음식 주문 배달 산업의 긴꼬리 효과에 관한 실증 연구

The Long Tail Effect in the Online Food Ordering and Delivery Industry

Purpose - This study aims to quantify the long tail effect in the digital economy. It also investigates the role of digital platform before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach - We take advantage of a granular data set from one of the biggest digital platforms in Korea. Rather than computing the absolute number of products sold or the Gini coefficient, we estimate the slope of the log-linear relationship of the non-parametric sales distribution. Findings - We find that the use of online food order and delivery services is positively associated with individual restaurant’s sales growth. We also document that the long tail effect is increasing over time. Long tail effects are clustered in the cross-section where average revenue per order is high or the restaurant belongs to the top 50% of the sales distribution. Research implications or Originality - The findings may indicate that digital platforms are contributing to the development of the digital economy in Korea. Also, we confirm that digital platforms make it possible for small and sole proprietors to go through the difficulties induced by the COVID-19 pandemic.