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New trends in e-commerce research: linking social commerce and sharing commerce: a systematic literature review.

1. Introduction

• What are the different issues/difficulties related to S-Commerce and sharing commerce?
• What are the various benefits of S-Commerce and sharing commerce?

2. Background

2.1. e-commerce, 2.2. s-commerce, 2.3. sharing commerce, 2.4. historical development/evolution of e-commerce, s-commerce, and sharing commerce, 3. methodology, 3.1. review protocol, 3.2. inclusion and exclusion criteria, 3.3. search strategy and study selection process, 3.4. quality assessment, 3.5. data extraction and synthesis, 3.5.1. publication sources overview, 3.5.2. temporal view of publication, 3.5.3. research methodologies, 3.5.4. theoretical foundations: classification of theories are based on the primary goals of each theory, 4. research questions (rqs) results, 4.1. what are the definitions of s-commerce and sharing commerce, 4.2. what are the various themes revealed by the systematic review, 4.3. what are the various factors to be understood in linking s-commerce and sharing commerce, 4.3.1. what are the challenges/issues associated with s-commerce and sharing commerce, 4.3.2. what are the various benefits/advantages of s-commerce and sharing commerce, 5. research propositions, 5.1. conceptual and theoretical development, 5.1.1. defining the key concepts and terms, 5.1.2. understanding, theorising, and measuring various integrating and influencing factors in online commerce and measuring impact, 5.2. design and interaction, 5.2.1. the role of socio-cultural factors in facilitating decision making, 5.2.2. the role of design and technological factors in facilitating decision making, 5.2.3. the role of behavioural factors in facilitating decision-making, 5.2.4. the role of various factors in linking s-commerce and sharing commerce, 5.3. implementation, 5.3.1. understanding critical success factors, 5.3.2. culture and adoption, 5.3.3. ethical and legal issues, 6. ideas for future research, 7. conclusions, supplementary materials, author contributions, acknowledgments, conflicts of interest.

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Attar, R.W.; Almusharraf, A.; Alfawaz, A.; Hajli, N. New Trends in E-Commerce Research: Linking Social Commerce and Sharing Commerce: A Systematic Literature Review. Sustainability 2022 , 14 , 16024. https://doi.org/10.3390/su142316024

Attar RW, Almusharraf A, Alfawaz A, Hajli N. New Trends in E-Commerce Research: Linking Social Commerce and Sharing Commerce: A Systematic Literature Review. Sustainability . 2022; 14(23):16024. https://doi.org/10.3390/su142316024

Attar, Razaz Waheeb, Ahlam Almusharraf, Areej Alfawaz, and Nick Hajli. 2022. "New Trends in E-Commerce Research: Linking Social Commerce and Sharing Commerce: A Systematic Literature Review" Sustainability 14, no. 23: 16024. https://doi.org/10.3390/su142316024

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Research on e-commerce data standard system in the era of digital economy from the perspective of organizational psychology.

• Henan University School of Law/Intellectual Property School, Institute of Civil and Commercial Law of Henan University, Kaifeng, China

With the rapid development of technology and the economy, the expansion of the network has had a huge impact on the rapid expansion of the industrial agglomeration e-commerce industry, as well as ensuring the shopping experience of consumers. The rapid expansion of industrial cluster e-commerce has avoided precisely the limitations of logistical bottlenecks. Current networks and modern information technologies can provide good support and maintain a huge growth potential. In addition, digital technologies such as multimedia are becoming increasingly important in industry cluster marketing, and the concept of industry cluster e-commerce models is gaining more and more attention from companies. However, virtual e-commerce systems under industrial clusters have not been well researched in the existing studies. In this paper, through extensive research, literature reading and website browsing statistics, the virtual e-commerce models of different industrial agglomerations are studied. Firstly, the concept of big data and the processing of big data are given. Secondly, the concept of industrial agglomeration and the relationship between industrial agglomeration and e-commerce are analyzed. The basic number of domestic Internet users in the last 10 years is also counted, proving that the expansion of the Internet has led to a substantial growth of Internet users in the country and that e-commerce plays a significant role in the future of business activities. Finally the study concludes that different e-commerce models have different performance and roles in industrial agglomeration e-commerce and cannot be generalized. Instead, it is not good and can only develop different industrial agglomeration e-commerce models according to different environments.

Introduction

In the long history of mankind, when people explore and discover the law of unknowns, they rely mainly on reasoning methods such as experience, theory, and assumptions, which are largely influenced by personal prejudice. Later, people invented mathematical tools such as statistics, sampling, and probability. Through careful design and extraction methods, a small number of data samples were obtained to infer the whole picture of things. Therefore, there are often deviations and distortions in understanding things. According to Victor Meyer, thanks to advances in technology, people can access all the data of a research object and understand things from different angles. Analyze the different dimensions of all data from an incomprehensible perspective. With the rapid expansion of electronic signal technology, e-commerce ( Anam et al., 2017 ; Irene, 2018 ) has changed an inevitable outcome of the expansion of the times and is also a form of transaction that adapts to market demand. The expansion of e-commerce is very gratifying. After more than 10 years of expansion, B2C ( Gui et al., 2019 ) and C2C ( Navarro-Méndez et al., 2017 ) have become the main mode of e-commerce in China. The model has the vitality of information transparency, flexible trading, high efficiency and price advantage. With the rapid propagate of the Net, by the end of 2018, the number of Internet users in China reached 1.08 billion. A great deal of Internet users has established a good customer base for the expansion of e-commerce. In addition, the continuous improvement of relevant laws and regulations and the maturity of information technology have laid the foundation for the expansion of e-commerce. By combining big data with e-commerce, e-commerce based on big data will become the main research direction of the future society ( Nik et al., 2017 ).

Mega data (big data) ( Wang et al., 2017 ; Zhou et al., 2017 ) is what we often call big data, also known as massive data. Giant data is actually a data repository. In this era, it can be used as an asset. After professional analysis, the efficiency is higher, the amount of data is larger, the data is diverse, and the sources are different, most of which are instantaneous. The communication information generated during the sales process is also generated instantaneously. For example, customer basic data, website clicks, network data, etc., are all counted in big data, some are part of customer information, and some are not counted. In the 1980s, some scholars predicted big data and believed that big data will surely ignite the new wave of the third technological revolution. Since 2009, “Big Data” has made great progress with the rapid expansion of e-commerce and cloud computing ( Liu et al., 2018 ) and is gradually becoming well known to the public. As can be seen from the latest data, the growth of data on the Internet and mobile Internet has gradually approached Moore’s Law, and global data and information have been created “over doubling every 18 months” over the years. The application of big data in industrial agglomeration ( Xuan, 2017 ; Nádudvari et al., 2018 ) e-commerce is also getting more and more wide-ranging.

Industrial clusters ( Cao et al., 2017 ; Wang and Yu, 2017 ) have a long history as well-functioning organizations. At the end of the 19th century, Marshall creatively defined the concept of “industry zone,” that is, industrial clusters. He defines “industrial zone” as the agglomeration of certain industrial zones, which is determined by two factors: history and natural resources. There are many companies of different sizes in the area. There is a close relationship between cooperation and competition, which gradually affects the integration of industrial clusters and society. According to Marshall, the reason for the emergence of “industry zones” in the region is a combination of inside and outside factors. Later, Weber believed that the phenomenon of industrial clusters was the result of regional and geographic influences. Companies with regional and geographic advantages have established close partnerships through partnerships with other related companies. Establish complex and close internal network relationships, achieve the aggregation of enterprises in a specific region, and then develop into industrial clusters. In recent decades, academia and industry have been highly involved in the expansion of synergies between industrial clusters and supply chains. They actively used industrial clusters and supply chains in corporate management ( Heiner and Marc, 2018 ) and achieved remarkable results. Clusters and supply chains can provide a competitive advantage for businesses. However, with the rapid expansion of e-commerce, industrial clusters are faced with the dilemma of optimizing transformation and upgrading. The traditional approach to supply chain management is far from meeting the needs of users. Therefore, it is a major problem to study how e-commerce uses the first-mover advantage to promote synergy between industrial clusters and supply chains.

For the core enterprises in the industrial agglomeration, because of their own advantages in terms of capital and technology, as well as a number of strong manufacturers and suppliers, so that the online market established by the enterprise has a large number of members and good prospects for development, and attracts some new members to join, once the establishment of close cooperation in this online market, its members want to move to other online market will be very expensive, so that the core enterprises in the online market to consolidate their existing position ( Yang et al., 2022 ; Han et al., 2021 ; Setiawan et al., 2022 ; Suska, 2022 ; Yu et al., 2022 ). Therefore, e-commerce has developed into a new opportunity to enhance the synergy of China’s supply chain and enhance its competitive advantage. In the end, this paper starts from the business reality of big data-based industry agglomeration e-commerce, fully considers the dependence of industrial agglomeration area on e-commerce in the era of big data, and studies the relationship between the concept of industrial agglomeration and the relationship between e-commerce and industrial agglomeration. Therefore, with the support of big data, this paper analyses the number of netizens, the level of economic expansion, etc., and compares the impact of e-commerce yield and industrial agglomeration e-commerce investment and big data and e-commerce on industrial agglomeration. The merits and demerits of e-commerce in the type of industrial agglomeration, and the expectation is to provide a summary and reference for the industry to gather e-commerce enterprises to obtain competitive advantages in the market competition.

Big Data and E-Commerce Related Definitions

Big data overview.

With the popularity of the Internet and the rapid expansion of information technology, the signal age is making a subtle transition to the big data era. The network has turned into an integral part of people’s production and life. While enjoying the convenience brought by the information network, people also continuously feedback and input information to the network. Some information involves individual privacy, and network information security has become one of the hot topics of research. At present, the social network information security problem is becoming more and more obvious, the conventional information security software has been unable to deal with the endless information security problem, the network society urgently needs a new information technology to protect the increasingly huge information assets, and the big data technology has stronger insight, more scientific decision-making power and more accurate process optimization ability compared with the conventional software. Must be able to play a positive effect.

Professor Victor is known as the “Big Data Prophet.” Big data also called huge amount of data, refers to the amount of data involved is so large that it cannot be captured, managed, processed and collated in a reasonable time through the human brain or even mainstream software tools to help enterprises to make more positive decisions. By analyzing big data, we can draw conclusions that cannot be obtained in the case of small data. The big data we usually talk about is more about getting valuable information in a short time by quickly analyzing a large amount of data.

Big Data Analysis Process and Features

In general, there are many methods for analyzing big data, and in theory it is still in the exploration stage, but no matter what kind of big data analysis method follows the basic process, the flow chart is shown in Figure 1 .

Figure 1. Big data processing flow.

The first process of big data analysis is acquisition. Big data sampling ( Bivand and Krivoruchko, 2018 ; Cohen et al., 2018 ) means collect information collection platforms to collect users or other data. In the process of big data collection, the main problem is that the amount of data is huge, the amount of collection is large, and the data collection point is large. A large amount of data needs to be collected at the same time. Therefore, in the process of collecting big data, it is necessary to establish a larger database and how to further design the reasonable use and distribution of the database.

The second step is import and beneficiate. This mainly means that invalid information, redundant information and low-value information are excluded after the first information collection is completed, so it is necessary to execute the data before processing. Effective screening and brief analysis, and then import the resulting preliminary filtering information into another large database, this step is mainly to pre-process the big data.

The third step in big data processing is to perform statistics and analysis. This process is a process of further refinement of big data, analyzing and screening valid data, and performing statistical processing to obtain effective information.

