The Impact of E-commerce Expansion on Export Market Entry of Exporters: Evidence from Korea's Manufacturing Establishments

초록

E-commerce has become an essential tool for manufacturers, enabling them to sell goods in distant local markets that they might not have otherwise been able to access. However, the entry of products into these markets can create competitive pressures for local manufacturers. As a result, understanding how this increased competition affects exporters, who are key players in the global market, becomes crucial. This paper focuses on exporters and, using plant-level data from South Korea—a country with a rapidly growing e-commerce sector—investigates whether the expansion of e-commerce influences these manufacturers to broaden their export markets. We find robust evidence that exporters in industries experiencing a rise in online sellers are more likely to expand their export activities. This result suggests that exporters can alleviate the competitive pressure arising from new product entries into local markets through e-commerce.

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