Trade with a rural cooperative or not: rural e-commerce channel choices for farmers and e-tailers

Motivated by the fact that there are two typical e-commerce channel modes between farmers and an e-tailer in rural areas, this paper investigates two channel formats: direct mode and rural cooperative mode. We adopt three methods to study the rural e-commerce channel selection, including game theory, field interview, and agent-based simulation (ABS). We first develop a game theory model to compare two e-commerce channel structures. Further, the field interview and ABS are utilized to verify the reasonability of the theory model. Last, two rural cooperative channel modes are explored. The analysis reveals that: (1) under certain cases, the rural cooperative's production support reduces farmers' production enthusiasm instead. (2) There exist "win-win" situations benefiting farmers and the e-tailer simultaneously. (3) Our theoretical results are effective through the simulation demonstration. (4) The rural cooperative prefers the cooperative direct selling mode in most cases.