Examining the impact of e-commerce growth on the spatial distribution of fashion and beauty stores in Seoul

Abstract

E-commerce has dramatically expanded its sales, with people being increasingly customed to online shopping. This study aimed to examine changes in the distribution of retail stores that provide fashion and beauty products and services in terms of the number of online shopping transactions and their spatial characteristics in Seoul. For this purpose, we analyzed location data concerning relevant newly opened and closed offline stores from four subgroups between 2015 and 2019. Though more offline stores were newly opened than closed in that period, the number of stores had overall significantly decreased apart from stores providing beauty services, with significant differences in subgroup spatial distribution patterns. We identified local geographic factors affecting retail stores by applying spatial regression models, and we found that the growth of e-commerce was associated with the related to the survival and closure of fashion and beauty stores. While retail store locations are not immediately responsive to changes due to COVID-19, we expect the prolonged COVID-19 outbreak will further facilitate the spatial transformation that has been stimulated by rise of online retailing. Our findings provide important basic data for establishing location plans and management strategies for future fashion and beauty stores, as well as timely evidence-based data to help direct subsequent academic research.