Live Streaming Commerce From The Sellers' Perspective: Implications For Online Relationship Marketing

Journal of Marketing Management
ISSN: 0267-257X (Print) 1472-1376 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rjmm20
Live streaming commerce from the sellers’

perspective: implications for online relationship
marketing
Apiradee Wongkitrungrueng, Nassim Dehouche & Nuttapol Assarut
To cite this article: Apiradee Wongkitrungrueng, Nassim Dehouche & Nuttapol Assarut (2020):
Live streaming commerce from the sellers’ perspective: implications for online relationship
marketing, Journal of Marketing Management
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/0267257X.2020.1748895
Published online: 15 Apr 2020.
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JOURNAL OF MARKETING MANAGEMENT
https://doi.org/10.1080/0267257X.2020.1748895
Live streaming commerce from the sellers’ perspective:

implications for online relationship marketing
a
Apiradee Wongkitrungrueng , Nassim Dehoucheb and Nuttapol Assarutc
a
Business Administration Division, Mahidol University International College, Salaya, Thailand; bBusiness
Administration Division, Mahidol University International College, Salaya, Thailand; cMarketing Department,
Chulalongkorn Business School, Pathumwan, Thailand
ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Live streaming has recently become a popular direct selling channel Received 1 May 2019
which offers small, self-employed sellers unseen levels of consumer Accepted 3 February 2020
interaction and engagement. While the extant research focused on KEYWORDS
consumer motivation and intention to shop via live streaming, little Live streaming; online
is known from the seller’s perspective. Indeed, the potential advan- retailing;
tages of live streaming commerce are accessible to everyone, but transactional-relational sales
sellers experience different levels of success with this medium. orientation; relationship
Using a mixed quantitative and qualitative approach, this study marketing
analyses Facebook data of live streaming sellers to assess the nature
and extent of engagement metrics, and delineate the dynamic,
interactive live streaming sales process. We identify four sales
approaches and twelve strategies adopted in acquiring and retain-
ing customers. This typology of sales approach representing seller-
focused antecedents is mapped against the relationship process
and outcomes to provide a framework for understanding relation-
ship mechanisms in live streaming commerce.
Introduction
Live streaming is increasingly used by individual, small sellers worldwide as a new
interactive direct selling channel for selling products, ranging from clothing, electronics
to furniture, jewellery, and food (Chen, 2017). A growing number of survey research found
that consumers are attracted to live streaming shopping because they perceive utilitarian
value (real-time communication and information), hedonic value (enjoyment), and social
value (sense of belonging) which in turn can enhance consumers’ experience and atti-
tudes towards sellers/products, and thus purchase intention (Ang et al., 2018; Wang & Wu,
2019; Wongkitrungrueng & Assarut, 2018).
Despite such promises in influencing consumer’s intention to purchase, the effect of
live streaming adoption on actual business outcomes (e.g. leads, sales) is underexamined
(Chen et al., 2019; M. Zhang et al., 2019). Would live streaming selling generates more
sales lead and engagement? If so, more importantly, why do some sellers attract more
audiences and engagement than others, given that the real-time advantage of live
streaming is offered to everyone? Little is known about how sellers attract customers,
CONTACT Apiradee Wongkitrungrueng [email protected] Business Administration Division, Mahidol

University International College, 999 Phutthamonthon 4 Road, Salaya, Nakhonpathom 73170, Thailand
© 2020 Westburn Publishers Ltd.
2 A. WONGKITRUNGRUENG ET AL.
build relationships with them, and close sales in the live streaming context. Therefore, our
study aims to explore on what seller-related factors (i.e. seller’s strategies) influence the
success in live streaming selling.
To meet this objective, we first assess the effect of live streaming adoption on sales
leads and engagement by performing a quantitative analysis on engagement metrics
(social commerce KPIs) extracted from selected Facebook accounts. These measures of
live streaming success establish a premise that the outcomes can vary within/across
sellers, suggesting the use of different strategies. Next, building on the transactional-
relational orientation, we conducted a qualitative study to explore the sales process in live
streaming commerce, and importantly categorise different sales approaches and strate-
gies used by sellers to attract and engage customers. Finally, we examined the relation-
ship between sales approaches and engagement metrics to determine effective sales
approach.
This paper contributes to the e-commerce and sales literature by providing an empiri-
cal, comprehensive understanding on this new phenomenon – live streaming commerce
– from a seller’s perspective. The extant research on online retailing and relationship
marketing predominantly focuses on relationship benefits sought by customers that can
influence their intention to purchase (Verma et al., 2016), leaving other issues such as
seller’s strategies underexamined (Han et al., 2018). Since the nature of live streaming
commerce is more dynamic and interactive than that of traditional online commerce, it is
important to explore the live streaming selling process and sellers’ strategies. Our find-
ings, extending the scope of a transactional-relational selling orientation, revealed four
sales approaches (transaction, persuasion, content, and relationship) and twelve sales
strategies that small entrepreneurs employed in driving sales and engagement with
customers. We recommend a variety of sales approaches and strategies in order to
reach different relationship processes and outcomes.
Next, we provide the background of live streaming commerce and theorise about sales
orientation and relationship marketing in the online setting. We then present quantitative
and qualitative studies that answer our research questions. The paper ends with a
discussion of the theoretical and managerial implications of our findings.
Live streaming commerce background and research