The fourth step in big data is to deal with the mining ( Rezaei-Hachesu et al., 2017 ; Fan et al., 2018 ; Svefors et al., 2019 ) process. Unlike the above process, there is no clear path or statistical analysis method for big data information mining. It is mainly used for databases that collect large amounts of data and use various algorithms for calculations, so it is complex data. Try to get predictions or get other valid conclusions. The statistical analysis and mining process of big data is considered to be a key process for transforming data from data into value space and value sources in the process of big data information processing.

The final step is using information obtained from big data. In particular, it can be used for business decision behavior predictions, while sales companies can provide accuracy. Marketing, achieving service conversion, etc. The application prospect of big data is very broad, and it has a good application prospect in transportation, sales management, economic research and forecasting.

At present, there is no authoritative unified standard. At present, the “4V” function of big data has been widely recognized.

First, the data size is huge. In 2012, the world produced about 2.7 billion GB of data per day, the amount of data per day equals the sum of all stored data in the world before 2000. Baidu must process more than 70,000 GB of search data per minute, and Alipay generates an average of 73,000 transactions per minute. Traffic flow monitoring systems and video capture systems can generate large amounts of video data at any time. Temperature sensors in greenhouses and various detectors in the factory are also big data manufacturers. It can be said that the amount of data we generate per minute is unimaginable. Now, the scale of data that big data needs to process continues to grow, reaching orders of magnitude unimaginable in small data.

Second, there is a wide variety of data (Variety). In big data, in addition to the ever-increasing data size, the types of data that people need to deal with are beginning to emerge. The various data types are very numerous and very strange, and only a few can be handled using traditional techniques. Some are unstructured data that traditional technologies cannot handle, and this trend will be long-term, with unstructured data accounting for 90% of all data over the next decade. For example, Tudou’s video library, photos on social networking sites, records, etc., even include RFID status, mobile operator call history, video surveillance video, Weibo and status posted on WeChat. The size, format, and type of data from various sources may vary. Existing data processing techniques are useless and can cause significant difficulties when performing large amounts of processing.

Third, value is difficult to mine. The first two features show that the amount of data and data types in big data are amazing. Faced with a large amount of data, in order to mine hidden “treasures,” the analysis and processing of powerful cloud computing systems is only one aspect, not even the main one. How to analyze big data from the perspective of innovation according to needs, what to use big data ideas to examine big data to explore unimaginable economic and social values. In other words, only the combination of technology and innovation can unlock the value of big data. Otherwise, no amount of data will be useful.

Fourth, the processing speed is high (Velocity). This is the most significant feature of the big data era, unlike the era of small data and the era of probability and statistics. In traditional economic censuses, censuses and other areas, data can be tolerated for days or even a year, as the data obtained at this time still makes sense. Moreover, due to technical limitations, the collected data has been lagging behind, and the structure of statistical analysis is lagging behind, but it must be accepted. Data generation and collection is very fast, and the amount of data is growing all the time. With advanced technology, people can collect data in real time. But in most cases, if you don’t process the data in time, the advanced collection and sorting methods will be meaningless and you won’t need big data. For example, IBM proposed the concept of “big data-level stream computing,” which is designed for real-time analysis of data and results to increase practical value. Therefore, timely and fast processing of data and results is the most important feature of big data.

This is the most significant feature of the big data, unlike the era of small data and the era of probability and statistics. Due to technical limitations, the collected data is backward, and the structure of statistical analysis is also backward, but it must be accepted. Data generation and collection is very fast, and the amount of data has been growing. With advanced technology, people can collect data in real time. But in most cases, if you don’t process the data in time, the advanced collection and sorting methods will be meaningless. For example, IBM proposed the concept of “big data-level stream computing,” which aims to analyze data and results in real time to increase practical value. Therefore, timely and fast processing of data and results is the most significant feature of big data.

E-Commerce Concept

E-commerce generally refers to Internet technology, based on browser/server applications, through the Internet platform, buyers and sellers through various trade activities to achieve consumer online shopping, online payment and new business activities of various business activities and other models. The expansion history of e-commerce has a close relationship with the progress of computer network technology. E-commerce includes many models, such as B2B ( Ning et al., 2018 ) (Business to Business), B2C (Business to Consumer), C2C (Consumer to Consumer), and O2O (Online to Offline). The main centralized e-commerce model is shown in Figure 2 .

Figure 2. Main e-commerce model.

This article focuses on C2C ( Sukrat and Papasratorn, 2018 ) e-commerce. C2C e-commerce refers to a network service provider that uses computer and network technology to provide e-commerce platforms and transaction processes to users in a paid or non-paid manner. Allow both parties to conduct online transactions on their platform. The two sides of the transaction are mainly individual users, and the trading method is based on bidding and bargaining. Like B2B and B2C, C2C is also a basic e-commerce transaction model. In real life, it is similar to the “small commodity wholesale market.” There are many self-employed people in a website, and the website’s role in e-commerce is equivalent to the “market manager” in actual market transactions. At the same time, in order to promote smooth transactions between buyers and sellers, C2C e-commerce provides a series of support services for both parties. For example, in cooperation with market information collection, credit evaluation systems and various payment methods have been established. Due to the rapid expansion of e-commerce, industrial agglomeration has become more impressive. The most prominent performance of industrial agglomeration is the industrial concentration of “Internet + traditional industries” such as “Taobao Village.” C2C is the mainstream of this e-commerce business model. C2C e-commerce “Taobao Village” is a product based on urban and rural expansion in China. It has Chinese characteristics and is a “Chinese product.” This is both a theoretical issue and a very real social phenomenon. The Chinese government has put forward the “Internet+” proposal. With the expansion of China’s strategic emerging industries, “Internet + traditional industries” will become a shortcut for China’s backward regions to seek expansion, which can shorten the time required for expansion, making C2C e-commerce a “hometown of Taobao.” Therefore, in order for the industry to complete transactions, an e-commerce platform and online and offline resources and services are needed. It can be said that the C2C model is an e-commerce model that is very suitable for industrial agglomeration. The biggest advantage of the C2C e-commerce model is that it can produce and deliver enterprise products or services on demand, so that enterprises can quickly develop into large enterprises, and the C2C e-commerce model provides consumers with cheap and affordable purchases. Product and service platforms enable businesses and consumers to achieve a win-win situation.

In traditional market transactions, the delivery of goods from producers to stores requires warehouse storage, vehicle transportation, etc., which increases inventory costs and transportation costs, resulting in increased transaction costs. Unlike real-world trading, since e-commerce joins the virtual network, both buyers and sellers trade through the e-commerce platform, so there is no need for face-to-face communication. This form saves the seller’s transaction costs, including physical store and merchandise inventory and transportation costs. At the same time, buyers can also shop without going out, and can quickly compare products of different merchants through the network, which allows buyers to get more information, more efficient and lower cost. C2C e-commerce uses Internet communication channels based on open standards. Compared with traditional communication methods (such as mail, fax, newspaper, radio, and television), communication costs are greatly reduced.

Industry Agglomeration Virtual E-Commerce

Industrial cluster concept.

Industrial clusters attract the attention of many scholars by attracting resources, economies of scale, knowledge learning and innovation, saving transaction costs, and improving cooperation efficiency. Many mathematicians have studied the composition, characteristic mechanism, and identification criteria of industrial clusters through theoretical derivation, model construction, structural equations, and case studies, and elaborated and summarized the concept of industrial clusters. The definition of industrial agglomeration is that in a relatively limited space of a certain area, geographically adjacent or different geographical entities closely related to relevant institutions and government agencies spontaneously gather together, called industrial clusters. The division of labor between entities and continuous cooperation and innovation have formed a complex cluster network, providing environmental and technical support. The difference is that industrial clusters can adapt to economic expansion, and further transformation and upgrading will form a new industrial cluster model. At the same time, mutual trust, mutual decision-making, and close cooperation have created the greatest value and benefits for the industry. Finally, for the measurement and acquisition of industrial clusters, combined with the practical significance of empirical research, the measurement of industrial clusters is unified by the concentration of specific industries, that is, specific industries. A measure of the spontaneous aggregation of related entities or institutions in a particular industry in the region. If the total quantity or total capacity reaches the previous unified level, it indicates that there is an industrial cluster in the area.

The Relationship Between E-Commerce and Industrial Clusters

With the rise and prosperity of e-commerce, the new business organization system breaks the regional and spatial barriers, promotes the use of e-commerce and partners, establishes synergy and sharing mechanisms, and continuously meets the needs of users. Proactively improve user experience and satisfaction. In addition, e-commerce platforms and logistics platforms are increasingly used in new business models. Although these platforms are very different, the role of the company cannot be underestimated. The platform typically includes several key functional modules such as trading markets, logistics platforms, enterprise services, cluster information, and corporate communities. Cluster companies can conduct informal technology and information exchange on the platform. Through the construction of an e-commerce platform, industrial cluster enterprises can share market conditions, the latest industry technologies, and related industry information in real-time and quickly, creating greater economic benefits for enterprises. This close partnership helps industry clusters increase trust and mutual benefit. In short, e-commerce applications can help industrial clusters effectively integrate regional resources, meet market demands promptly, expand clusters, and increase the level of collaboration and competitiveness of enterprises within the cluster. Currently, the introduction of e-commerce applications has further promoted the expansion of supply chain coordination. As an effective spatial organization model, industrial clusters play an increasingly important role in improving the overall economic level of the region and optimizing the allocation of industrial resources. The rapid expansion of industrial clusters provides natural conditions for the expansion of enterprises, between enterprises and between supply chain members. Similar companies continue to gather, and upstream and downstream companies in the supply chain are also gathered to promote the use of e-commerce. A deeper impact on the synergy of the supply chain. Therefore, for the sake of strengthening the application of e-commerce. Based on continuous research by many scholars, it is further proved that the rapid expansion of industrial clusters promotes the coordinated management of supply chains.

Since 1980, the economy and the world have continued to develop. The Internet and information technology are constantly innovating. In addition to constantly affecting people’s daily lives in various aspects, it also leads the transformation of modern new production organizations. Figure 3 shows the statistics of Chinese netizens in the past decade. As can be seen from the above data, since the popularity of smartphones in 2013, mobile network users have occupied almost the entire network in the past 7 years. In the future expansion, mobile network users will develop more rapidly, making the popularity of mobile Internet and smart phones break the expansion of PC networks. At anytime, anywhere, and on the Internet, the online concept of the PC era has been broken, and immediacy has become a unique personality in the age of network information. A large amount of information, rapid response and scale effect are the main features of the e-commerce. The rapid spread of mobile phone business applications shows that the use of mobile phone networks by netizens has changed from basic communication entertainment to life entertainment. Since 2013, thanks to the expansion of domestic smart phone technology, the Internet access method based on mobile Internet has opened a new period of e-commerce and access to the Internet anytime and anywhere, so that more buyers and sellers can conduct transactions through the network, and Each transaction is based on online trading of various trading tools, and the trading platform and trading model have been rapidly developed. E-commerce has become a grassland, which has an impact on the production value chain, profit model and marketing methods of traditional industries. It can be seen that the growth of the network has boosted the expansion of e-commerce. The growth of e-commerce has promoted industrial agglomeration, and industrial agglomeration has formed economic globalization.

Figure 3. Number and proportion of mobile phone users.

Industrial Agglomeration Virtual E-Commerce Analysis

China’s e-commerce transaction scale.

In the e-commerce environment, China’s e-commerce has undergone earth-shaking changes, especially in the past 30 years, the rapid growth of signal technology and technological innovation have made all aspects related to e-commerce stand out. The cost of online transactions has been greatly reduced, network communication is extremely convenient, and e-commerce is everywhere. On the basis of China’s national conditions, the application and expansion of e-commerce in China is different from that of other countries, but its expansion is in full swing. The expansion of China’s e-commerce is a signification part of accelerating the informationization of the national economy. At the same time, the application of e-commerce has also changed the production organization of enterprises to a large extent. Enterprises and users can interact directly with e-commerce related R&D, technology expansion, production, procurement, marketing and product operations. Other services and links can fully introduce user engagement and control market demand trends in real time. Table 1 shows the scope of China’s e-commerce transactions collected from the China E-Commerce Research Center.

