To buy or not to buy? The impulse buying dilemma in livestream shopping

Abstract

Livestream shopping can potentially contribute to impulse buying because this format's immediacy and interactive nature may induce viewers to make unplanned purchases. As a relatively new concept, livestream shopping is still being explored by retailers and consumers alike. Given its rapid rise in recent years, understanding this phenomenon and its potential is crucial. We applied a two‐study strategy to understand the influencer and environmental characteristics that may affect users' impulse‐buying behavior, adopting a stimulus–organism–response framework in both studies. We applied a partial least squares structural equation model to the gathered data (671 questionnaires), revealing that perceived usefulness influences impulse buying more than perceived enjoyment. This difference is more vivid for more experienced livestream shoppers, who tend to value perceived usefulness under the influence of streamer characteristics. With a qualitative approach, the second study evaluated the performance of a top‐streaming influencer in China to determine whether the survey's most influential variables were adopted during the most successful sale ever. Our findings suggest that endorser style and promotion strategies (scarcity and sales promotions) affect consumer behavior. This study thus provides firms with insights into effectively influencing consumers' impulse‐buying behavior in livestreaming commerce.