Paramati

    "In developed financial centers, we accept as universal the advances that have taken place over the past two decades in digital banking platforms.  This study, though limited, provides a fascinating analysis of electronic commerce financial technologies on the operations and markets of a wealthy country (Malaysia) where banking operations and markets have only recently adopted such tools. The study provides insights that will be useful to other countries and banks at the same stage of development as Malaysia, particularly those where large and lucrative portions of the financial sector follow Islamic law concerning financial instruments and operations."
     
  • Be constantly different! How to manage influencer authenticity (this opens in a new tab)
    by Robert Zniva, Wolfgang J. Weitzl & Christina Lindmoser

    "This interesting experimental study explores how social media influencers can take advantage of their reach of consumers’ decision-making by obtaining rewards from marketers.  It tackles a problematic challenge presented to influencers -- consumers' perception of their authenticity.   Authenticity is the key to obtaining a critical mass of followers, and it is directly correlated with an influencer's ability to persuade consumers to buy products."
     
  • The impact of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions on offline and online grocery shopping: New normal or old habits? (this opens in a new tab)
    by Philipp Brüggemann & Rainer Olbrich

    "This comprehensive empirical study seeks to determine whether online grocery shopping, which gained popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic, represented a ‘new normal.’ The study extensively analyzed 17,766 German household purchases before, during, and after the COVID lockdown.   The findings revealed that over 10% of the consumers avoided brick-and-mortar retail during the lockdown. Still, almost all of them returned afterward, though with more customer churn than they had previously experienced.  This is an exciting result in that it suggests that electronic commerce in the grocery sector impacts customer behavior, but one that is not necessarily 'sticky' and which may be inherently volatile."
     
  • Let's play! Gamification as a marketing tool to deliver a digital luxury experience (this opens in a new tab)
    by Matilde Milanesi, Simone Guercini & Andrea Runfola

    "This interesting qualitative study examines gamification as a digital marketing tool to deliver a luxury experience. It reviews individual and collective gaming experiences, exclusiveness through rarity in luxury gaming, social networking and virtual influencing marketing mechanisms, and cross-fertilization between gaming and e-commerce. Such analyses will grow more critical as game and interactive video technology, particularly those driven by artificial intelligence innovations, begin to enter the market."



Westland headshot

J. Christopher Westland

Editor-in-Chief

Electronic Commerce Research

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