Table 1. Scope of China’s e-commerce transactions.

Figure 4 shows the scope of China’s e-commerce market transactions from 2013 to 2017. It can be seen that as of 2018, China’s e-commerce still maintains a rapid growth trend. With the continuous encouragement and support of the government, all relevant systems are in a stage of continuous improvement. Under the impetus of e-commerce, enterprises and users, constantly proposing new consumer demand will help the rapid expansion of the upstream and downstream industry chains of traditional enterprises and provide new impetus for China’s economic expansion.

Figure 4. Trends in the scale of China’s e-commerce transactions.

It can be seen from Figure 5 that from 2001 to 2008, industrial agglomeration e-commerce investment and fixed asset investment are all levels of sustained growth, which proves that e-commerce expansion is relatively rapid during this period. In the future, industrial agglomeration investment profits can be Add a lot. From 2008 to 2015, the level of China’s economy was in a period of slow growth, and the investment level during this period was almost stable. After 2015, due to the saturation of the economy, the investment level remained at a certain level and the economic expansion region was stable.

Figure 5. Changes in national fixed asset investment and industrial agglomeration e-commerce investment from 2001 to 2018.

The Impact of the Level of Big Data Expansion on E-Commerce in Industrial Agglomeration

With the increasing popularity and expansion of the Internet, e-commerce has become an important aspect of Internet applications. In addition to the old e-commerce companies, traditional stores also opened their own online shopping malls. Consumers are also increasingly enjoying this convenient and fast way to shop. According to CNNIC’s statistical report, as of last year, the number of Internet users in China has reached 1.008 billion, and the proportion of online shopping among netizens has increased to 55.7%. In addition to online shopping, many service industries or national administrative departments have also increased the construction of online platforms, such as online car rental, travel route booking, room service, online transaction management fees, etc., further expanding the application field. E-commerce has created more business growth points. The expansion of business types and the explosive growth of business volume have brought a lot of data information. The old e-commerce companies Amazon, Alibaba and so on are all beneficiaries of big data. It can be said that without the support of big data technology, there is no e-commerce enterprise today.

The expansion of big data makes practitioners more competitive in e-commerce. From the perspective of the number of competitors, China’s e-commerce industry is currently in a highly concentrated stage. Although a large number of e-commerce companies have emerged, in the field of online retail, Taobao, Tmall, Jingdong, No. 1 store, Amazon and many others occupy most of the market. The emergence of big data has further increased barriers to entry, so the number of competitors in the online retail industry will change less. From the perspective of foreign competitors, it will undoubtedly increase the intensity of market competition. For example, the way Amazon enters the Chinese market is to acquire Joyo. From the perspective of switching costs, the e-commerce industry has typical low-cost conversion characteristics for consumers. On-site e-commerce companies often use large subsidies, promotions and free shipping to retain old users and win new users, which makes the market competitive. The pressure is constantly increasing. Pursuit of economies of scale. Most industries have significant economies of scale. E-commerce operators are pursuing economies of scale and blindly expanding, resulting in overcapacity, which ultimately led to fierce competition in the industry.

Figure 6 shows the expansion index for big data and e-commerce. As can be seen from the above data, in the future expansion process, big data is indispensable as a tool to support e-commerce and industrial agglomeration, and e-commerce is expanding very rapidly. The expansion of industrial agglomeration plays a very significant role. In the future, the expansion of e-commerce in all walks of life cannot be ignored. The future world is the electronic world and the data world. As an effective management mode of enterprise manufacturing and industrial organization, industrial cluster and supply chain management have become the inevitable requirements and strategic measures for enterprises to survive and develop in various fields. The coupled industrial cluster supply chain provides a new expansion trend for resource coordination and industrial upgrading, enabling cluster enterprises to improve traditional production methods, respond quickly to user needs, and consciously work closely together to grasp rapid changes more quickly and accurately. In order to deal with this problem, it is necessary to improve the operational efficiency of the enterprise through the information charge platform and modern management tools. Through the information platform, this work-use management becomes more complex, professional and standardized, thus freeing up enough energy to respond to industry changes.

Figure 6. Impact of big data and e-commerce on industrial agglomeration expansion.

In industrial agglomeration, the pioneering role of core enterprises should not be overlooked. If the pioneering enterprises can be cultivated effectively, through it to other enterprises and supporting enterprises to enter the industry to play a direct demonstration and produce cohesion, so that the formation of industrial agglomeration has a driving effect. At present, some of the core enterprises in the industry have already established a relatively complete e-commerce system. If we can combine the needs of SMEs in the industry, open up some of the functions of the system to a certain extent, and realize the sharing of information and knowledge with enterprises in the industry, this is very beneficial to enhancing the enthusiasm of SMEs to participate in industrial division of labor and cooperation, and at the same time lowering the this is very beneficial to increase the enthusiasm of SMEs to participate in industrial division of labor and cooperation, and at the same time reduces the threshold for SMEs to participate in e-commerce. A well-developed social network based on marketization or externalization is the basis for the formation and development of industrial clusters. To this end, the construction of information service organizations and networks within industrial clusters should be supported and encouraged to provide a variety of information services to enterprises, reducing the wasted costs and incomplete information caused by enterprises collecting information alone. At the same time, the construction of public institutions and means of communication that facilitate interaction between producers and the market should be strengthened, cooperation between enterprises and universities or research institutes should be encouraged, and the establishment of local public institutions that provide technical training, technical support and market information to producers should be supported. In addition, the construction of information advisory services should be accelerated and a multi-level public information platform should be established. In this regard, government departments or professional information service providers can intervene to provide a full range of information service approaches and dovetail with government public data platforms to achieve low-cost information services and knowledge provision within the industry.

Analysis of Advantages and Disadvantages of Different Business Models in Industrial Agglomeration

As shown in Figure 7 , for the industrial agglomeration of the B2C e-commerce model, all goods and services of the enterprise are carried out through the network, including online shopping, online payment, logistics and after-sales. They are all done over the Internet and won’t be traded face to face. This model puts forward higher requirements for industrial agglomeration enterprises. Compared with the C2C and O2O models, the selection of the B2C e-commerce model requires that the industrial agglomeration area has a good organizational management level and complete information construction, because all activities are carried out online. Among the three e-commerce models, the B2C model has the highest information security requirements and requires more financial support and sufficient strength to ensure smooth transactions. For the C2C model, the needs of enterprises are much lower than those of B2C. For industries with insufficient funds, low level of enterprise informatization and low management level, C2C e-commerce model can be selected. The industrial cluster area builds an e-commerce trading platform through website construction. Consumers can find the trading objects and negotiate the transaction through the platform. Industrial agglomeration enterprises only need to optimize platform management, maintain transaction order, formulate transaction specifications, and improve trust mechanisms. Therefore, the C2C e-commerce model has lower requirements for the company’s capital, information and management level than the B2C model. For the O2O model, the network becomes the platform for offline transactions. For industrial clusters, the function of the C2C e-commerce model is to undertake the browsing work of consumers, let consumers understand the information through the platform, and then conduct transactions online. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce the investment cost of the C2C e-commerce model, and its management level and informatization level are lower than the B2C and O2O e-commerce models. Most industrial clusters can conduct business activities through the C2C platform.

Figure 7. Advantages and disadvantages of different e-commerce in industrial agglomeration.

As the rising of Internet industry and other technologies, on the basis of the rapid expansion of e-commerce, the coordination problem of e-commerce has gradually emerged, affecting the organizational environment. At present, the research related to e-commerce and supply chain collaboration is getting more and more attention. As a new impetus for economic expansion, e-commerce has brought new impetus to the supply chain. In the process of supply chain coordination, e-commerce means making the required information more convenient and accurate, thus further enhancing the trust of the supply chain enterprises and the internal and external trust, and bringing economic benefits, the company has further expanded. In this paper, through the different applications of virtual e-commerce in industrial agglomeration, different e-commerce types highlight different characteristics in big data. Therefore, this paper analyses industrial agglomeration and electronics through literature comparison and data survey. The relationship between business, and through the investigation, we can see that the industrial agglomeration investment has been continuously expanded with the expansion of e-commerce and big data, which also proves that the future expansion of e-commerce is promising. Finally, the application of three different e-commerce models in industrial agglomeration is compared. The results show that different e-commerce models are determined by their own different, so we must choose the correct e-commerce model to adapt to the expansion of society through the actual situation.

Industrial agglomeration is an important way to enhance regional economic development, while e-commerce promotes the integration of enterprises into the world market. The author intends to analyse the problems of enterprise e-commerce in this context from the perspective of industrial agglomeration, and propose how to better realize the interaction between e-commerce and industrial agglomeration, so as to achieve the improvement of the competitiveness of enterprises in the industry.

Data Availability Statement

The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/supplementary material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

Author Contributions

HY was responsible for designing the framework of the entire manuscript from topic selection to solution to experimental verification.

Research on the Path and Countermeasures of Cultivating and Expanding Rural Collective Economy in Kaifeng City.

Conflict of Interest

The author declares that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s Note

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Keywords : virtual e-commerce, industrial agglomeration expansion, big data, e-commerce model, standard system

Citation: Yue H (2022) Research on E-Commerce Data Standard System in the Era of Digital Economy From the Perspective of Organizational Psychology. Front. Psychol. 13:900698. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.900698

Received: 21 March 2022; Accepted: 14 April 2022; Published: 04 May 2022.

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Copyright © 2022 Yue. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Hongqiang Yue, [email protected]

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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E-Commerce and Consumer Protection in India: The Emerging Trend

• Original Paper
• Published: 09 July 2021
• Volume 180 , pages 581–604, ( 2022 )

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• Neelam Chawla   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-2161-1102 1 &
• Basanta Kumar   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-3339-7481 2  

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Given the rapid growth and emerging trend of e-commerce have changed consumer preferences to buy online, this study analyzes the current Indian legal framework that protects online consumers ’  interests. A thorough analysis of the two newly enacted laws, i.e., the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 and Consumer Protection (E-commerce) Rules, 2020 and literature review support analysis of 290 online consumers answering the research questions and achieving research objectives. The significant findings are that a secure and reliable system is essential for e-business firms to work successfully; cash on delivery is the priority option for online shopping; website information and effective customer care services build a customer's trust. The new regulations are arguably strong enough to protect and safeguard online consumers' rights and boost India’s e-commerce growth. Besides factors such as s ecurity, privacy, warranty, customer service, and website information, laws governing  consumer rights protection in e-commerce influence customers’ trust. Growing e-commerce looks promising with a robust legal framework and consumer protection measures. The findings contribute to the body of knowledge on e-commerce and consumer rights protection by elucidating the key factors that affect customer trust and loyalty and offering an informative perspective on e-consumer protection in the Indian context with broader implications.

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Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.

Study Background

The study context, which discusses two key aspects, namely the rationale for consumer protection in e-commerce and its growth, is presented hereunder:

The Rationale for Consumer Protection in E-commerce

Consumer protection is a burning issue in e-commerce throughout the globe. E-Commerce refers to a mechanism that mediates transactions to sell goods and services through electronic exchange. E-commerce increases productivity and widens choice through cost savings, competitiveness and a better production process organisation Footnote 1 (Vancauteren et al., 2011 ). According to the guidelines-1999 of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), e-commerce is online business activities-both communications, including advertising and marketing, and transactions comprising ordering, invoicing and payments (OECD, 2000 ). OCED-1999 guidelines recognised, among others, three essential dimensions of consumer protection in e-commerce. All consumers need to have access to e-commerce. Second, to build consumer trust/confidence in e-commerce, the continued development of transparent and effective consumer protection mechanisms is required to check fraudulent, misleading, and unfair practices online. Third, all stakeholders-government, businesses, consumers, and their representatives- must pay close attention to creating effective redress systems. These guidelines are primarily for cross-border transactions (OECD, 2000 ).