Live streaming commerce is a subset of e-commerce embedded with real-time social
interaction (including real-time video and text-based chat channels) (Cai & Wohn, 2019;
Hamilton et al., 2014). It shares some similarities with, as well as some differences from e-
commerce and traditional offline commerce as summarised in Table 1.
In live streaming, seller’s expressions and interactions with a product can be
transmitted to customers in real time although they are spatially separated from
each other. This provides a sense of a direct, synchronous communication (Bründl
et al., 2017; Deshpande & Hwang, 2001) as customers observe a seller’s verbal/
nonverbal behaviours and his/her identity. Customers respond via written commu-
nication, allowing sellers to communicate with many customers at the same time.
Similar to the direct sales party, a live stream full of many active customers can
enliven the shopping experience and influence customer decision (Ang et al., 2018;
Bründl et al., 2017).
JOURNAL OF MARKETING MANAGEMENT 3
Table 1. Comparison of live streaming commerce with existing types of commerce.

Offline commerce E-commerce Live-commerce
Geographic proximity Spatial and Temporal separation (Pai & Tsai, 2011) Spatial separation but
(Kozlenkova et al., 2017) temporal proximity
Face-to-face verbal/non-verbal Text-to-text written communication. Limited verbal/non- Face-to-text
communication verbal communication (Benedicktus et al., 2010) communication.
Identity of customers-sellers can Information regarding the identity of customers-sellers is Identity of sellers can
be observed limited (Rotman, 2010). Identity has to be inferred from be observed
written communication
Product evaluation is easiest, Product evaluation is difficult. Photo can be edited. Product evaluation is
with five senses (Degeratu et easier with real-time
al., 2000). video.
Synchronous interaction with Interaction with one customer via chat box. Synchronous
one or a few customers interaction with
many customers.
Live streaming commerce can take place in three types of channels: (1) live streaming
platforms incorporating commercial activities (e.g. Liveme) (2) e-commerce sites, market-
places (e.g. Taobao), or mobile app (e.g. Talkshoplive, Shopshops) integrating live stream-
ing features (Cai & Wohn, 2019), and (3) social networking sites (SNSs) that add live
streaming features (e.g. Facebook Live) to facilitate selling (Wongkitrungrueng &
Assarut, 2018). Our focus is on the last type of channel where sellers not only sell but
also share their personal lives with their customers via live streaming on their personal
Facebook account or their fan page.
The extant literature on live streaming can be divided into two lines of research. The
first line focuses on consumers’ motivations to watch or shop via live streaming from
survey data (Ang et al., 2018; Cai & Wohn, 2019; Ho & Rajadurai, 2020; Hou et al., 2019;
Leeraphong & Sukrat, 2018; Sun et al., 2019; Wang & Wu, 2019; Wongkitrungrueng &
Assarut, 2018).
These works, mainly drawing on uses and gratification theory (e.g. enjoyment, informa-
tion seeking, social presence) and technological-related motivations (e.g. Technology
Acceptance Model, IT affordance), found that consumers are attracted to live streaming
shopping due to factors related to product information, communication quality, enjoy-
ment, and social presence (see Table 2 for summary), which in turn can enhance con-
sumers’ experience and trust towards sellers/products, and thus their intention to watch
and purchase.
Table 2. Motivational process of live streaming adoption.

Value Antecedents Mediators Outcomes
Utilitarian ● Product information ● Trust in products ● Intention to watch
● Product interactivity visualization/ ● Perceived ● Intention to engage
demonstration uncertainty ● Attitudes about product experience
● Communication immediacy/ ● Trust in sellers ● Intention to purchase
synchronicity ● Psychological
Hedonic ● Enjoyment/excitement distance
Social ● Trendsetting ● Authentic viewing
● Social identification/need for com- experience
munity/social presence
The second line of research emerged more recently and focuses on actual behaviours
observed from data collected from live streaming platforms. This includes M. Zhang et al.
(2019) collecting sales and product review data from Taobao.com, China’s leading online
marketplace, and Chen et al. (2019) obtained sales data from Taobao.com and streaming
data from Yizhibo.com, the country’s leading live streaming platform. M. Zhang et al.
(2019) compared daily sales of identical products from live streaming sellers with those
from non-live streaming sellers, and compared sales of products sold on live streaming
with those not on live streaming from the same sellers. They found that the mean sales of
products on live streaming are much higher than those of products that are not on live
streaming across and within sellers. Chen et al. (2019) used the difference-in-difference
and propensity score matching method to examine a causal relationship between live
streaming adoption and sales. They found that live streaming adoption significantly
increases sales volume by 22%, especially for experience goods (e.g. clothes, service), of
which sales are 28% greater than that of search goods (e.g. laptop) which can be
evaluated before purchase.
These findings suggest the positive effect of live streaming adoption on sales and the
moderating effect of product categories. However, seller-related strategies that may
explain why some sellers are more successful than others, within the same product
categories, are not known. Our paper fits into this line of research by collecting live/
historical video data from sellers’ Facebook pages/profiles to analyse engagement metrics
and sales strategies which have not been examined before.
Theoretical background on sales orientation and online relationship

marketing
To discover and gain a better understanding of live streaming sellers’ strategies in
acquiring and retaining customers, this section provides a theoretical background on
sales orientation and relationship mechanisms.
Transactional and relational selling orientation

