The impact of residents’ online consumption on offline consumption—an ordered probit semi-parametric estimation method

Abstract

Online consumption not only is an economic phenomenon, but also has a profound impact on offline consumption. Under this context, this article analyzes the mechanism of how they influence offline consumption and puts forward research hypotheses. China Household Financial Survey (CHFS) data and a semi-parametric ordered probit estimation method are used empirical tests. The results indicate that consumers with online consumption experience are very likely to consume again. The scale of online consumption not only drives the increase of overall consumption, but also promotes the growth of offline consumption via capital effect, complementarity effect, and psychologic effect. In general, online consumption and offline consumption have achieved integrated development.