Retail of Fresh Vegetables in China: Why Wet Markets Are Not Replaceable by Supermarkets?

Abstract

Supermarkets have existed in China for more than 20 years. Although they have many advantages, supermarkets have not replaced wet markets as the leading retail outlets for fresh food. Currently, the two types of market compete but coexist. The study uses suvery data gathered from December 2015 to January 2016 in Nanjing, which is an important central city of China, to creat a Hedonic model that tests the causal relationships of quality and price among wet markets and supermarkets. The main conclusions are as follows: i) Supermarkets have a quality advantage, while wet markets have a price advantage; ii) For sales of fresh vegetables, supermarkets concentrate on high quality and high prices; and iii) In addition to the quality differences, supermarkets have other distinguishing advantages, such as variety, convenience, environment, and service characteristics.