In marketing and selling literature, sales approach can be viewed on the continuum
between two extreme strategies – transactional and relational selling orientation
(Anderson & Narus, 1991; Guenzi, 2003). Transactional selling orientation is a practice
that attempts to acquire new customers and maximise short-term sales performance
whereas relational selling orientation involves multiple interactions and value-producing
transactions to maintain and strengthen the relationship with current customers over
time (Inks et al., 2019). Seldom is there a pure transactional or relational exchange. In fact,
these two approaches are not mutually exclusive but may be pursued simultaneously
with different combinations and to different customers (Guenzi, 2003; Lefaix-Durand &
Kozak, 2009).
Dwyer et al. (1987) and Joshi (1995) suggest that these two approaches are not
contrary concepts, but phases of an evolutionary process. At the beginning, the relation-
ship is characterised by low to moderate interpersonal interactions – the so-called
transactional state (Anderson & Narus, 1991). Over time, some sellers remain in this
transactional state without investing in order to build the relationship while other sellers
seek to improve their relationships with customers, with the goal of improving their
performance. After this point when relationship investment expands, there could be
one or more transitional states before the relationship eventually stabilises and relational
performance reaches the highest levels (Zhang, et al. 2009). The transitional states are
characterised by increasing levels of trust, commitment, and interdependence among
partners beyond the initial transactional state, and the establishment of relationship
norms because both parties work towards a common goal of improving the relationship
and performance (J. Z. Zhang et al., 2016).
A few studies seek to elaborate on a transactional-relational selling continuum based
on the criteria that distinguish these approaches (Bagozzi, 1975; Jüttner & Wehrli, 1994).
Bagozzi (1975) suggested 3 levels of exchange meaning (utilitarian, symbolic, mixed) and
exchange types (direct partners, indirect partners involved third parties, and a system of
interdependent partners). Benamour and Prim-Allaz (1999) classified the customer orien-
tation using 2 × 2 dimensions: time orientation (shorter and long-term evaluation)
(Macneil, 1980) and economic/psychological orientation (functional/emotional evalua-
tion) (Bagozzi, 1975; Beatty et al., 1996). The transactional approach is more short term
and functional oriented while the relational one is more long term and affective oriented
as the focus has shifted from the value of the object (functional/technical quality) to the
psychological aspects of the process (emotional experience, symbolic meaning)
(Benamour & Prim-Allaz, 1999; Jüttner & Wehrli, 1994).
These dimensions suggest multiple possibilities of sales approaches (see Table 3);
however, they are not further explored empirically. Benamour and Prim-Allaz (1999)
focused on discussing four dimensions separately and noted that the short-term affective
relationship may not exist. Likewise, Jüttner and Wehrli (1994) focused on the relationship
in systems of interdependent partners which may not be applied to the live streaming
context. Also, while some relational selling strategies (adaptive selling, customer-oriented
selling) have been proposed (Arli et al., 2018), it is not clear how these strategies are
implemented in the online commerce. Thus, this paper aims to further elaborate on sales
approach and strategies along the transactional-relational selling continuum to gain more
understanding of seller’s strategies used in enhancing the business performance and
building the online relationship.
Relationship marketing in online retailing

As online shopping grows, it is evolving from a primarily transactional exchange (via e-
commerce sites or marketplaces) to a more relational, conversational exchange (via
instant messengers in e-commerce/s-commerce) (Kozlenkova et al., 2017). Since live
streaming takes place in real-time and enables synchronous interaction involving product
discussion and personal conversation, similar to traditional retail interactions, relational
Table 3. Relational orientation dimensions.

Short term Long term
Functional Transactional Relational (weaker)
Affective N/A Relational
Source: Benamour and Prim-Allaz (1999)
marketing is even more relevant and is key to growing potential and repeat customers
(Kozlenkova et al., 2017).
As a new phenomenon, there is much to learn about the mechanisms that drive
relationships in the live streaming commerce. Although the needs that drive online and
offline relationships are similar (Zhu et al., 2012), online sellers find it difficult to adapt
face-to-face relational strategies to an online retail context, and little research has studied
online selling and relationship building strategies (Arli et al., 2018; Verma et al., 2016).
Building on Palmatier et al. (2006)’s relational model, Verma et al. (2016) extended the
model to the online retailing (see Table 4) to identify strategies for building online
relationships with online customers.
Relationship antecedents: among several antecedents, although relationship benefit is most
frequently examined, seller expertise and seller–customer similarity have the strongest influ-
ence on relationship building, followed by relationship investment, relationship benefit, and
communication (Verma et al., 2016). As little research exists to examine seller-focused strate-
gies, this study aims to further explore sellers’ expertise to discover the specific sales approach
and strategies different sellers use in building relationship with customers.
Relationship outcomes: Empirical research in online retailing has mainly focused on custo-
mer-focused outcomes such as shopping intention and loyalty, leaving dyadic outcomes (e.g.
seller–customer cooperation), as well as seller performance, underexamined. Calls have been
made to examine these outcomes in future studies (Verma et al., 2016). According to Palmatier
et al. (2006)’s meta-analysis, relationship strategies seem to have the greatest influence on
word-of-mouth and the least on seller objective performance as it seems to be context
dependent (Arli et al., 2018). In the digital era, new outcomes measured from the online
platform especially social media which enables marketers to relate to their customers more
easily should also be considered (Boateng & Narteh, 2016; Verma et al., 2016). In our context, as
it is impossible to collect exact sales data on Facebook Live, due to their private nature, the data
we collected concern engagement metrics (i.e. comments, emoticon reactions, and share).
These metrics are closely linked to seller’s objective performance such as sales and sales leads
since customers usually make a product reservation in the comment box, and also are related
Table 4. Online relationship marketing model.

