1. Introduction
Commercial space is the core area of a city’s economic flow (e.g., population flow, goods flow, capital flow, technology flow, information flow) [
1,
2]. It is also the most attractive, vibrant, and competitive area. To a large extent, the life of the city derives from the commodity exchange that occurs to satisfy the demand for centralized space. As a highly composite area of urban activities and needs, commercial space develops and evolves through the agglomeration and diffusion of markets and market components. Urban commercial space in the modern sense is, in fact, a business circle or commercial cluster formed by a combination of attractive and impressive commercial forms. In particular, since the beginning of the 21st century, the interactive development of economic globalization, informatization, marketization, and urbanization has promoted the network connection of global resources, production, services, and consumption. The construction of a global supply chain has formed a new urban commercial landscape and given rise to a new commercial civilization [
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9]. All types of commercial subjects have emerged, and commercial forms and commercial models change with each passing day. At the same time, market competition is becoming increasingly fierce, and new requirements are emerging for the business environment. In the urban commercial space, permanence and change coexist, and the winner and the loser live together in their competition. Similarly, vitality and crisis coexist.
Commercial space has always been a focus of urban geography, urban planning, and urban economics. Particularly in the 21st century, traditional business models and lifestyles have been substantially affected by the drive towards globalization, the advance of information and communications technology, and the rapid development of intelligent and networked business. New commercial forms continue to emerge, providing new spaces in which to experience commercial shopping and leisure consumption for urban residents and demonstrating the new vitality brought by the new commercial forms to the city. This new commercial space has gradually become a topic of academic research.
One focus of such research is the location, type, scale, form, structure, and formative mechanism of new commercial spaces or new retail formats, such as malls, department stores, hypermarkets, supermarkets, convenience stores, discounters, and brand stores in developed countries [
10,
11] and developing countries [
1,
2,
12,
13,
14,
15,
16,
17].
A second research focus is the impact of new urban commercial space development. Spilková and Sefrna [
18] investigated the impact of new retail development on land use changes and the loss of quality of agricultural land. Wang [
19] examined the impact of the changing external environment, particularly the shift in government policies, on the structure of retail formats in Beijing. Rotem-Mindali [
20] applied ecological methods to analyze the impact of the spatial location of retail centers on city livability. Omer and Goldblatt [
21] analyzed the association between spatial patterns of retail activity and the street network structure in new Israeli towns and traditional cities using space syntax. Their aim was to illustrate the influence of urban growth and planning approaches on the formation of retail activity and its interaction with the spatial configuration of street networks. Reinartz et al. [
22] examined the impact of digital transformation on the retail value chain.
A third research focus is spatial resilience and sustainable development strategies for urban commercial spaces. Kärrholm et al. [
23] identified the interdependence of three different types of Swedish retail locations from the perspective of spatial resilience. Erkip et al. [
24] examined various retailer strategies and their impacts on urban space in a dynamic globalization environment in Turkey.
Since the beginning of the 21st century, the rapid development of computer science and information technology has become one of the main driving factors for global economic growth. Digital payment methods that are more convenient than traditional offline payment have also become mainstream payment methods. This article defines the new commerce form as a commerce form that is based on information technology and electronic payment to provide online and offline characteristics and personalized services. As of March 2020, the number of online payment users in China reached 768 million [
25]. Due to changes in payment methods, consumption patterns in China have gradually been digitalized. In 2020, due to the impact of the COVID-19, the business volume of new retail formats in China grew rapidly. In the first quarter of 2020, the retail sales of new retail enterprises in Beijing increased by more than 70% year on year [
26]. Freshhema is a new retail brand in mainland China that mainly uses electronic payment and integrates online and offline forms. In March 2020, Freshhema will start six new stores [
27]. In September 2018, Starbucks’ online food ordering service, Starbucks Delivery, was launched [
28]. Users only need to place an order on a mobile phone to enjoy the delivery service. According to Starbucks China’s official website, as of October 2020, Starbucks Delivery has covered 27 provincial administrative regions in China. New business formats have become an important part of Chinese business, and the new business patterns of Chinese cities have also shown their research value. The evaluation of new business vitality and its influencing factors are the focus of this article.
