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<p>Certification holds significant economic value in business transactions, serving as a unique signal and quality assurance amidst information asymmetry between buyers and sellers. To effectively address issues of fake goods and quality control and to continuously optimise the shopping experience for buyers, numerous e-commerce platforms are either exploring or have already implemented certification services for genuine products. Despite the widespread adoption of certification services by e-commerce platforms as a mechanism to address information asymmetry, existing research has examined the effectiveness of these services in mitigating information asymmetry in e-commerce transactions using both qualitative and quantitative methods, and has uniformly concluded that certification services play a definitive role. However, the existing research has not yet clearly elucidated the reasons why certification services can alleviate information asymmetry on e-commerce platforms, the mechanisms through which certification services impact sellers’ sales, or the influence of sellers’ initial sales volumes on the effectiveness of the certification mechanisms. This paper, consequently, builds upon the theories of information asymmetry, signaling theory, and quality assurance mechanisms. Leveraging the research opportunities afforded by quasi-natural experiments conducted on e-commerce platforms, it employs transaction data for high-end sneakers sourced from Platform E to delve into the specific role of certification services. The empirical results indicate that after sellers introduce certification services, their average weekly sales increase by 9.5%, with the underlying mechanism being that high-quality certification services bolster buyer willingness. Further testing reveals that the effect of certification services on increasing sales is more pronounced for smaller sellers. This study clearly identifies the commercial value of certification services, providing important insights for leveraging product certification services to enhance standardized management on e-commerce platforms, reshape the transaction value chain, and ultimately unlock greater market potential and value.</p>

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A quasi-experimental study on the mechanism of product certification services in e-commerce trading platforms: empirical evidence derived from high-end sneakers on a prominent e-commerce platform

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

    开放获取

  • 发表日期：

    2025年9月7日

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  • Hanmi Lin,
  • Qi Pan,
  • Xiutian Zheng,
  • Guichao Jin

摘要

Certification holds significant economic value in business transactions, serving as a unique signal and quality assurance amidst information asymmetry between buyers and sellers. To effectively address issues of fake goods and quality control and to continuously optimise the shopping experience for buyers, numerous e-commerce platforms are either exploring or have already implemented certification services for genuine products. Despite the widespread adoption of certification services by e-commerce platforms as a mechanism to address information asymmetry, existing research has examined the effectiveness of these services in mitigating information asymmetry in e-commerce transactions using both qualitative and quantitative methods, and has uniformly concluded that certification services play a definitive role. However, the existing research has not yet clearly elucidated the reasons why certification services can alleviate information asymmetry on e-commerce platforms, the mechanisms through which certification services impact sellers’ sales, or the influence of sellers’ initial sales volumes on the effectiveness of the certification mechanisms. This paper, consequently, builds upon the theories of information asymmetry, signaling theory, and quality assurance mechanisms. Leveraging the research opportunities afforded by quasi-natural experiments conducted on e-commerce platforms, it employs transaction data for high-end sneakers sourced from Platform E to delve into the specific role of certification services. The empirical results indicate that after sellers introduce certification services, their average weekly sales increase by 9.5%, with the underlying mechanism being that high-quality certification services bolster buyer willingness. Further testing reveals that the effect of certification services on increasing sales is more pronounced for smaller sellers. This study clearly identifies the commercial value of certification services, providing important insights for leveraging product certification services to enhance standardized management on e-commerce platforms, reshape the transaction value chain, and ultimately unlock greater market potential and value.