Private Domain Operations and Survival Resilience of Small Merchants in the Digital Age——A sociological analysis of the realization of technological dividends under the leadership of the platform
Based on a case study of the development of tea e-commerce,this paper explores the mechanisms by which small merchants who lack rule-making bargaining power and capital-driven mo-mentum can survive and cash in on the dividends of e-commerce technology.The study indicates that al-though e-commerce platforms and large brand merchants tend to form strong alliances and increasingly monopolize public domain resources,small merchants still fully leverage their agency by operating in private domains to avoid being marginalized in technological development.The reason why private do-main operations can win considerable living space for small merchants mainly comes from the integra-tion of digital technology and the industrial operation process:firstly,the portability of the platform shapes a fluid online field and accommodates the flexible business forms of small merchants;the visibil-ity of the private domain stimulates the supply of personalized products and their interweaving with the personal characteristics of the merchants;the connectivity that penetrates both online and offline ex-tends the breadth and density of human interaction and connection,accumulating substantial interper-sonal capital for small merchants.This study provides an interpretative framework for examining the re-silience of small merchants in the context of digitalization.
small merchantse-commerce platformsprivate domain operationstechnological dividendsurvival resilience
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