Considering the technological advances, internet penetration, massive use of smartphones and social media penetration led e-commerce growth, the OECD revised its 1999 recommendations for consumer protection in 2016. The 2016-guidelines aim to address the growing challenges of e-consumers’ protection by stimulating innovation and competition, including non-monetary transactions, digital content products, consumers-to-consumers (C2C) transactions, mobile devices, privacy and security risks, payment protection and product safety. Furthermore, it emphasises the importance of consumer protection authorities in ensuring their ability to protect e-commerce consumers and cooperate in cross-border matters (OECD, 2016 ). The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), in its notes-2017, also recognises similar consumer protection challenges in e-commerce. The notes look into policy measures covering relevant laws and their enforcement, consumer education, fair business practices and international cooperation to build consumer trust (UNCTAD, 2017 ).

E-commerce takes either the domestic (intra-border) route or cross-border (International) transactions. Invariably, six e-commerce models, i.e. Business-to-Consumer (B2C), Business-to-Business (B2B), Consumer-to-Business (C2B), Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C), Business-to-Administration (B2A) and Consumer-to-Administration (C2A) operate across countries (UNESAP and ADB, 2019 ; Kumar & Chandrasekar, 2016 ). Irrespective of the model, the consumer is the King in the marketplace and needs to protect his interest. However, the focus of this paper is the major e-commerce activities covering B2B and B2C.

The OECD and UNCTAD are two global consumer protection agencies that promote healthy and competitive international trade. Founded in 1960, Consumer International Footnote 2 (CI) is a group of around 250 consumer organisations in over 100 countries representing and defending consumer rights in international policy forums and the global marketplace. The other leading international agencies promoting healthy competition in national and international trade are European Consumer Cooperation Network, ECC-Net (European Consumer Center Network), APEC Electronic Consumer Directing Group (APECSG), Iberoamerikanische Forum der Konsumer Protection Agenturen (FIAGC), International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Agencies (Durovic, 2020 ).

ICPEN, in the new form, started functioning in 2002 and is now a global membership organisation of consumer protection authorities from 64 countries, including India joining in 2019 and six observing authorities (COMESA, EU, GPEN, FIAGC, OECD and UNCTAD). While it addresses coordination and cooperation on consumer protection enforcement issues, disseminates information on consumer protection trends and shares best practices on consumer protection laws, it does not regulate financial services or product safety. Through econsumer.gov Footnote 3 enduring initiative, ICPEN, in association with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), redresses international online fraud. Footnote 4 Econsumer.gov, a collaboration of consumer protection agencies from 41 countries around the world, investigates the following types of international online fraud:

Online shopping/internet services/computer equipment

Credit and debit

Telemarketing & spam

Jobs & making money

Imposters scam: family, friend, government, business or romance

Lottery or sweepstake or prize scams

Travel & vacations

Phones/mobile devices & phone services

Something else

Online criminals target personal and financial information. Online trading issues involve scammers targeting customers who buy/sell/trade online. Table 1 on online cross-border complaints of fraud reported by econsumer.gov reveals that international scams are rising. Total cross-border fraud during 2020 (till 30 June) was 33,968 with a reported loss of US$91.95 million as against 40,432 cases with a loss of US$ 151.3 million and 14,797 complaints with the loss of US$40.83 million 5 years back. Among others, these complaints included online shopping fraud, misrepresented products, products that did not arrive, and refund issues. Figure  1 shows that the United States ranked first among the ten countries where consumers lodged online fraud complaints based on consumer and business locations. India was the third country next to France for online fraud reporting in consumer locations, while it was the fifth nation for company location-based reporting. Besides the USA and India, Poland, Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, Turkey, Spain, and Mexico reported many consumer complaints. Companies in China, the United Kingdom, France, Hong Kong, Spain, Canada, Poland and Turkey received the most complaints. The trend is a serious global concern, with a magnitude of reported loss of above 60%.

Source: Data compiled from https://public.tableau.com/profile/federal.trade.commission#!/vizhome/eConsumer/Infographic , Accessed 7 October 2020

Online shopping-top consumer locations and company locations.

The international scenario and views on consumer protection in e-commerce provide impetus to discuss consumer protection in e-business in a regional context-India. The reason for this is that India has become a leading country for online consumer fraud, putting a spotlight on electronic governance systems-which may have an impact on India's ease of doing business ranking. However, to check fraud and ensure consumer protection in e-commerce, the government has replaced the earlier Consumer Protection Act, 1986, with the new Act-2019 and E-Commerce Rule-2020 is in place now.

E-commerce Growth

E-commerce has been booming since the advent of the worldwide web (internet) in 1991, but its root is traced back to the Berlin Blockade for ordering and airlifting goods via telex between 24 June 1948 and 12 May 1949. Since then, new technological developments, improvements in internet connectivity, and widespread consumer and business adoption, e-commerce has helped countless companies grow. The first e-commerce transaction took place with the Boston Computer Exchange that launched its first e-commerce platform way back in 1982 (Azamat et al., 2011 ; Boateng et al., 2008 ). E-commerce growth potential is directly associated with internet penetration (Nielsen, 2018 ). The increase in the worldwide use of mobile devices/smartphones has primarily led to the growth of e-commerce. With mobile devices, individuals are more versatile and passive in buying and selling over the internet (Harrisson et al., 2017 ; Išoraitė & Miniotienė, 2018 ; Milan et al., ( 2020 ); Nielsen, 2018 ; Singh, 2019 ; UNCTAD, 2019a , 2019b ). The growth of the millennial digital-savvy workforce, mobile ubiquity and continuous optimisation of e-commerce technology is pressing the hand and speed of the historically slow-moving B2B market. The nearly US$1 Billion B2B e-commerce industry is about to hit the perfect storm that is driving the growth of B2C businesses (Harrisson et al., 2017 ). Now, e-commerce has reshaped the global retail market (Nielsen, 2019 ). The observation is that e-commerce is vibrant and an ever-expanding business model; its future is even more competitive than ever, with the increasing purchasing power of global buyers, the proliferation of social media users, and the increasingly advancing infrastructure and technology (McKinsey Global Institute, 2019 ; UNCTAD, 2019a , 2019b ).

The analysis of the growth trend in e-commerce, especially since 2015, explains that online consumers continue to place a premium on both flexibility and scope of shopping online. With the convenience of buying and returning items locally, online retailers will increase their footprint (Harrisson et al., 2017 ). Today, e-commerce is growing across countries with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15% between 2014 and 2020; it is likely to grow at 25% between 2020 and 2025. Further analysis of e-commerce business reveals that internet penetration will be nearly 60% of the population in 2020, and Smartphone penetration has reached almost 42%. Among the users, 31% are in the age group of 25–34 years old, followed by 24% among the 35–44 years bracket and 22% in 18–24 years. Such a vast infrastructure and networking have ensured over 70% of the global e-commerce activities in the Asia–Pacific region. While China alone accounts for US$740 billion, the USA accounts for over US$$560 billion (Kerick, 2019 ). A review of global shoppers making online purchases (Fig.  2 ) shows that consumers look beyond their borders-cross-border purchases in all regions. While 90% of consumers visited an online retail site by July 2020, 74% purchased a product online, and 52% used a mobile device.

Source: Data compiled from https://datareportal.com/global-dig ital-overview#: ~ :text = There%20are%205.15%20billion%20unique,of%202.4%20percent%20per%20 year and , Accessed 12 October 2020

Global e-commerce activities and overseas online purchase.

The e-commerce uprising in Asia and the Pacific presents vast economic potential. The region holds the largest share of the B2C e-commerce market (UNCTAD, 2017 ). The size of e-commerce relative to the gross domestic product was 4.5% in the region by 2015. E-commerce enables small and medium-sized enterprises to reach global markets and compete on an international scale. It has improved economic efficiency and created many new jobs in developing economies and least developed countries, offering them a chance to narrow development gaps and increase inclusiveness—whether demographic, economic, geographic, cultural, or linguistic. It also helps narrow the rural–urban divide.

Nevertheless, Asia’s e-commerce market remains highly heterogeneous. In terms of e-commerce readiness—based on the UNCTAD e-commerce index 2017, the Republic of Korea ranks fifth globally (score 95.5) while Afghanistan, with 17 points, ranks 132 (UNCTAD, 2017 ). According to a joint study (2018) by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) and Asian Development Bank (ADB), Asia is the fastest-growing region in the global e-commerce marketplace. The region accounted for the largest share of the world’s business-to-consumer e-commerce market (UNESCAP and ADB, 2019). World Retail Congress (2019) brought out the Global E-Commerce Market Ranking 2019 assessing the top 30 ranking e-commerce markets on various parameters-USA, UK, China, Japan and Germany were the first top countries. India figured at 15 with a CAGR of 19.8% between 2018 and 2022. The report suggests that companies need to enhance every aspect of online buying, focusing on localised payment mode and duty-free return. Footnote 5 The observation of this trend implies online consumers’ safety and security.

Figure  3 explains that global cross-border e-commerce (B2C) shopping is growing significantly and is estimated to cross US$1 Trillion in 2020. Adobe Digital Economic Index Survey-2020 Footnote 6 in March 2020 reported that a remarkable fact to note is about steadily accelerated growth in global e-commerce because of COVID-19. While virus protection-related goods increased by 807%, toilet paper spiked by 231%. Online consumers worldwide prefer the eWallet payment system. The survey also revealed an exciting constellation that COVID-19 is further pushing overall online inflation down.

Source: Authors’ compilation from https://www.invespcro.com/blog/cross-border-shopping/ , Accessed on 15 October 2020

Global cross-border e-commerce (B2C) market. *Estimated to cross US$ 1 Trillion in 2020.

According to UNCTD’s B2C E-Commerce Index 2019 survey measuring an economy’s preparedness to support online shopping, India ranks 73rd with 57 index values, seven times better than the 80th rank index report 2018 (UNCTAD, 2019a , 2019b ). The E-commerce industry has emerged as a front-runner in the Indian economy with an internet penetration rate of about 50% now, nearly 37% of smartphone internet users, launching the 4G network, internet content in the local language, and increasing consumer wealth. Massive infrastructure and policy support propelled the e-commerce industry to reach US$ 64 billion in 2020, up by 39% from 2017 and will touch US$ 200 by 2026 with a CAGR of 21%. Footnote 7 Now, India envisions a five trillion dollar economy Footnote 8 by 2024. It would be difficult with the present growth rate, but not impossible, pushing for robust e-governance and a digitally empowered society. The proliferation of smartphones, growing internet access and booming digital payments and policy reforms are accelerating the growth of the e-commerce sector vis-a-vis the economy.

Analysis of different studies on the growth of e-commerce in India shows that while retail spending has grown by a CAGR of 22.52% during 2015–2020, online buyers have climbed by a CAGR of 35.44% during the same period (Fig.  4 ). The government’s Digital India drive beginning 1 July 2015-surge using mobile wallets like Paytm, Ola Money, Mobiwik, BHIM etc., and the declaration of demonetisation on 9 November 2016 appears to be the prime reasons for such a vast growth in the country’s e-commerce industry. The Times of India (2020 October 12), a daily leading Indian newspaper, reported that India's increase in digital payments was at a CAGR of 55.1% from March 2016 to March 2020, jumping from US$ 73,90 million to 470.40, reflecting the country's positive policy environment and preparedness for the digital economy. The government's policy objective is to promote a safe, secure, sound and efficient payment system; hence, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the national financial and fiscal regulating authority, attempts to ensure security and increase customer trust in digital payments (RBI, 2020 ).