Relationship
Relationship antecedents process Relationship outcomes
Customer-focused antecedentsa ● Trusta Customer-focused outcomesa
● relationship benefit (e.g. convenience, information, ● Commitment ● shopping/purchase intention/likeli-
reduced price)a ● Relationship hood of continued purchasea
● dependence on sellers (e.g. no substitutes, high satisfaction ● customer loyalty
switching cost) ● Relationship ● word-of-mouth
Seller-focused antecedents quality Seller-focused outcomes
● relationship investment (e.g. time, effort, resources ● seller objective performance (e.g.
sellers invested) sales, share of wallet)
● seller expertise (e.g. knowledge, experience, and Dyadic outcomes
competence) ● seller–customer cooperation to
Dyadic antecedents achieve mutual goals
● seller–customer communication (amount, frequency,
quality of information exchange)
● seller–customer similarity in appearance, lifestyle,
status
a
frequently examined variables
Source: Palmatier et al. (2006) and Verma et al. (2016)
to seller–customer cooperation as customers are requested and incentivised to invite pro-

spects via the ‘share’ button before sellers can start their live streaming selling to large enough
audiences. Emoticon reactions and comments are also requested as feedback about products,
streaming time, or audio/video quality. This is interesting as cooperation can exist prior to
purchase and loyalty stage.
Relationship process (mediators): effects of relationship antecedents on outcomes can
be channelled through such mediators as trust, commitment, relationship satisfaction,
and relationship quality (Arli et al., 2018; Verma et al., 2016). In online retail where only
visual cues are present, trust is a surrogate for other experiential cues (e.g. products,
ambience, sellers). In the live streaming context where many cues are present, trust in
small sellers can be formed more easily. Since no single mediator captures every aspect of
a customer–seller relationship, and the relative effectiveness of antecedents also varies
across mediators (Palmatier et al., 2006), this calls for an exploration of other mediators
such as gratitude (Palmatier, et al., 2009), reciprocity (Wu et al., 2008), and friendship (Ahn
et al., 2014) to obtain a multifaceted view of relationship marketing. In exploring seller’s
strategies, we also seek to gain understanding of the relationship process that bridges the
seller’s strategies and relationship outcome and that may vary with different sellers’
strategies. Overall, the online relationship marketing model summarised in Table 4 will
be revisited and adjusted to fit with the live streaming commerce context.
Overview of the study

Data were collected from Thai online sellers. Thailand is the country topping the world
ranking for the proportion of live streaming domestic viewers (Raman et al., 2018). Also,
Thailand has the world’s highest proportion of shoppers buying directly from social media
(PwC, 2016) and is considered the most advanced market in conversational commerce
whereby people purchase items from businesses via messaging platforms (Facebook,
2019). We chose Facebook Live as it is widely adopted by many small Thai sellers
(Wongkitrungrueng & Assarut, 2018), while Lazada (Hsu, 2019) and Shopee (The Nation,
2019), the leading online marketplace in the country, have recently introduced live
streaming to their sellers.
A list of Thai Facebook Live sellers has been accumulated by the authors since 2017
when Facebook Live was getting adopted by many Facebook sellers (Wongkitrungrueng,
2017). These Live sellers were discovered via the Facebook Live map (no longer available),
Facebook newsfeed, and ‘Video on Watch’ tab. More smaller sellers were found in selected
Facebook Groups, acting as the virtual marketplace, with 100,000–300,000 members and
10,000–20,000 posts per day. Over time, as more live sellers selling a variety of products
appeared, new accounts were added to the list when they were found to sell new products,
or to have interesting characteristics or tactics to draw in customers. Some accounts were
removed from the list as they were no longer active. Some accounts delete their live videos
immediately after their live streaming and therefore were not included in the analyses.
Accounts in study 1 were collected from the fashion product category, the most popular
category in e-commerce. Study 2 includes more accounts from other categories. Table 5
summarises the characteristics of Facebook Live sellers, products, and logistics.
We observed sellers with different characteristics, selling a variety of products in a
variety of places and at different times. The most sampled accounts have more than 100
Table 5. Facebook Live commerce characteristics.

