From trust to regret- the impact of live streaming commerce on impulse buying and the consequences on return intention

Abstract

Live broadcasting on social media has grown in popularity as a way for small companies to conduct real-time sales. Although its advantages have been extensively studied, little is known about its possible drawbacks, especially those related to a rise in product returns. Product returns have increased in tandem with small enterprises' expanding use of live broadcasting, endangering both profitability and long-term growth. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between customers' propensity to return items and their impulsive purchasing behavior, which is motivated by trust in livestream shopping commerce (LSC). To give a thorough grasp of these dynamics and their consequences for small retailers using live streaming platforms, the study focuses on the mediating roles of impulse buying and regret - both process and outcome regret, and the moderating control of risk aversion. A structural equation model is employed to test the research framework with users who have experienced shopping via live streaming commerce in Ho Chi Minh City. Our theme is to identify live streaming commerce attributes forming trust that leads to consumers' impulse buying, as well as evaluate the impact of post-purchase regret on customers’ return intention. In terms of quantitative methods, we conducted an online survey with a sample size of 204 people living in Ho Chi Minh City. With this study, we look forward to contributing our findings to further studies and recommending some potential suggestions to mitigate the negative influence of post-purchase regret and thus decrease the customers’ return intention after their impulse purchase in a shopping livestream.