Source: Data compiled from https://www.ibef.org/news/vision-of-a-new-india-US$-5-trillion-economy , http://www.ficci.in/ficci-in-news-page.asp?nid=19630 , https://www.pwc.in/research-insights/2018/propelling-india-towards-global-leadership-in-e-commerce.html , https://www.forrester.com/data/forecastview/reports# , Accessed 12 October 2020

E-Commerce growth in India during 2015–2020.

The massive growth of e-commerce in countries worldwide, especially in India, has prompted an examination of the legal structure regulating online consumer protection.

Literature Review and Research Gap

Theoretical framework.

Generally speaking, customers, as treated inferior to their contracting partners, need protection (Daniel, 2005 ). Therefore, due to low bargaining power, it is agreed that their interests need to be secured. The ‘inequality of negotiating power’ theory emphasises the consumer's economically weaker status than suppliers (Haupt, 2003 ; Liyang, 2019 ; Porter, 1979 ). The ‘inequality in bargaining power’ principle emphasises the customer's economically inferior position to suppliers (Haupt, 2003 ). The ‘exploitation theory’ also supports a similar view to the ‘weaker party’ argument. According to this theory, for two reasons, consumers need protection: first, consumers have little choice but to buy and contract on the terms set by increasingly large and powerful businesses; second, companies can manipulate significant discrepancies in knowledge and complexity in their favour (Cockshott & Dieterich, 2011 ). However, a researcher such as Ruhl ( 2011 ) believed that this conventional theoretical claim about defining the customer as the weaker party is no longer valid in modern times. The logic was that the exploitation theory did not take into account competition between firms. Through competition from other businesses, any negotiating power that companies have vis-a-vis clients is minimal. The study, therefore, considers that the ‘economic theory’ is the suitable theoretical rationale for consumer protection today.

The principle of ‘economic philosophy’ focuses primarily on promoting economic productivity and preserving wealth as a benefit (Siciliani et al., 2019 ). As such, the contract law had to change a great deal to deal with modern-age consumer transactions where there is no delay between agreement and outcomes (McCoubrey  & White, 1999 ). Thus, the ‘economic theory’ justifies the flow of goods and services through electronic transactions since online markets' versatility and rewards are greater than those of face-to-face transactions. The further argument suggests that a robust consumer protection framework can provide an impetus for the growth of reliability and trust in electronic commerce. The ‘incentive theory’ works based on that argument to describe consumer protection in electronic transactions (McCoubrey & White, 1999 ).

Online shopping needs greater trust than purchasing offline (Nielsen, 2018 ). From the viewpoint of ‘behavioural economics, trust (faith/confidence) has long been considered a trigger for buyer–seller transactions that can provide high standards of fulfilling trade relationships for customers (Pavlou, 2003 ). Pavlou ( 2003 ) supports the logical reasoning of Lee and Turban ( 2001 ) that the role of trust is of fundamental importance in adequately capturing e-commerce customer behaviour. The study by O'Hara ( 2005 ) also suggests a relationship between law and trust (belief/faith), referred to as ‘safety net evaluation’, suggesting that law may play a role in building trust between two parties. However, with cross-border transactions, the constraint of establishing adequate online trust increases, especially if one of the parties to the transaction comes from another jurisdiction with a high incidence of counterfeits or a weak rule of law (Loannis et al., 2019 ). Thus, the law promotes the parties' ability to enter into a contractual obligation to the extent that it works to reduce a contractual relationship's insecurity. The present research uses the idea of trust (faith/belief/confidence) as another theoretical context in line with ‘behavioural economics’.

As a focal point in e-commerce, trust refers to a party's ability to be vulnerable to another party's actions; the trustor, with its involvement in networking, sees trust in the form of risk-taking activity (Mayer et al., 1995 ; Helge et al.,  2020 ). Lack of confidence could result in weak contracts, expensive legal protections, sales loss and business failure. Therefore, trust plays a crucial role in serving customers transcend the perceived risk of doing business online and in helping them become susceptible, actual or imaginary, to those inherent e-business risks. While mutual benefit is usually the reason behind a dealing/transaction, trust is the insurance or chance that the customer can receive that profit (Cazier, 2007 ). The level of trust can be low or high. Low risk-taking behaviour leads to lower trustor engagement, whereas high risk-taking participation leads to higher trustor engagement (Helge et al.,  2020 ). The theory of trust propounded by (Mayer et al., 1995 ) suggests that trust formation depends on three components, viz. ability, benevolence, and integrity (ABI model). From the analysis of the previous studies (Mayer et al., 1995 ; Cazier, 2007 ; Helge et al.,  2020 ), the following dimensions of the ABI model emerge:

Precisely, ability, benevolence and integrity have a direct influence on the trust of e-commerce customers.

Gaining the trust of consumers and developing a relationship has become more challenging for e-businesses. The primary reasons are weak online security, lack of effectiveness of the electronic payment system, lack of effective marketing program, delay in delivery, low quality of goods and services, and ineffective return policy (Kamari  & Kamari, 2012 ; Mangiaracina & Perego, 2009 ). These weaknesses adversely impact business operations profoundly later. Among the challenges that are the reasons for the distrust of customers and downsides of e-commerce is that the online payment mechanism is widely insecure. The lack of trust in electronic payment is the one that impacts negatively on the e-commerce industry, and this issue is still prevalent (Mangiaracina  & Perego, 2009 ). The revelation of a recent study (Orendorff, 2019 ) and survey results Footnote 9 on trust-building, particularly about the method of payment, preferred language and data protection, is fascinating. The mode of payment is another matter of trust-building. Today’s customers wish to shop in their local currency seamlessly. In an online shoppers’ survey of 30,000 respondents in 2019, about 92% of customers preferred to purchase in their local currency, and 33% abandoned a buy if pricing was listed in US$ only (Orendorff, 2019 ). Airbnb, an online accommodation booking e-business that began operations in 2009, has expanded and spread its wings globally as of September 2020-over 220 countries and 100 k + cities serving 7 + billion customers (guests) with local currency payment options. Footnote 10

Common Sense Advisory Survey Footnote 11 -Nov. 2019-Feb. 2020 with 8709 online shoppers (B2C) in 29 countries, reported that 75% of them preferred to purchase products if the information was in their native language. About 60% confirmed that they rarely/never bought from an English-only website because they can’t read. Similarly, its survey of 956 business people (B2B) moved in a similar direction. Whether it is B2B or B2C customers, they wanted to go beyond Google translator-this is about language being a front-line issue making or breaking global sales. Leading Indian e-commerce companies like Amazon Footnote 12 and Flipkart Footnote 13 have started capturing the subsequent 100 million users by providing text and voice-based consumer support in vernacular languages. These observations suggest trust in information that the customers can rely upon for a successful transaction.

Data protection is probably the most severe risk of e-commerce. The marketplaces witness so many violations that it often seems that everyone gets hacked, which makes it a real challenge to guarantee that your store is safe and secure. For e-commerce firms, preserving the data is a considerable expense; it points a finger to maintaining the safety and security of the e-commerce consumers’ data privacy in compliance with General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) across countries. Footnote 14

PwC’s Global Consumer Insight Survey 2020 reports that while customers’ buying habits would become more volatile post-COVID 19, consumers’ experience requires safety, accessibility, and digital engagement would be robust and diversified. Footnote 15 The report reveals that the COVID-19 outbreak pushed the popularity of mobile shopping. Online grocery shopping (including phone use) has increased by nearly 63% post-COVID than before social distancing execution and is likely to increase to 86% until its removal. Knowing the speed of market change will place companies in a position to handle the disruption-74% of the work is from home, at least for the time being. Again, the trend applies to consumers’ and businesses’ confidence/trust-building. The safety and security of customers or consumer protection are of paramount importance.

Given the rationale above, the doctrine of low bargaining power, exploitation theory and the economic approach provides the theoretical justification for consumer protection. Economic theory also justifies electronic transactions and e-commerce operations as instruments for optimising income. The trust theory based on behavioural economic conception also builds up the relationship between the law and customer trust and thus increases confidence in the online market. These premises form the basis for this research.

Need and Instruments for Online Consumer Protection

The law of the land guides people and the living society. Prevailing rules and regulations, when followed, provide peace of mind and security in all spheres, including business activities (Bolton et al., 2004 ). Previous research by Young & Wilkinson ( 1989 ) suggested that those who have more legally strict contracts face more legal problems in contrast to trust-related issues (Young & Wilkinson, 1989 ). Time has changed; people going for online transactions go with the legal framework and feel safe and secured (Bolton et al., 2004 ). An online agreement is a valid contract. Most UNCTAD member countries, including India, have adopted various laws concerning e-governance/e-business/e-society, such as e-transaction laws, consumer protection laws, cyber-crime laws, and data privacy and protection laws. The trend indicates that the law is vital in establishing trust in online transactions.

A review of literature on e-commerce and consumer protection suggests that over the years, consumer protection in e-commerce has received significant attention, particularly from the regulatory authorities-government agencies, trade associations and other associated actors (Belwal et al., 2020 ; Cortés, 2010 ; Dhanya, 2015 ; Emma et al., 2017 ; Ibidapo-Obe, 2011 ; ITU, 2018 ; Jaipuriar et al., 2020 ; Rothchild, 1999 ; Saif, 2018 ). The OECD ( 2016 ), UNCTAD ( 2017 ), and World Economic Forum ( 2019 ) guidelines on e-commerce have facilitated countries to have regulations/laws to provide online customers with data privacy, safe transaction and build trust. Table 2 explains policy guidelines on consumer protection based on a summary of online consumer challenges and possible remedies at different purchases stages.

Research Issue and Objective

The research gap identification involves reviewing the literature on various aspects of e-commerce and consumer rights protection issues spanning two decades. An objective review of 36 highly rated (Scopus/Web Services/ABDC Ranking or the like) e-commerce related publications from over 100 articles published in the last 20 years (2000–2020) suggests that the vast majority of earlier studies in this field have been conceptual/theoretical and generic. Regarding the legal framework of e-commerce and consumers’ rights protection, six current papers exclusively in the Indian context were available for analysis and review. The observations are that while the focus on consumer privacy and rights protection concerns is too general, the legal framework's scrutiny has limited its scope. A review of selected studies on trust and consumer rights protection in e-commerce, as shown in Table 3 , reveals that application aspects, particularly legal issues, are lacking. Indian experience in e-commerce consumer rights protection through jurisprudence is nascent. Review studies show the research of a combination of management and law-related analysis in e-commerce and consumer rights protection is lacking. This scenario showed a gap in exploring a more comprehensive research opportunity in the Indian context.

While e-commerce and electronic transactions have evolved as a global trend, it is noteworthy that Indian customers are still reluctant to place complete confidence and trust in commercial online transactions. Compared to conventional offline customers, online customers face greater risk in cyberspace because they negotiate with unknown vendors and suppliers. Footnote 16 The common issues Footnote 17 related to e-commerce are data privacy and security, product quality, uncertain delivery, no/low scope of replacement, the jurisdiction of filing complaints, and inconceivable terms and conditions (Lahiri, 2018 ). “Country of origin” of the product is a significant issue in e-commerce, particularly in cross-border transactions (Bhattacharya et al., 2020 ). The inadequacy of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 and other associated laws has surged the insecurity and lack of trust among online customers. The significance of digital payments pursued by the Government of India's essential demonetisation policy-2016 has pushed for online transaction security and consumer protection in e-commerce activities. Therefore, the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 Footnote 18 replaced the Consumer Protection Act 1986 and became effective with effect from 20 July 2020, Footnote 19 while on 7 July 2020, the Consumer Protection (E-commerce) Rules, 2020 Footnote 20 came into force to address the e-commerce challenges. Nevertheless, it was evident that to attract additional investment and to engage with the global market, India, as an emerging country, had to gain the confidence of e-consumers.