Characteristics Examples
Seller ● Gender ● All gender. Seller (male, LGBT) crossdressing to
● Age sell female clothes.
● Status ● The youngest and oldest seller we observed are
11 and 71 years old.
● Sellers who look poor. Seller with disabled child.
Logistics ● Fixed Location ● Supplier’s/Seller’s stores, Seller’s home, point of
● Outdoor/Mobile usage (kitchen, toilet)
● Time ● Event, in a car, pop-up booth on the street/
beach, in a crop field, a hotel room in China
from where they import products, tourist
destinations
● All day/night depend on the target segment.
Peak engagement during 7–10pm (mass). Also,
high engagement during 11pm–1am (night owl,
breastfeeding mom), 2–4pm (office workers,
housewives), and 5–7am (early bird, office
workers).
Products Variety of new and second-hand, functional and ● Fashion: clothes, bag, shoe, eyeglasses, acces-
hedonic, durable and non-durable, low-priced to sories, jewellery
high-priced products ● Personal care: cosmetics, skincare, soap
● Home & lifestyle: glass, blanket, furniture, toy,
pool, pet products
● Appliance: mobile and gadgets, audio parts,
automotive parts, mechanic tool kits, hairdryer,
lighting, kitchen electronics
● Food: dried food, fruit, dietary supplements
● Others: gun, knife, vape, amulet, gold, pearl
oyster
● Service: fortune-telling
viewers watching their live streaming, and some of them have more than 1,000 viewers.
The maximum metrics observed were 15 K viewers watching a live streaming, 540 K views
in total (including watch later), 16 K emoji reactions, 15 K comments, and 7 K shares from
4 hours selling dried seafood from 9pm–1.00am.
This research comprises two main studies. We first conducted quantitative analyses to
assess the effect of Facebook Live adoption on sales lead and engagement. These
preliminary analyses help establish the premise that the objective measures of the
performance vary across sellers, suggesting the possibility that sellers employ various
sales strategies. Second, through content analyses, we seek to gain more understanding
of the sales process of live streaming commerce and more importantly, to explore the
sales approach/strategies used by sellers to attract and engage with customers. We then
examine the relationship between the identified sales approach and engagement
outcomes.
Study 1: Live streaming and engagement outcomes

Study 1 started with the statistical makeup of engagement metrics to show the engage-
ment outcomes of live video as compared to other post types. Then, through a Principal
Component Analysis (PCA), we analysed the change of engagement metrics before and
after live video adoption. Finally, we sought to understand the variability of engagement
outcomes across live video posts of each Facebook account to confirm our premise,
underpinning our research question, that varying levels of engagement metrics may
come from different sales strategies, which will be explored in study 2.
Methodology: Data from Facebook Live were retrieved via the Facebook API using a
Python code, and analysed using the R statistical software. Seven thousand fifty posts
were extracted from the Facebook pages of 10 Thai fashion and cosmetics retail sellers,
cumulating 74,000 to 380,000 followers, from the period of their first post as early as 2012
to June 2018.
Measures: Our interest on sales lead and engagement outcomes can be analysed via
Facebook engagement metrics comprising shares (lead), comments, and emoji reactions
(Malhotra et al., 2013) within which we distinguish traditional ‘likes’ from recently intro-
duced emoji reactions, that are ‘love’, ‘wow’, ‘haha’, ‘sad’ and ‘angry’, reflecting more
varied sentiments than the more neutral ‘like’ (Sandoval-Almazan & Valle-Cruz, 2018).
Descriptive statistics of the engagement metrics for the different types of content
(video, photos, statuses, and links) posted by sellers are presented in Table 6 to demon-
strate how live videos contribute differently to the overall engagement as compared to
other post types.
We can observe that there are a greater range and dispersion of engagement metrics
(e.g. comment, share, and reactions) for videos than for photo, statuses, and links which
have one single metric that has a high value. Focusing on video content, live videos
generate a higher number of comments, shares, and emotional reactions (e.g. love) than
deferred (non-live) videos which have a very high number of likes. The higher number of
‘comments’ in live videos can be explained by the real-time nature of interactions such as
‘questions and answers’ about products and sellers, requests to take some actions, and
item reservation. There are more ‘shares’ in live video than other post types as live sellers
usually asked current viewers to share their live video posts to other people in their
Table 6. Engagement metrics for different types of posts.

