From brick-and-mortar to livestream shopping: product information acquisition from the uncertainty reduction perspective

Abstract

This study investigates how livestream fashion shopping is associated with brick-and-mortar shopping, focusing on product uncertainty, and examines livestreaming’s role in reducing product uncertainty and promoting consumers’ purchase intention by adopting the Uncertainty reduction theory (URT). The study identifies the three product information sources (i.e., product demonstration, interaction with the seller, and other viewers’ reviews) that consumers use in livestream shopping via uncertainty-reducing strategies. PLS results (n = 292) indicate that consumers who rely on salespeople’s assistance as a product information source in brick-and-mortar shopping showed a positive perception of the two product information sources—interaction with the seller and other viewers’ reviews—in livestream shopping. The seller’s product demonstration played a significant role in reducing product uncertainty and subsequently affected purchase intention, while the other two information sources (i.e., interaction with the seller and other viewers’ reviews) affected the purchase intention directly. The findings extend the URT to improve our understanding of consumer information attainment in the livestream shopping context and exemplify a promising future for livestream fashion shopping by investigating its features that can potentially substitute for the brick-and-mortar shopping experience. Future studies can include motivational factors (i.e., service and/or technical barriers) in the model.