These two legislations primarily govern domestic e-commerce businesses. Therefore, the research focuses on these two legal infrastructure strands-new laws enacted during 2019 and 2020 and discusses their implications for online consumer security to increase customers' interest and trust in India's electronic transactions. Like the  ABI model , the study also examines the factors influencing e-commerce customers' confidence in the present research context.

Methodology

The research initially depended on the rigorous review of the consumer protection guidelines released from time to time by various bodies, such as the OECD and UNCATD, accompanied by an analysis of the Indian consumer protection legal structure. The Indian Consumer Protection Act, 2019 and the Consumer Protection (E-commerce) Rules, 2020 were the review and analysis subjects. The study used e-commerce driver data collected from secondary sources-published material; the survey reported e-commerce growth and trends and consumer protection and conducted an online survey of 432 online consumers during August and September 2020.

Analysing the arguments of Zikmund ( 2000 ), Bryman ( 2004 ), Saumure & Given ( 2008 ), Bill et al., ( 2010 ) and Bornstein et al. ( 2013 ) about the representative of convenience sampling and bias, we consider it is similar to that of the population, and there is no harm with due care. Regarding inherent bias in convenience sampling, data collection from different sources with different respondents’ inclusion provides more data variability and considerably reduces prejudice (Sousa et al., 2004 ; Edgar and Manz, 2017 ). Therefore, the respondents included in the research were students, professors, advocates, doctors, professionals, and homemakers, avoiding excluding family, relatives and friends to ensure bias-free. Their contact details sources were various channels, including public institution websites, social networking sites, and the authors’ email box. Assuming that more respondents feel fun filling out online questionnaires and providing truthful answers (Chen & Barnes, 2007 ; Saunders et al.,  2007 ), the study used an online survey. Furthermore, because people in the digital age are more computer/smartphone savvy, they are more likely to follow a similar trend. Besides, such a technique was convenient during the COVID-19 pandemic condition because of its timeliness, inexpensive methods, ease of research, low cost (no support for this research), readily available, and fewer rules to follow. The respondents' contact details sources were various channels, including public institution websites, social networking sites, and the authors' email box.

The study used a structured questionnaire comprising seven questions with sub-questions except the 7th one being open-ended, consuming about 8–10 min, designed based on the insights gained from responding to customer surveys of different e-commerce companies last year. Pretesting the questionnaire with 17 responses from the target group supported modifying the final questionnaire partially. The first four questions were background questions-gender, age, respondent's attitude towards internet purchasing. Question number five with sub-questions, being the focused question, provided the answer to some trust-building factors found in the literature review. Following previous research (McKnight et al.,  2002 ; Corbit et al.,  2003 ; Pavlou,  2003 ) tested the Likert-scale, this question's solicited response relied on a five-point Likert-rating scale (1 = Not important at all, 2 = Less important, 3 = Somewhat important, 4 = Important, 5 = Very important). The query six asked was about the consumer protection issues in e-commerce/online transaction-scam/fraud and grievance settlement. The final question seven was open-ended for any remark the respondent wanted to make. The questionnaire was reliable on a reasonable basis with greater internal consistency on overall internal reliability (Cronbach's alpha = 0.829) at a 1% level of significance. The Zoho Survey technique was used to solicit required information. The response rate was 76% (327) of the total emails sent (432). The retained responses were 290, i.e. 88.69% of the replies received, completed in all respects and satisfying the research requirement. The research applied statistical instruments like percentage, weighted mean and multiple regression analysis using SPSS-26 for analysis and interpretation.

Figure  5 highlights the research framework and process.

Research framework and process

Deficiency in Act, 1986 and Key Feature of the New Act Governing E-Commerce Consumer Protection

The rapid development of e-commerce has led to new delivery systems for goods and services and has provided new opportunities for consumers. Simultaneously, this has also exposed the consumer vulnerable to new forms of unfair trade and unethical business. The old Act, 1986, has severe limitations regarding its applicability and adjudication processes in consumer rights protection in e-commerce. The new Act, 2020 brings fundamental changes regarding its scope of application, penalty and governance; and envisages CCPA and vests regulating and controlling powers. Table 4 explains the comparative picture between the old Act, 1986 and the new Act, 2019.

The Act, 2019 applies to buying or selling goods or services over the digital or electronic network, including digital products [s.2 (16)] and to a person who provides technologies enabling a product seller to engage in advertising/selling goods/services to a consumer. The Act also covers online market places or online auction sites [s.2 (17)].

Necessary definition/explanation connected to e-commerce provided by the Act are:

Consumer: Meaning

If a person buys any goods and hires or avails any service online through electronic means, the person would be a consumer of the Act [Explanation b to s.2 (7)].

Product Seller: Electronic Service Providers

The electronic service providers are the product sellers under the Act and have the same duties, responsibilities, and liabilities as a product seller [s.2 (37)].

Unfair Trade Practice: Disclosing Personal Information

Unfair trade practice under the Act [s.2 (47) (ix)] refers to electronic service providers disclosing to another person any personal information given in confidence by the consumer.

Authorities: Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA)

The Act, 2019 provides, in addition to the existing three-tier grievance redress structure, the establishment of the Central Consumer Protection Authority [CCPA] [s.10 & 18] to provide regulatory, investigative or adjudicatory services to protect consumers’ rights. The CCPA has the powers to regulate/inquire/investigate into consumer rights violations and/unfair trade practice  suo motu  or on a complaint received from an aggrieved consumer or on a directive from the government. The specific actions it can take include:

Execute inquiries into infringements of customer rights and initiate lawsuits.

Order for the recall of dangerous/hazardous/unsafe products and services.

Order the suspension of unethical commercial practises and false ads.

Impose fines on suppliers or endorsers or publishers of false advertising.

The power of CCPA is categorical regarding dangerous/hazardous/unsafe goods and false/misleading advertisements. The CCPA has the authority to impose a fine ranging from Rs 100 k to Rs 5 million and/imprisonment up to life term for the violators depending on the type of offences committed by them (Table 5 ).

Redress Mechanism

The provisions laid down in Sect. 28 through Sect. 73 deal with various aspects of the consumer dispute redress system. The new Act has changed the District Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum terminology to the District Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission. The pecuniary jurisdiction of filling complaints in the three-tier consumer courts at the District, State and National level has increased (Table 5 ). For better understanding, Fig.  6 shows a diagrammatic picture of the judicial system of dispute settlement.

Grievance redress mechanism

The Act, 2019 provides a dispute settlement mechanism through the mediation process in case of compromise at the acceptance point of the complaint or some future date on mutual consent (Sec 37). A mediation cell would operate in each city, state, national commission, and regional bench to expedite redress. Section 74 through 81 of the Act lays down the detailed procedure. Section 81(1) maintains that no appeal lies against the order passed by Mediation, implying that the redress process at the initial stage would be speedy, impacting both the consumers and service providers.

Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020

The Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020, notified under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 on 23 July 2020, aims to prevent unfair trade practices and protect consumers' interests and rights in e-commerce.

Applicability (Rule 2)

The Rules apply to:

Both products and services acquired or sold through automated or electronic networks;

All models of e-commerce retail;

All the e-commerce entities, whether they have inventory or market place model. The inventory-based model includes an inventory of goods and services owned by an e-commerce entity and directly sold to consumers [Rule 3(1) f]. In the marketplace model, an e-commerce entity has an information infrastructure platform on a digital and electronic network that facilitates the consumer and the seller. [Rule 3(1)g];

All aspects of unfair trading practise in all models of e-commerce; and

An e-commerce entity is offering goods or services to consumers in India but not established in India.

General Duties of E-commerce Entities (Rule 4)

The duties of e-commerce entities are:

An e-commerce entity must be a company incorporated under the Companies Act.

Entities must appoint a point of contact to ensure compliance with the Act.

They have to establish an adequate grievance redress mechanism; they would appoint a grievance officer for this purpose and display his name, contact details, and designation of their platform. He would acknowledge the complaint's receipt within 48 h and resolve the complaint within a month from receipt of the complaint.

If they are offering imported goods, the importers’ names and details from whom the imported goods are purchased, and the sellers’ names are to be mentioned on the platform.

They cannot impose cancellation charges on consumers unless they bear similar costs.

They have to affect all payments towards accepted refund requests of the consumers within a reasonable period.

They cannot manipulate the goods' prices to gain unreasonable profit by imposing unjustified costs and discriminating against the same class of consumers.

Liabilities of Marketplace E-commerce Entities (Rule 5)

The liabilities of marketplace e-commerce entities include the following:

The marketplace e-commerce entity would require sellers to ensure that information about goods on their platform is accurate and corresponds with the appearance, nature, quality, purpose of goods.

They would display the following information prominently to its users at the appropriate place on its platform:

Details about the sellers offering goods-principal geographic address of its headquarters and all branches and name and details of its website for effective dispute resolution.

Separate ticket/docket/complaint number for each complaint lodged through which the user can monitor the status of the complaint.

Information about return/refund/exchange, warranty and guarantee, delivery and shipment, payment modes and dispute/grievance redress mechanism.

Information on the methods of payment available, the protection of such forms of payment, any fees or charges payable by users.

They would make reasonable efforts to maintain a record of relevant information allowing for the identification of all sellers who have repeatedly offered goods that were previously removed under the Copyright Act/Trademarks Act/Information Technology Act.

Sellers’ Duties on the Marketplace (Rule 6)

The duties of sellers on the market encompass:

The seller would not adopt any unfair trade practice while offering goods.

He should not falsely represent himself as a consumer and post-product review or misrepresent any products' essence or features.

He could not refuse to take back goods purchased or to refund consideration of goods or services that were defective/deficient/spurious.

He would have a prior written contract with the e-commerce entity to undertake sale.

He would appoint a grievance officer for consumer grievance redressal.

He would ensure that the advertisements for the marketing of goods or services are consistent with the actual characteristics, access and usage conditions of goods.

He will provide the e-commerce company with its legal name, the primary geographic address of its headquarters and all subsidiaries/branches, the name and details of the website, e-mail address, customer contact details such as faxes, landlines and mobile numbers, etc.

Duties and Liabilities of Inventory E-commerce Entities (Rule 7)

As in the inventory-based model, inventory of goods and services is owned and sold directly to consumers by e-commerce entities, so inventory e-commerce entities have the same liabilities as marketplace e-commerce entities and the same duties as marketplace sellers.

The Act 2019 has several provisions for regulating e-commerce transactions with safety and trust. Since the Act is new, it would be premature to comment on its operational aspects and effectiveness. In a recent judgement in Consumer Complaint No 883 of 2020 ( M/s Pyaridevi Chabiraj Steels Pvt. Ltd vs National Insurance Company Ltd , the NCDRC Footnote 21 has proved the Act's operational effectiveness by deciding the maintainability of a claim's jurisdiction based on the new Act's provisions. However, it is inevitable that "beware buyer" will be replaced by "beware seller/manufacturer"; the consumer will be the real king. The Rules 2020 strike a balance between the responsibilities of e-commerce business owners and on-the-platform vendors. Contravention, if any, of the new regulation/rules would invite the provisions of the Act 2019. The observation is that limited liability partnerships are missing from the e-commerce entities. However, with the Act and Rules' operational experience, the judiciary or legislature will address this issue sooner or later.