Post Types Metrics Mean SD Max Post Types Metrics Mean SD Max
Status Comment 36.24 889.64 1186.00 Link Comment 5.69 11.50 70.00
Share 2.56 9.29 78.00 Share 4.40 10.47 57.00
Like 435.53 621.34 2799.00 Like 369.62 632.88 2214.00
Love 1.56 4.23 58.00 Love 0.30 0.61 2.00
Wow 1.17 4.86 65.00 Wow 0.19 0.82 6.00
Haha 0.11 0.52 5.00 Haha 0.03 0.18 1.00
Sad 0.39 1.56 12.00 Sad 0.00 0.00 0.00
Angry 0.02 0.24 4.00 Angry 0.00 0.00 0.00
Photo Comment 16 162.31 10,194.00 Deferred Comment 138.75 1355.02 17,404.00
Share 2.55 22.24 1260.00 Video Share 6.23 18.56 178.00
Like 178.78 441.00 4710.00 Like 553.76 680.84 4094.00
Love 1.45 4.45 120.00 Love 3.73 15.15 159.00
Wow 0.68 2.34 38.00 Wow 0.24 0.85 8.00
Haha 0.19 2.23 97.00 Haha 0.17 0.73 6.00
Sad 0.14 1.66 51.00 Sad 0.10 0.58 6.00
Angry 0.04 0.76 31.00 Angry 0.03 0.16 1.00
Live Comment 767.55 1437.00 20,990.00
Video Share 142.75 222.95 3424.00
Like 165.95 262.05 1766.00
Love 43.40 68.10 657.00
Wow 3.00 16.29 278.00
Haha 2.12 6.69 157.00
Sad 0.49 1.62 37.00
Angry 0.31 0.78 8.00
network or Facebook group to attract more leads/potential viewers. Finally, there are a lot
of ‘love’ in live video posts suggesting stronger feelings and bonding between sellers and
viewers. This confirms the importance of vividness and interactivity in generating online
engagement on Facebook (Luarn et al., 2015) as live video involves more and synchro-
nous interactions and stimulates more senses than other post types.
Next, we compared the values of these engagement metrics, over time. Before the use
of Facebook Live (years 2012 to 2015), ‘Like’ is the most important engagement metric
with a sharp growth over time, as shown in Figure 1a. However, since the introduction of
live videos (years 2016 to 2018), we observed a dramatic increase in the number of
‘comments’ and a gradual increase in the number of ‘shares’. The number of ‘likes’
competing with other emoji reactions maintains a similar trend as before (see Figure 1b).
Principal component analysis (PCA) is then performed to further explore the relation-
ships among engagement metrics and post types (live video among other types). PCA is a
data reduction technique for simplifying and revealing patterns of a dataset by reducing
multiple dimensions to lower dimensions, that are more manageable and visualisable,
while retaining as much of the original information as possible (Jolliffe, 2011). We have
broken down the dataset into a before and after Facebook Live period according to the
date of first usage of Facebook Live of each Facebook account and performed a PCA on
each subset of posts. The PCA with varimax rotation resulted in the formation of two
principal components (i.e. linear combinations of the eight attributes).
Figure 2a and b, respectively, presents the results of the PCA before and after Facebook
Live adoption. These figures highlight the position of relevant engagement metrics as
axes, relative to the principal components. It should be noted that the launch of Facebook
Live (in March/April 2016) roughly corresponded to that of emoji reactions (in February
2016). Thus, the ‘reactions’ aggregate dimensions in Figure 2a mostly represent ‘likes’,
while Figure 2b allows for a more detailed breakdown of these into ‘like’, ‘love’, ‘wow’,
‘haha’, ‘sad’, and ‘angry’ reactions.
PCA results indicate a drastic change in the statistical distribution of engagement
metrics resulting from Facebook Live. Before the introduction of Facebook Live (see
Figure 2a), results confirm findings by Malhotra et al. (2013), Cvijikj and Michahelles
(2013) that video posts have less influence on the ‘like’ reaction than photo posts, as
engagement with the former type of posts requires higher and more sustained efforts
from the viewer (Luarn et al., 2015). Yet, video has a stronger correlation with ‘shares’ and
‘comments’ than non-video posts. Interestingly, photos and statuses are found to be
largely uncorrelated with shares and comments.
800000 num_reactios
num_reactios 700000 num_comments
500000 num_comments num_shares
num_shares num_likes
600000
num_likes num_loves
400000 num_loves num_wows
num_wows 500000
num_hahas
num_hahas num_sads
300000 num_sads
400000
num_angrys
num_angrys
300000
200000
200000
100000
100000
0 0
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

Year Year
(a) (b)
Figure 1. Engagement metrics growth before and after Facebook Live.

10
standardized PC1 (29.4% explain var.)
standardized PC2 (14.5% explain var.)

