A study on the community online to offline (O2O) operation model in Nanjing

This study aims to study the online to offline (O2O) operation pattern of Chinese E-commerce and its features; analyze the current development and existing problems of Chinese O2O operation pattern; and explore the domestic O2O development layout of communities in Nanjing. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses are applied in this work. For the quantitative analysis, questionnaire was distributed to some consumers and communities randomly to study their current demands for O2O. 872 out of 900 questionnaire items were finally collected and used. For the qualitative analysis, in-depth interviews on enterprises in Suning, Jingdong and Guomei were conducted to find out the practical problems of community O2O model including their current situation, development trend as well as future development direction and possible measures.  30 interviewees are involved: 6 operators, 6 logistics staffs6 delivery staffs and 12 online shoppers. The findings of the study are; the current O2O operation model has attracted a range of consumers and enterprises because it is convenient and accessible, has diversified service categories, values customer evaluation and reduces time and distance to cut down cost, there are existing problems of Chinese O2O operation pattern in Nanjing communities: lack of trust for community O2O model , suspicious attitude towards enterprises certification, inadequate innovation of community O2O model ,difficulty in achieving community services standardization and the e-commerce platform has gone through three stages. As the representative of the first generation of e-commerce platform, Ali Taobao is featured by purely online virtual shopping platform. Represented by Tmall and Jiangdong, the second generation of e-commerce platform is characterized by the initial O2O model integrating virtual online shopping and physical stores. The third- generation e-commerce platform represented by Suning, Guomei, and e-commerce enterprises are characterized by community-based customers and standardization. Key words: O2O model, community, E-commerce, Nanjing.