Abstract
This study focuses on the e-commerce cluster in rural China, trying to analyze the formation
factors of rural e-commerce cluster by Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA).
In China, competition in online shopping in urban areas was intense with a tendency to slow
down, whereas the consumer market in rural areas is becoming increasingly huge. Thus,
attention has been shifted to rural e-commerce.
Even though the size of consumer market in rural China is huge, its location is dispersed with
low intensity, and it needs to meet complexed consumer needs. As a result, it will be difficult to
develop the distribution system due to the high distribution costs and low distribution efficiency.
Over the past few years, online shopping has grown rapidly and is becoming a leading player
in the rural distribution system. E-commerce cluster centered on online shopping has started in
some rural areas thanks to e-commerce, such as Taobao Village. As a result, a new distribution
hub centered on e-commerce cluster is being formed in rural areas. The rural e-commerce
cluster is regarded as an important part of improving rural distribution efficiency.
The existing research suggests that the rural e-commerce cluster was generated by multiple
factors but did not fully analyze the combination of these factors. In this study, field survey will
be conducted in e-commerce villages in Yiwu and Cao County to capture the actual conditions
of the rural e-commerce clusters in detail. We will analyze the formation factors of rural
e-commerce clusters by Qualitative comparative analysis (QCA). The study finds that the
combination of knowledge sources and logistics services plays an important and positive role in
the formation of rural e-commerce clusters.