The last 30 years have seen the fastest pace of urbanization in the world. On the one hand, with the introduction of various new urban concepts, the study of relevant city indexes has attracted much attention, such as the Eco-City Index [
29,
30,
31], Green City Index [
32,
33,
34], Livable Cities Index [
35,
36], Compact City Index [
37,
38], Smart City Index [
39], Resilient City Index [
23,
40], Innovative City Index [
41,
42], Global City Index [
43,
44], etc. For example, Jin [
45] used a factor analysis method to evaluate the economic vitality of 50 cities in China from aspects of economy and its growth, number and income of enterprises, income of residents, financial and social security, foreign trade and capital, level of technology and education, and environment. He concluded that urban benefits and production are the main factors of the economic vitality. On the other hand, with the cyclical development of prosperity and the decline of cities, the Sustainable City Development Index [
39,
46] and Urban Competitiveness Index [
47] have been widely paid attention to. For instance, Wang et al. [
48] evaluated the urban innovation competitiveness based on five categories of indicators, i.e., innovation basic competitiveness, innovation environment competitiveness, innovation input competitiveness, innovation output competitiveness, and innovation and sustainable development competitiveness. However, in existing studies of various city indices, the urban new commercial index has not attracted enough attention. By studying this new business index, the purpose of this article is to address the following questions: (1) How can one quantitatively measure the vitality of a new commercial space? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each city in the development of new business forms? (2) What is the relationship between the vitality of a new business space and the business environment? What factors have more important effects on a city’s new commercial vitality? (3) How can one enhance the vitality of a new business space and reshape its characteristics by optimizing the business environment? The business environment is the soil for the survival and development of enterprises. Optimizing the business environment will support the growth of enterprises, promote economic development, and improve the level of cities [
49,
50,
51,
52,
53]. According to the World Bank’s “Doing Business 2020”, China, as the world’s second-largest economy, ranks 31st among 190 economies in the ease of doing business. China’s business environment still has much space for improvement. To this end, we propose the following three hypotheses: (1) Hypothesis I: The new business vitality is highly correlated with the business environment factors. (2) Hypothesis II: The human capital has a more important effect than economic development level on business vitality. (3) Hypothesis III: Cities with higher GDP have a higher urban vitality index.
4. Discussion
Industrial upgrading and technological progress are common issues facing the world. At present, the traditional driving force of economic growth is weakening, while new industries and new business forms are rising rapidly. The new economy is becoming an important driving force for global economic growth. China’s economy is trying to reduce its dependence on the “infrastructures + real estates” growth model, and the new economy represented by technology, consumption, and services has become the main direction of structural transformation and upgrading. The innovative new economy includes both emerging manufacturing and services, particularly new commercial formats. Therefore, one should promote the smooth connection between financial capital and new commercial formats, actively introduce and cultivate innovative commercial enterprises, and accelerate the transformation from traditional commercial spaces to new commercial spaces. This paper evaluates the vitality of new commercial space and investigates the relationship between commercial vitality and the business environment. This study is not only a new topic of commercial geography, but also has important reference value for urban commerce planning in China and other developing countries.
In the context of rapid technological development, promoting the upgrading of industries and employment is the goal of many cities all over the world. Digital technology is the carrier of industrial upgrading. It is mentioned in “One NYC 2050” that to be competitive in the 21st century requires a population that is digitally literate and prepared for jobs in the burgeoning tech sector. New business formats and vitality based on electronic payments are a practical reflection of industrial upgrading. A good business environment is the necessary condition for industrial upgrading, and the business environment directly affects the new business vitality. A good business environment promotes the progress, transformation, and adaptation to the rapidly developing digital economy of enterprises, stimulates cities’ new business vitality, and promotes the upgrading of industries and employment (
Figure 6).
This paper constructs a new business index system consisting of the following six sub-indexes: the characteristic hotels index, the Starbucks index, the Freshhema index, the concept bookstores index, the smart convenience stores index, and the healthcare and medical examination index. This study expands the research field of traditional commercial space. Previous studies only considered the Atour index, the Starbucks index, and the Freshhema index [
82]. Our index system is more refined; more types of new featured businesses (e.g., concept bookstores, smart convenience stores, characteristic hotels, fashionable beverage stores, fresh supermarkets, and healthcare institutions) and their combinations are included. In particular, the new business spaces (e.g., characteristic hotels, Starbucks coffee shops, concept bookstores, smart convenience stores, and Freshhema stores) that involve cultural connotations, such as consumption, experience, values, and lifestyles, have received more attention. Moreover, our index system comprehensively considered the degree of innovation, the degree of fashionableness, the degree of activity, and the degree of intelligence of the studied urban businesses.
We find that the urban social service environment, market environment, and soft environment are the main factors that impact the new business vitality of Chinese cities. This finding is consistent with the actual business environment in Chinese cities. In fact, in recent years, the gaps among the studied cities in the infrastructure environment, ecological environment, and business cost environment have gradually been narrowed. However, the gaps in the social service environment, market environment, and soft environment are expanding. These are also key tasks for the future business environment of Chinese cities. In addition, it should be noted that the impact of the business cost environment and ecological environment may increase. From the perspective of consumers, urban commercial space should not only provide daily necessities and employment opportunities, but also make people feel happy.
