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Growth Barriers and Business Training For New Entrants on E-commerce Platform

Last registered on November 12, 2020

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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Growth Barriers and Business Training For New Entrants on E-commerce Platform

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0006725

Initial registration date

November 10, 2020

Last updated

November 12, 2020 8:20 AM EST

Location(s)

Country

China

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Zhengyun Sun

Affiliation

Harvard University

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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Yizhou Jin

PI Affiliation

UC Berkeley

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

On going

Start date

2019-05-01

End date

2020-12-31

Keywords

Firms & Productivity

Additional Keywords

E-commerce, Business Training, Growth Barriers

JEL code(s)

L26, L81, M53, O12, O17

Secondary IDs

Abstract

Expansion of e-commerce presents new opportunities for SMEs to enter broader markets at lower costs, but the new entrants face barriers to growth after entry. To facilitate the new entrants to overcome these barriers, we implement a training program as a randomized controlled experiment with new sellers on a large e-commerce platform. The business training program focuses on delivering practical knowledge of business operation skills and seeks to tackle challenges specific to the new sellers. We plan to analyze the impacts of the training on sellers and consumers on the platform with the administrative data.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Jin, Yizhou and Zhengyun Sun. 2020. "Growth Barriers and Business Training For New Entrants on E-commerce Platform." AEA RCT Registry. November 12. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.6725-1.0.

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

We implement the training online and randomize access to the training among new sellers. The training consists of sequences of customized tasks that the platform assigns to the sellers daily with an algorithm. Each task tackles a specific challenge that new sellers face, such as posting products to their stores or attracting visitors to their sites. The platform matches the tasks to sellers based on sellers' performance. Once taking up a task, the seller will have a designated period to reach the goal with the aids of online tutorials, webinars, and Q&A forums. Figure 1 shows the user interface of the tasks on the official sellers' portal app. If a seller completes the task, she can earn free short-term access to tools that support business operations.

Intervention Start Date

2019-05-01

Intervention End Date

2020-12-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Sellers' revenues, number of visitors, conversion rates, ratings, adoption of marketing, and other relevant strategies.

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

We randomize access to the training among new sellers when they register on the platform.

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Randomized with a randomization algorithm.

Randomization Unit

Randomization happens at the seller level.

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

The randomization is not clustered.

Sample size: planned number of observations

The sample size depends on the number of sellers registered on the platform and cannot be precisely estimated before the start of the experiment.

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

The sample size depends on the number of sellers registered on the platform and cannot be precisely estimated before the start of the experiment. We assign 25% of sellers to the treatment group.

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB

INSTITUTIONAL REVIEW BOARDS (IRBs)

IRB Name

Harvard University

IRB Approval Date

2019-05-30

IRB Approval Number

IRB19-0647

Analysis Plan