Nevertheless, the Rules 2020 provide a robust legal framework to build consumers' trust in e-commerce transactions and protect their rights and interests, thereby proving the notion, "consumer is the king". The COVID-19 impact has pushed the government to adopt and encourage online compliant filling procedures through the National Consumer Helpline. Using various APPs is likely to expedite the adjudication process and benefit the aggrieved consumer and build trust in the governance system.

Reading the Rules, 2020, with the Act, 2019, the observation is that by making smartphones the primary target of the new legislation, the Act, 2019 is hailed as an all-inclusive regulatory regime that would raise customer interest investment in e-commerce. To safeguard consumers' rights in all modern-day retail commerce models, the Act, 2019 attempts to turn the jurisprudence pervading consumer protectionism from a caveat emptor to a caveat seller. In addition, the Act formally incorporated e-commerce within its limits and entered the realm of B2C e-commerce. One crucial takeaway benefit for consumers is simplifying the complaint filing process, enabling consumers to file complaints online and redress grievances.

E-commerce has become a gift to all customers in the COVID-19 pandemic's aftermath. The E-Commerce Rules, 2020 follow the stringent consumer protection regime under the new Act, 2019. In the raging pandemic, the timing of the E-Commerce Rules, 2020 is beneficial considering the current limitations on customers' freedom of travel and increased reliance on e-commerce. The grievances redress mechanism as provided in the Rules, 2020 is indubitably a calibrated step ensuring neutrality in the e-commerce market place, greater transparency, stringent penalties and a striking balance between the commitments of e-commerce firms and vendors in the marketplace. The mandatory provisions of appointing a consumer grievance redress officer and a nodal contact person or an alternative senior appointed official (resident in India) with contact details, acknowledging consumer complaints within 48 h of receipt with a ticket number, and resolving complaints within 1 month of receipt are unquestionably beneficial to consumers. Although each e-commerce company has its refund policy, all refund claims must have a timely settlement. However, anxiety abounds as daily online fraud and unethical trading practices have made consumers fearful of exposing themselves to unscrupulous vendors and service providers. Moreover, the regulations' effective enforcement would dissuade unethical retailers and service providers, thereby building consumer trust, which time will see.

Practical Contributions

The practical contributions of the paper emerge from survey findings. Concerning the primary survey, the male–female ratio is nearly 1:1, with an average age of 36 years in the age range of 20–65. As regards profession, 67% were working professionals, and 22% were students. While all of the respondents were computer/tablet/mobile-savvy, 96% had at least a five-time online shopping experience during the last 7 months between January–July 2020. The desktop with 61% response is still the preferred device for online shopping. The pricing with cash on delivery, shipping convenience, and quality reviews determined online shopping factors. About 57% of them agreed that COVID-19 impacted their online purchase habits and pushed for online transactions even though they feared insecurity about online shopping. The primary concerns were low-quality products at a high price, a refund for defective products, and a delay in settlement of wrong/excess payments. The top five leading e-commerce platforms reported were Amazon, Flipkart, Alibaba, Myntra, and IndiaMart. Netmeds was also a leading e-commerce business platform in the pharmaceutical sector. During the COVID-19 pandemic, JioMart was very popular for home-delivery food products, groceries and vegetables in the metro locality. The customer feedback system was found robust on Amazon.

The respondents' trust in online shopping reveals that a secure and reliable system was essential for 93% of the respondents. For nearly the same proportion, information about how e-business firms work provided security solutions was a priority factor. Choosing a payment option, 76% of the respondents prioritised “cash on delivery-online transfer at the doorstep. Regarding the privacy of personal information shared by online shoppers, 52% said that they cared about this aspect. Factors like warranty and guarantee (67%) and customer service (69%) were important factors of trust-building with the e-entities. Information on the websites (easy navigation/user friendly and reviews) was either important or very important, with 77% of the respondents’ confidence building to buy online. Information about the product features and its manufacturer/supplier was essential to 86% of the respondents for trust-building on the product and the supplier (manufacture) and e-commerce entity. Along with the ABI model discussed above, the presumption is that security, privacy, warranty/guarantee, customer service, and website information factors positively influence e-commerce customers' trust.

Multiple regression analysis suggests that as the  P  = value of every independent variable is below 0.05% level of significance, the independent variables security, privacy, warranty, customer service, and website information are all significant. Alternatively, the overall  P value of 0.032 with R 2 0.82 supports the presumption that security, privacy, warranty/guarantee, customer service, website information factors have a combined influence on e-commerce customers' trust.

Given this backdrop, Table 6 summarises the micro findings on respondents' online shopping behaviour, their trust and safety aspects, and understanding of the provisions of the new Act, 2019 and Rules, 2020. The higher mean value for a sub-factor implies higher importance attached to the factor by the respondents. P value at a 5% level of significance explains an individual element's contribution to trust-building behaviour for online buying.

Managerial Insights

The first observation from the data analysis is that, comparatively, the younger generation is prone to online shopping; it goes along with Xiaodong and Min ( 2020 ). Secondly, the respondents of all age groups have online buying experience even in a pandemic situation forced by COVID-19, compromising their safety and security concerns. The third observation is that factors like “cash on the delivery option (COD)”, adequate information on the e-commerce entity corporate website, and effective grievance/complaint redress mechanism are the three crucial factors that build consumers’ trust in e-commerce transactions. The reason probably is that this Act and Rules are new and significant dispute (s) could yet be reported seeking invoking the relevant provisions of the Act and Rules in an appropriate legal forum.

Further, the logical observation of the COD option being a perceived influential factor in trust-building emanates from the fact that protection and security are the essential elements that make customers hesitant toward utilizing other e-payment options. The studies by Mekovec and Hutinski ( 2012 ), Maqableh ( 2015 ) and Ponte et al.( 2015 ); have similar views. However, post-demonetization (2016), India is growing with more digital payments. In this context, we value Harvard researchers Bandi et al. ( 2017 ) contention that customers who switch to digital payments maintain their purchasing recurrence but spend more and are less likely to restore their purchases. The firms in emerging markets may appreciate gains from customer interest, notwithstanding operational increases from payment digitalization. The coherent perception about the impact of website information on trust-building is in line with the findings of Brian et al. ( 2019 ) that the online information source creates a spill-over effect on satisfaction and trust toward the retailer. The implication of the need for an effective grievance redress mechanism is that trust-building would be a tricky proposition if the company cannot ensure dedicated and tailored customer service and support. Kamari and Kamari ( 2012 ) and Mangiaracina and Perego ( 2009 ) had comparative perspectives likewise.

The final observation is that the level of trust required to engage in online shopping/transaction varies among the respondents depending on their trust perception level. The younger generation, less than 35 years old, is more risk-taking when it comes to pre-purchase online payment, but women over 45 years old are a little hesitant and prefer to do their online shopping with payment at the time of placing an order. This is ostensibly because the younger generation is more tuned to network connectivity via smartphone/tablet, and they perceive online transactions as less dangerous. The present research findings on the influence of security, privacy, warranty/guarantee, customer service, and website information on e-commerce customers' confidence-building support the earlier discussed ABI model proposition (Mayer et al., 1995 ; Cazier, 2007 ; Helge et al.,  2020 ). The  R 2 -value of 0.82 implies that there are other factors beyond what is studied. The other probable factor (s) that might have influenced trust is the new Act and Rules' effectiveness in protecting online consumers' interests. The new regulations need a couple of years (at least 2 years) of operational experience for proper assessment. The Act 2019 appears robust to protect consumer rights and interests of e-commerce customers with specific regulations (i.e. Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020) in force, helping the country's economic growth.

The study variably supports Nehf ( 2007 ) view that consumers make decisions about distributing their data in exchange for different benefits like, e.g., information on web sites and access to databases. Trust, credibility, privacy issues, security concerns, the nature of the information on the website, and the e-commerce firm's reputation directly influence consumers' internet trust (Kim et al., 2008 ). Trust is the focal point of online consumers' decision-making; the observation endorses  Larose and Rifon ( 2007 ) creation of privacy alerts as part of consumer privacy self-regulation initiatives and the use of a social cognitive model to consider consumer privacy behaviours. Besides, data privacy and trust breaches adversely affect the firm's market value (Tripathi & Mukhopadhyay, 2020 ) also hold good in the present context. Figure  7 demonstrates a diagrammatic model of trust of the consumer on e-commerce transactions leading to his decision-making.

Model for consumers’ trust on e-commerce transactions

Limitations

Every research has more or less some limitations; this one has too. The main impediment was the non-availability of adequate literature defining the impact assessment of the legal framework of consumer protection measures in e-commerce. The probable reasoning is that the Acts/Laws governing e-commerce and online consumer rights protection under consideration are new; ethical dispute resolution and judicial interventions have only recently begun. Sample size limitation is also a hindering factor in the generalisation of the findings. The observations and managerial insights are likely to change with a few more years of implementation experience of the Acts.

Conclusions, Implications and Future Research

Conclusions.

Lack of trust in goods and their suppliers/manufacturers was one of the primary reasons for people not buying online. The widespread internet penetration and the growing use of computer/tablets/smartphones have pushed e-commerce growth across countries, including India. The rapid e-commerce development has brought about new distribution methods. It has provided new opportunities for consumers, forcing consumers vulnerable to new forms of unfair trade and unethical business. Further, the government's measures to protect consumer rights, particularly online consumers, are inadequate. Hence, the government enacted the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 and the Consumer Protection (E-commerce) Rules, 2020 and made them effective from July 2020. The new Act and Rules have less than 6 months of operational experience, implying premature comment on its effectiveness in providing safety and security to online consumers. However, online consumers' positive responses suggest that people gain confidence in online shopping with safety and security. Because consumer rights protection is paramount in the growth of e-commerce, the new regulations strengthen the grievance redress mechanism of online consumers, ensuring their trust-building ability, safety, and security. The "Consumer is the King with power" now. The new reform, i.e., enactment of the two laws, aids in doing business too. Some legal complications may arise with more operational experience in the future. Still, with judiciary intervention and directives, the online consumer's safety and security will pave the growth of e-commerce in India.

Implications

Some stakeholders have apprehension about the new Act and Rules' effectiveness because of the slow judiciary process, inadequate infrastructure support, and corrupt practices. The findings provide some practical implications for consumer activists, policymakers, and research communities to explore how to strengthen trust-building among online consumers. Regarding theoretical implications, the research improves the scientific community's understanding of the existing body of knowledge about online trust and e-consumer protection. The article further contributes to the body of literature on e-commerce and consumer protection, understanding the crucial factors impacting customer trust and loyalty and provides an insightful perspective on e-consumer protection in the Indian context on the eve of the new legislation enacted in 2019–2020.

Future Research

Given the presumption that e-commerce and trust are areas of constant change, trust in e-commerce will change, and it will be more challenging to integrate e-commerce into people's lives. The scope for further research to test the effectiveness of the Act, 2019, and Rule, 2020 in redressing e-commerce consumers' grievances and protecting their rights is wider only after a couple of years of operational experience. The government's policy drive for accelerating online transactions also poses challenges considering the importance of trust-building and consumer rights protection in e-commerce. Future research would shed more light on these issues.

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Chawla, N., Kumar, B. E-Commerce and Consumer Protection in India: The Emerging Trend. J Bus Ethics 180 , 581–604 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-021-04884-3

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The future of work after COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted labor markets globally during 2020. The short-term consequences were sudden and often severe: Millions of people were furloughed or lost jobs, and others rapidly adjusted to working from home as offices closed. Many other workers were deemed essential and continued to work in hospitals and grocery stores, on garbage trucks and in warehouses, yet under new protocols to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus.

