Product bundling strategy and pricing for co-livestreaming rooms considering consumer subscription

Abstract

Livestreaming e-commerce has recently emerged as a highly effective channel for manufacturers and retailers. In co-livestreaming, two streamers from different rooms collaborate to host an event and individually promote products in their respective rooms. Considering consumer subscription type and valuation discount, we explore three co-livestreaming sales strategies: pure component (PC), mixed bundling (MB), and pure bundling (PB), focusing on pricing decisions and sales strategy choices for independent products. Our findings indicate that co-livestreaming does not offer significant advantages over solo-livestreaming when there is sufficient traffic; however, co-livestreaming becomes beneficial when streamers have similar or identical audience types. Regarding consumer loyalty, the room with more loyal subscribers should promote high-value products. When two products have comparable values, PB strategy is preferable with a low proportion of co-subscribers and not too small valuation discount; otherwise, MB is preferred. In addition, both valuation discounts and product value difference significantly influence the choice of co-livestreaming sales strategies. Furthermore, we extend our models to examine co-livestreaming cases involving substitute and complementary products and compare the optimal bundling strategies with those for independent products. Finally, we propose a product assignment and a profit distribution method within co-livestreaming scenarios.