Cost behavior in e-commerce firms

Josep M. Argilés-Bosch (), Josep Garcia-Blandón and Diego Ravenda
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Josep M. Argilés-Bosch: Universitat de Barcelona
Josep Garcia-Blandón: Universitat Ramón Llull
Diego Ravenda: TBS Business School

Electronic Commerce Research, 2023, vol. 23, issue 4, No 5, 2134 pages

Abstract: Abstract We conduct empirical research on the flexibility of operating costs of e-commerce firms. With an international sample of firms from different European countries, we find that e-commerce firms have a different cost structure than traditional retail firms, with a lower share of labor costs and cost of goods sold, but a higher share of other operating costs. While we find no significant different behavior in cost of goods sold and labor costs between the two types of firms, e-commerce firms are more flexible in adjusting other operating costs than traditional retail firms when activity decreases. Results are robust to different models, estimations methods and samples. The higher flexibility of e-commerce firms relies on other operating costs, but e-commerce creates qualified jobs with higher wages than traditional retail, with no additional exposure to labor uncertainty for employees.

Keywords: Cost behavior; E-commerce; Retail firms; Operating costs; Labor costs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1007/s10660-021-09528-2

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