5
es
Lik
res nts 5
Sha mme
w
Wo
Co
link
link
photo photo
status status
video 0 video
0
Love
Haha
Sha
–5 An res
gr y
Co
Rea mm
ctio Sa en
d ts
ns
–5
0 2 4 6 8
standardized PC1 (64.9% explain var.) standardized PC1 (43.8% explain var.)
(a) (b)
Figure 2. (a) PCA before Facebook Live. (b) PCA after Facebook Live.
Since the introduction of Facebook Live (see Figure 2b), live videos significantly drive the
variability of comments, emoji reactions, and shares, while photos still generate more
neutral likes. Interestingly, the number of likes is also largely uncorrelated with the number
of comments, shares, as well as emoji reactions. These results suggest there is a significantly
higher affective and cognitive engagement from customers with live video posts, relative to
other post types, with the ‘like’ remaining the typical reaction to photo.
Box plot: we finally scanned through individual video posts and found variations in the
engagement metrics across posts of each account and between accounts. Some live video
posts generated far higher or lower engagement metrics (comments, shares, and reac-
tions) than other live videos. Then, we used box plots to summarise the distribution of
these metrics of sampled sellers.
From Figure 3, it can be seen that the engagement metrics vary across and within
sellers. Across sellers, the average number of comments ranges from around 20 to 4,000
comments, the number of shares from 10 to 700 shares, and the number of reactions from
10 to 1,000 reactions. Some sellers such as Khunmayho and Livesodd got much higher
engagement outcomes than others. Within sellers, engagement metrics of some sellers
vary more widely with long whiskers. For example, Khunmayho’s comments range from 20
to 9,500, Livesodd’s reactions range from 50 to 1,800, and several outlier posts can be seen
in some sellers such as Nangnubai with a maximum of 20,000 comments. Such variations
may be due to the use of several tactics by each seller.
Exploring some live video posts with extremely high engagement metrics revealed
that their levels of engagement can be explained by the use of unusual, participatory
activities such as contests, games, and artistic performances that drive reactions and
comments. As sellers always want to know what drives the success of their posts and
seek to experiment different tactics to attract and retain viewers, this motivates us to
4000
2500
2000
3000
num_comments
1500
num_shares
2000
1000
1000
500
0 0
100KGSHO khunmayh Livebysu livepatu livesodd Nangnuba numnungo pappimsh YUMIBS 100KGSHO khunmayh Livebysu livepatu livesoddNangnuba numnungo pappimsh YUMIBS
Name Name
3000
2500
2000
num_reactions
1500
1000
500
100KGSHO khunmayh Livebysu livepatu livesoddNangnuba numnungo pappimsh YUMIBS
Name
Figure 3. Box plot of engagement metrics of sampled accounts.
further explore a variety of sellers’ activities and strategies underlying these engagement
outcomes, through qualitative methods in study 2.
Study 2: Live streaming sales process and strategies

Preliminary results of quantitative analyses provide the background that different
engagement levels may be driven by different sales strategies. To address the research
question regarding the selling process and strategies, we adopt the qualitative method to
explore how live streaming sellers approach, close sales, and build engagement with
prospects and customers. Qualitative content analysis involves coding and creating
categories which were built upon the transactional-relational orientation (Grönroos,
1994; Benamour & Prim-Allaz, 1999). However, given the limited typology of social
media messages (Coursaris, et al., 2016; Luarn et al., 2015; Vargo, 2016) and videos
(Costa-Sánchez, 2017), and the absence of a typology of live streaming videos, coding
categories are also developed from the bottom-up, inductive approach to refine simple
transactional/relational dichotomy from online empirical data. Therefore, this study
adopts the multi-grounded theory (MGT) approach which combines inductivism and
deductivism, and empirical and theoretical grounding (Goldkuhl & Cronholm, 2010).
The MGT approach as a method for data analysis and theory development involves
several steps (Coursaris et al., 2016; Goldkuhl & Cronholm, 2010). First, inductive coding (i.
e. open coding) with an open mind is performed in order to develop initial categories
without constraints on pre-categorisations. Second, conceptual refinement involves cri-
tical reflection on the data. Third, categorical structure building (i.e. pattern/axial coding)
was performed to integrate coded categories into theoretical statements and identify
patterns of data such as in terms of strategy, actions, and consequences. Fourth, theory
condensation (i.e. selecting coding) involves the densifying of the typology by identifying
core categories to be included.
These steps were used as a guideline to analyse the data. The first author went through
the video sections of 87 sampled Facebook accounts, and read the captions of all videos
(some accounts have more than 600 videos from a 3-year live streaming) to gain ideas
about video content types. The first author then viewed at least five videos from all
selected accounts. Videos selected were based on the number of views and comments
and the variety of timeline (incorporating the videos in the first few months, the last year
or two, and the last few months, to see how their selling approach could vary over time as
they have gained more experiences). Keywords were noted while watching or replaying
the live videos. When codes were repeated, they were organised and grouped. Coding
categories and sub-categories were reviewed again as more videos were viewed and
counted. In this study, the author initially explored the data primarily from fashion
categories, before expanding to other product categories which can refine the first-
order categories and generate more of second-order categories. The MGT process was
completed by the first author and another PhD graduate in social science, acting as raters,
and working independently and discussed to finalise the category and sub-categories.
This resulted in the creation of four categories and twelve sub-categories of live
streaming sales approach, with an inter-rater agreement of 91%. The inter-rater agree-
ment for each category was 90%, 80%, 88%, and 87%, respectively. These exceeded the
acceptable level of 80% (Bitner et al., 1990) and reached a reasonably high level of 90%,
suggesting high reliability (Rust & Cooil, 1994). Disagreements were resolved by discus-
sions among raters.
Live streaming sales process

