Review article
https://doi.org/10.31217/p.36.1.4
Pandemics trends in E-commerce: drop shipping entrepreneurship during COVID-19 pandemic
Dejan Miljenović
orcid.org/0000-0002-3644-6077
; University of Rijeka, Faculty of Economics and Business, Department of Entrepreneurial Economics, Rijeka, Croatia
Bono Beriša
; University of St. Andrews, School of Management, The Gateway, St. Andrews, United Kingdom
Abstract
Drop shipping represents a delivery business model based on e-commerce logistics, which is very relevant in the global pandemic crisis. In this model, buyers order products and services directly from the manufacturer over the Internet through the intermediary of a drop shipper who ensures the easiest and fastest delivery. Drop shipper is a type of e-commerce entrepreneur that offers goods using online logistics infrastructure to ensure direct physical delivery from the manufacturer to the retailer or customer. This includes drop shipping as a business model to Industry 4.0 (i.e. the digital economy). This paper elaborates how a particular e-commerce model affects the development and improvement of global supply chains. Aim of this paper is to research how entrepreneur can lower its costs along drop shipping supply chain by managing inventory ratios or cost of stock. This enables drop shipping to greatly facilitate market access for cash-strapped entrepreneurs. We also conducted a simulation of optimized drop shipping process to show that there is a constant adaptability for entrepreneurs using drop shipping, especially among small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The timeliness of drop shipping is that it has facilitated as a global delivery solution in relation to the coronavirus disease pandemic (COVID-19). Moreover, drop shipping is based on a Activity-Based Costing (ABC model) whose quantitative efficiency has been proven by scientific analysis and research results. Finally, the legal aspects of drop shipping are given importance in the situation of COVID-19 which had a crucial impact on international trade in 2020, especially in predicting short-term trade trends. Due to this within this paper we also examined the effects of the ˝coronavirus˝ on global e-commerce. Global drop shipping data ensures qualitative predictions considering pandemic environment, social distancing issues and internet trade curves which are more than useful in today’s changing business conditions.
Keywords
Internet; Entrepreneurship; Drop shipping; COVID-19; Supply chain; International trade
Hrčak ID:
279300
URI
Publication date:
30.6.2022.
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