Journal of Marketing Science ›› 2024, Vol. 4 ›› Issue (1): 107-120.

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Study on the Motivations of Small and Medium-sized Merchants' Participations in Emerging Online Discount Platforms: Based on the Perspective of Customer Operation Capability

Li Xiaoling,Wang Lingpiao,Bai Yin,Wu Zongshu   

  1. Li Xiaoling, School of Economics and Business Administration,Chongqing University;  Wang Lingpiao, School of Economics and Business Administration,Chongqing University;  Bai Yin, College of Management and Economics,Tianjin University;  Wu Zongshu, School of Economics and Business Administration,Chongqing University;
  • Online:2024-01-16 Published:2024-05-30

Abstract: The development of emerging online platforms relies on attracting merchants with market operation experiences and capabilities. Taking the emerging online discount platform as an example, this study uses small and medium-sized merchants in a specific industry (e. g. , consumer electronics industry) as the observation sample, and employs an individual panel fixed effects model combined with Dynamic Capability Theory to explore the wilingness of merchants with high customer operating capability who mainly attract free traffic, and the willingness of merchants with low customer operating capability who mainly attract paid traffic to adopt the emerging online discount platform,  and analyses the boundary conditions that affect the willingness for adoption. The findings suggest that maintaining a competitive advantage and reducing traffic dependency are the main motivations influencing the adoption of emerging online discount platforms by both types of merchants. However, under the moderating effects of brand strength and user viscosity, the adoption of emerging online discount platforms varies among merchants with different traffic sources. This study enriches the research related to emerging online platforms' adoption and sheds new light on merchants' traffic attraction strategies. 

Key words: emerging online discount platform, customer , operation capabiliy, paid traffic, free traffic