This report on the future of work after COVID-19 is the first of three MGI reports that examine aspects of the postpandemic economy. The others look at the pandemic’s long-term influence on consumption and the potential for a broad recovery led by enhanced productivity and innovation. Here, we assess the lasting impact of the pandemic on labor demand, the mix of occupations, and the workforce skills required in eight countries with diverse economic and labor market models: China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Together, these eight countries account for almost half the global population and 62 percent of GDP.

Jobs with the highest physical proximity are likely to be most disrupted

Before COVID-19, the largest disruptions to work involved new technologies and growing trade links. COVID-19 has, for the first time, elevated the importance of the physical dimension of work. In this research, we develop a novel way to quantify the proximity required in more than 800 occupations by grouping them into ten work arenas according to their proximity to coworkers and customers, the number of interpersonal interactions involved, and their on-site and indoor nature.

This offers a different view of work than traditional sector definitions. For instance, our medical care arena includes only caregiving roles requiring close interaction with patients, such as doctors and nurses. Hospital and medical office administrative staff fall into the computer-based office work arena, where more work can be done remotely. Lab technicians and pharmacists work in the indoor production work arena because those jobs require use of specialized equipment on-site but have little exposure to other people (Exhibit 1).

We find that jobs in work arenas with higher levels of physical proximity are likely to see greater transformation after the pandemic, triggering knock-on effects in other work arenas as business models shift in response.

The short- and potential long-term disruptions to these arenas from COVID-19 vary. During the pandemic, the virus most severely disturbed arenas with the highest overall physical proximity scores: medical care, personal care, on-site customer service, and leisure and travel. In the longer term, work arenas with higher physical proximity scores are also likely to be more unsettled, although proximity is not the only explanation. For example:

• The on-site customer interaction arena includes frontline workers who interact with customers in retail stores, banks, and post offices, among other places. Work in this arena is defined by frequent interaction with strangers and requires on-site presence. Some work in this arena migrated to e-commerce and other digital transactions, a behavioral change that is likely to stick.
• The leisure and travel arena is home to customer-facing workers in hotels, restaurants, airports, and entertainment venues. Workers in this arena interact daily with crowds of new people. COVID-19 forced most leisure venues to close in 2020 and airports and airlines to operate on a severely limited basis. In the longer term, the shift to remote work  and related reduction in business travel, as well as automation of some occupations, such as food service roles, may curtail labor demand in this arena.
• The computer-based office work arena includes offices of all sizes and administrative workspaces in hospitals, courts, and factories. Work in this arena requires only moderate physical proximity to others and a moderate number of human interactions. This is the largest arena in advanced economies, accounting for roughly one-third of employment. Nearly all potential remote work is within this arena.
• The outdoor production and maintenance arena includes construction sites, farms, residential and commercial grounds, and other outdoor spaces. COVID-19 had little impact here as work in this arena requires low proximity and few interactions with others and takes place fully outdoors. This is the largest arena in China and India, accounting for 35 to 55 percent of their workforces.

COVID-19 has accelerated three broad trends that may reshape work after the pandemic recedes

The pandemic pushed companies and consumers to rapidly adopt new behaviors that are likely to stick, changing the trajectory of three groups of trends. We consequently see sharp discontinuity between their impact on labor markets before and after the pandemic.

Remote work and virtual meetings are likely to continue, albeit less intensely than at the pandemic’s peak

Perhaps the most obvious impact of COVID-19 on the labor force is the dramatic increase in employees working remotely. To determine how extensively remote work might persist after the pandemic, we analyzed its potential  across more than 2,000 tasks used in some 800 occupations in the eight focus countries. Considering only remote work that can be done without a loss of productivity, we find that about 20 to 25 percent of the workforces in advanced economies could work from home between three and five days a week. This represents four to five times more remote work than before the pandemic and could prompt a large change in the geography of work, as individuals and companies shift out of large cities into suburbs and small cities. We found that some work that technically can be done remotely is best done in person. Negotiations, critical business decisions, brainstorming sessions, providing sensitive feedback, and onboarding new employees are examples of activities that may lose some effectiveness when done remotely.

Some companies are already planning to shift to flexible workspaces after positive experiences with remote work during the pandemic, a move that will reduce the overall space they need and bring fewer workers into offices each day. A survey of 278 executives by McKinsey in August 2020 found that on average, they planned to reduce office space by 30 percent. Demand for restaurants and retail in downtown areas and for public transportation may decline as a result.

Remote work may also put a dent in business travel as its extensive use of videoconferencing during the pandemic has ushered in a new acceptance of virtual meetings and other aspects of work. While leisure travel and tourism are likely to rebound after the crisis, McKinsey’s travel practice estimates that about 20 percent of business travel, the most lucrative segment for airlines, may not return. This would have significant knock-on effects on employment in commercial aerospace, airports, hospitality, and food service. E-commerce and other virtual transactions are booming.

Many consumers discovered the convenience of e-commerce and other online activities during the pandemic. In 2020, the share of e-commerce grew at two to five times the rate before COVID-19 (Exhibit 2). Roughly three-quarters of people using digital channels for the first time during the pandemic say they will continue using them when things return to “normal,” according to McKinsey Consumer Pulse  surveys conducted around the world.

Other kinds of virtual transactions such as telemedicine, online banking, and streaming entertainment have also taken off. Online doctor consultations through Practo, a telehealth company in India, grew more than tenfold between April and November 2020 . These virtual practices may decline somewhat as economies reopen but are likely to continue well above levels seen before the pandemic.

This shift to digital transactions has propelled growth in delivery, transportation, and warehouse jobs. In China, e-commerce, delivery, and social media jobs grew by more than 5.1 million during the first half of 2020.

COVID-19 may propel faster adoption of automation and AI, especially in work arenas with high physical proximity

Two ways businesses historically have controlled cost and mitigated uncertainty during recessions are by adopting automation and redesigning work processes, which reduce the share of jobs involving mainly routine tasks. In our global survey of 800 senior executives  in July 2020, two-thirds said they were stepping up investment in automation and AI either somewhat or significantly. Production figures for robotics in China exceeded prepandemic levels by June 2020.

Many companies deployed automation and AI in warehouses, grocery stores, call centers, and manufacturing plants to reduce workplace density and cope with surges in demand. The common feature of these automation use cases is their correlation with high scores on physical proximity, and our research finds the work arenas with high levels of human interaction are likely to see the greatest acceleration in adoption of automation and AI.

The mix of occupations may shift, with little job growth in low-wage occupations

The trends accelerated by COVID-19 may spur greater changes in the mix of jobs within economies than we estimated before the pandemic.

We find that a markedly different mix of occupations may emerge after the pandemic across the eight economies. Compared to our pre-COVID-19 estimates, we expect the largest negative impact of the pandemic to fall on workers in food service and customer sales and service roles, as well as less-skilled office support roles. Jobs in warehousing and transportation may increase as a result of the growth in e-commerce and the delivery economy, but those increases are unlikely to offset the disruption of many low-wage jobs. In the United States, for instance, customer service and food service jobs could fall by 4.3 million, while transportation jobs could grow by nearly 800,000. Demand for workers in the healthcare and STEM occupations may grow more than before the pandemic, reflecting increased attention to health as populations age and incomes rise as well as the growing need for people who can create, deploy, and maintain new technologies (Exhibit 3).

Before the pandemic, net job losses were concentrated in middle-wage occupations in manufacturing and some office work, reflecting automation, and low- and high-wage jobs continued to grow. Nearly all low-wage workers who lost jobs could move into other low-wage occupations—for instance, a data entry worker could move into retail or home healthcare. Because of the pandemic’s impact on low-wage jobs, we now estimate that almost all growth in labor demand will occur in high-wage jobs. Going forward, more than half of displaced low-wage workers may need to shift to occupations in higher wage brackets and requiring different skills to remain employed.

As many as 25 percent more workers may need to switch occupations than before the pandemic

Given the expected concentration of job growth in high-wage occupations and declines in low-wage occupations, the scale and nature of workforce transitions required in the years ahead will be challenging, according to our research. Across the eight focus countries, more than 100 million workers, or 1 in 16, will need to find a different occupation by 2030 in our post-COVID-19 scenario, as shown in Exhibit 4. This is 12 percent more than we estimated before the pandemic, and up to 25 percent more in advanced economies (Exhibit 4).

Before the pandemic, we estimated that just 6 percent of workers would need to find jobs in higher wage occupations. In our post-COVID-19 research, we find not only that a larger share of workers will likely need to transition out of the bottom two wage brackets but also that roughly half of them overall will need new, more advanced skills to move to occupations one or even two wage brackets higher.

The skill mix required among workers who need to shift occupations has changed. The share of time German workers spend using basic cognitive skills, for example, may shrink by 3.4 percentage points, while time spend using social and emotional skills will increase by 3.2 percentage points. In India, the share of total work hours expended using physical and manual skills will decline by 2.2 percentage points, while time devoted to technological skills will rise 3.3 percentage points. Workers in occupations in the lowest wage bracket use basic cognitive skills and physical and manual skills 68 percent of the time, while in the middle wage bracket, use of these skills occupies 48 percent of time spent. In the highest two brackets, those skills account for less than 20 percent of time spent. The most disadvantaged workers may have the biggest job transitions ahead, in part because of their disproportionate employment in the arenas most affected by COVID-19. In Europe and the United States, workers with less than a college degree, members of ethnic minority groups, and women are more likely to need to change occupations after COVID-19 than before. In the United States, people without a college degree are 1.3 times more likely to need to make transitions compared to those with a college degree, and Black and Hispanic workers are 1.1 times more likely to have to transition between occupations than white workers. In France, Germany, and Spain, the increase in job transitions required due to trends influenced by COVID-19 is 3.9 times higher for women than for men. Similarly, the need for occupational changes will hit younger workers more than older workers, and individuals not born in the European Union more than native-born workers.

Companies and policymakers can help facilitate workforce transitions

The scale of workforce transitions set off by COVID-19’s influence on labor trends increases the urgency for businesses and policymakers to take steps to support additional training and education programs for workers. Companies and governments exhibited extraordinary flexibility and adaptability in responding to the pandemic with purpose and innovation that they might also harness to retool the workforce in ways that point to a brighter future of work.

Businesses can start with a granular analysis of what work can be done remotely by focusing on the tasks involved rather than whole jobs. They can also play a larger role in retraining workers, as Walmart, Amazon, and IBM have done. Others have facilitated occupational shifts by focusing on the skills they need, rather than on academic degrees. Remote work also offers companies the opportunity to enrich their diversity by tapping workers who, for family and other reasons, were unable to relocate to the superstar cities where talent, capital, and opportunities concentrated before the pandemic.

Policymakers could support businesses by expanding and enhancing the digital infrastructure. Even in advanced economies, almost 20 percent of workers in rural households lack access to the internet. Governments could also consider extending benefits and protections to independent workers and to workers working to build their skills and knowledge mid-career.

Both businesses and policymakers could collaborate to support workers migrating between occupations. Under the Pact for Skills established in the European Union during the pandemic, companies and public authorities have dedicated €7 billion to enhancing the skills of some 700,000 automotive workers, while in the United States, Merck and other large companies have put up more than $100 million to burnish the skills of Black workers without a college education and create jobs that they can fill.

The reward of such efforts would be a more resilient, more talented, and better-paid workforce—and a more robust and equitable society.

Go behind the scenes and get more insights with “ Where the jobs are: An inside look at our new Future of Work research ” from our New at McKinsey blog.

Susan Lund and Anu Madgavkar are partners of the McKinsey Global Institute, where James Manyika and Sven Smit are co-chairs and directors. Kweilin Ellingrud is a senior partner in McKinsey’s Minneapolis office. Mary Meaney is a senior partner in the Paris office. Olivia Robinson is a consultant in the London office.

This report was edited by Stephanie Strom, a senior editor with the McKinsey Global Institute, and Peter Gumbel, MGI editorial director.

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