In addition to the 10 business environment indicators studied in this article, other impact factors (i.e., financing services, education services, and old-age care services in the social services environment indicators; the cost of starting a business, the cost of contract performance, the cost of property registration, and the tax burden level in the soft environment indicators; PM2.5 concentration and wastewater discharge per unit area in the ecological environment indicators; highway facilities and services, aviation facilities and services, rail facilities and services, and mobile Internet data facilities in the infrastructure environment indicators) could be considered in the regression model.
It should be pointed out that the construction of any index system is target-oriented and restricted by region. Our empirical research is mainly aimed at Chinese cities, but the new business vitality index constructed here still has certain reference value for cities in other countries or regions. Indeed, it is not easy to build a universal index system under different regulatory, cultural, and other circumstances.
5. Conclusions and Policy Implications
From the perspective of the six new commercial formats, the development level of Freshhema stores and smart convenience stores in different cities is obviously different because of the high technical threshold and expensive operation costs involved. As improved models of coffee shops, ordinary hotels, and ordinary bookstores, Starbucks coffee shops, characteristic hotels, and concept bookstores, respectively, have been successively expanded in various cities. There are relatively few differences in the development of healthcare institutions among the studied cities. New businesses require the support of new consumer groups, particularly the fashionable youth group and the highly educated group. Thus, the competition for new consumer groups will become a focus of future urban competition. In fact, measures such as household registration, subsidies, and talent housing are not necessarily able to attract real talents. Creating a livable and business-friendly environment is the core issue that cities need to pay attention to in the future. However, it should be noted that blindly attracting people without limit will often result in the rapid rise of housing prices, which will raise the business costs and, in turn, will curb the inflow of young talents.
Among 29 major cities in Mainland China, the stratification of business innovation is obvious. Shanghai and Beijing are not only the first market for new retail brands, but also have the first-mover advantage in the digitization of physical businesses and business model innovation. It is worth mentioning that in recent years, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Fuzhou, Xi’an, Ningbo, and Guiyang made substantial efforts to grasp the development opportunity of globalization and informatization, relying on advanced commercial infrastructures and relatively open consumption concepts. These cities actively introduced the leading enterprises in business innovation and expanded innovative models. As a result, they increasingly reaped the benefits of undertaking new business incubation, and added vigor to their talent competition strategies.
The rise and development of new commercial forms depend on the innovation and optimization of the business environment. To a large extent, competition today occurs in the institutional environment. A quality business environment featuring legalization, internationalization, and facilitation is an important basis for a city’s core competitiveness. The results of feature importance and GPR analysis revealed that the urban soft environment, market environment, and business cost environment are the main factors that impact the new business vitality of Chinese cities. Therefore, to take the lead in urban core competitiveness, one should not only rely on low factor costs to compete, but also focus on optimizing the business environment: increasing support for accounting evaluation, financial services, property transactions, legal services, professional and technical services, and consulting services, and refining industrial services and industrial policy guidance. This approach represents the most lasting and powerful path to success. For example, Atour hotels have created a unique cultural atmosphere through “books + territorial photography”, provide intimate services, such as welcoming and delivering guests tea and night snacks, and focus on upgrading the quality of their hotels, which stand out among numerous homogeneous chain hotels and are favored by consumers.
A city’s new business vitality is an important reflection of its business environment. The key to measuring the business environment is fairness, convenience, and efficiency. Whether one can achieve the unity of these three goals depends on the degree of activity of the market entities, the degree of enterprise confidence, the degree of empathy of the social groups, and the sense of gain of the city’s citizens. Therefore, creating a fair competition environment and stimulating the innovation vitality of market players are key to promoting the sustainable development of new business forms. At the same time, the expansion of new urban business forms should adhere to the idea of giving priority to the well-being of residents, avoid the tendency of purely pursuing the maximization of commercial interests, and strive to get rid of the commercial centrism that ignores the convenience of urban planning.
The flattening of information brought by the Internet flattens consumer’ cognition and provides new opportunities for business innovation in inland cities. Narrowing the difference between coastal and inland cities in the level of informatization development as soon as possible should be considered a major practical task in promoting China’s balanced regional development.
Today’s society is moving from the era of industrial economy to the era of digital economy, and artificial intelligence (AI) and technology innovation based on AI are reshaping business and society, which not only brings about a huge transformation of work, wealth, and power, but also has a huge impact on the mode of production and lifestyle of cities [
83,
84,
85]. For example, AI together with genomics can be used to monitor patient data so as to better understand each patient’s physical condition and achieve the goal of precise healthcare. This means that a precise model of healthcare will defeat the traditional model of public healthcare. A variety of new business models contain huge growth potential. Therefore, the mechanisms and spatial effects of various new technologies on the scale, structure, and layout of new business forms and land utilization will become the focus of future research.