The Effects of Product Stimuli and Social Stimuli on Online Impulse Buying in Live Streams

Abstract

Live streaming has grown rapidly in popularity world-wide. Impulse buying is a common commerce activity on live streaming platforms. Many live streamers sell products on live steaming platforms, in real time. Live shopping streams which are similar to television shopping programs provoke viewers to buy impulsively. Although the issue of impulse buying has been discussed by many studies, the characteristics of live shopping streams are less considered. For understanding the issues about online impulse buying, the research focuses on the determinants of online impulse buying based on the perspective of dual stimuli (the stimuli of online product presentation and the stimuli of social environment) within the context of live shopping streams. This study incorporates the stimulus-organism-response framework, online product presentation, emotion, and impulse buying to explore the determinants of online impulse buying. Understanding this topic can contribute to research issues of online impulse buying within the context of live streaming, and can help live streamers, internet marketing firms, and managers of live streaming platforms to obtain advantages.