Since the nature of live streaming is in real time, more dynamic and interactive, and very
much different from that of the traditional online commerce, it is important to understand
the process of how live streaming selling works. Our observation revealed several activ-
ities that sellers perform in closing a sale and delivering satisfaction. The live streaming
sales process is akin to the typical process in direct selling (Andzulis et al., 2012; Dubinsky,
1981; Grewal, et al., 2002). Building on the standard sales process (Moncrief & Marshall,
2005) and the user experience model (Conifer Research, 2002), the sales process in the
Facebook Live is illustrated below.
Step 1: Prospecting is the step where sellers build awareness of and attract prospects to
the live video that appeared in their Facebook news feed. Unlike the direct selling in which
sellers proactively approach customers (push marketing), live streaming sellers rely on pull
marketing (Mata & Quesada, 2014) to draw in customers. First, sellers announce on their
Facebook page/profile a date/time for their live streaming so their customers can make
themselves available. Some sellers post a picture or a short recorded/live video to preview
products for the incoming live sales. When they start their live sales, sellers share their live
video to their social networks and public (Richman, 2017). For new sellers who do not have a
lot of regular customers, they can live stream or share their live streaming in the Facebook
Groups serving as a marketplace with thousands of prospects. Moreover, some sellers have a
technique to make their live video appear interesting in the newsfeed by using the caption
in the form of tips/how-to rather than a caption that mentions only a product or promotion.
It is also important to manage the product display and background well so that prospects
are attracted by a video thumbnail showing eye-catching background, products, and sellers.
Step 2: Approach. As prospects enter the live video, the approach consists of sales beha-
viours related to establishing initial rapport and making a good initial impression. First, sellers
start by greeting viewers (sometimes by name) and asking them to give feedback on vision
and sound. In the first 5–10 minutes of their live streaming, they ask viewers to share their live
video on viewers’ Facebook Profile or Facebook Groups until the number of viewers is large
enough to start selling. While waiting for enough viewers, sellers also talk about their products
or selling policy, e.g.e.g. delivery fee, payment readiness, no cancellation and blacklist. Sellers
often motivate viewers to share their live streaming to attract more viewers through games,
promotion, and rewards which may be given at the start or the end of their live sales to
encourage viewers to stay until the end. This sharing activity in response to sellers’ request or
incentives is interesting and unique to live commerce as compared to s-commerce findings in
Luarn et al. (2015) that brand-page posts related to promotions (remuneration posts) can
influence ‘like’ but did not affect the amount of commenting and sharing on brand pages.
Step 3: Presentation. In this step, sellers start introducing products, provide product
information (e.g. colour, texture) and price, demonstrate product usage and benefits, and
explain how products are relevant and fulfil prospects’ needs. Sellers adopt different
presentation techniques that vary with product categories such as visual display (try-on,
zoom-in, demonstration) and storytelling that adds value to the item or explains how the
item is different from that of other stores.
During this step, informing viewers in advance which items they are going to sell can
help manage viewers’ expectation and time. This can reduce the boredom that viewers
face when they have to wait for items that are of interest to them. Based on our
observation in several sellers’ videos, the number of viewers reaches a peak within the
first 30 minutes and starts to decline gradually. Thus, unlike the directing selling
process whereby customers may be under pressure to keep listening to sellers
(Haytko et al., 2017), live streaming viewers have the freedom to leave any time they
want. To minimise churn, boost engagement, and maintain viewers’ positive experi-
ence, sellers employ props, music, and activities so viewers actively participate and stay
tuned to their live streaming. Since viewers may come and go, sellers should keep
restating what they are doing to help newcomers catch up and not leave the live
streaming quickly.
Step 4: Handling feedback. It is important for sellers to monitor comments and reac-
tions, and the number of viewers. For example, sellers ask viewers if they are interested in
the item being shown or not. If viewers are not interested, they were asked to type a
certain number, symbol, or word, and sellers will move on to the next item. Before viewers
make a decision, they may have questions and concerns so they hesitate to purchase. At
this step, sellers should encourage viewers to ask, request for information/demonstration,
and respond to their individual requests. One seller targeting elderly customers simplified
the Q&A process by providing telephone call service during the live streaming so that the
elderly do not have to type in comments to ask questions. Some sellers learn to remember
frequent customers’ names and preferences and mention them in the live videos, creating
an impression on the customers and on other viewers.
Step 5: Close sales. sellers proceed to the step of persuading viewers to place orders.
Sellers often stimulate purchase and prompt payment by offering a discount or free gifts
which is only available during the live streaming. In addition, sellers can accelerate
customers’ purchase decision by using an auction or limiting the number of items
available. Like a direct sales party, in live streaming commerce, customers can be influ-
enced, although to a lesser degree, by the presence of other viewers (Ang et al., 2018;
Bründl et al., 2017). For items with limited numbers, customers have to compete with
others by reserving the item beforehand or placing the highest bid in an auction. When
customers decide to purchase, they place the order by typing in a comment box, wait for
the seller’s confirmation, capture a screen of the reserved item, and contact sellers via the
inbox for payment and delivery details. Some sellers instal software that detects the
reservation in the comment box and automatically sends a purchase order to a customer’s
message inbox. At the end of the live sales, viewers who have not yet ordered can watch
the recorded live video, and contact sellers via Messenger.
Step 6: Follow-up. After the sale, sellers should follow up with their customers to ensure
that what is promised is delivered and that customers are satisfied with the product/service
(Moncrief & Marshall, 2005). Post-sales activities include logistics (e.g. payment reminder,
delivery follow-up), satisfaction management (e.g. complaint, return), and customer service
(e.g. consultation). From our observation, some sellers post short live videos to show the
process of preparing products for delivering to consumers, update stock and promotion,
provide product usage tips, and share customer review. Furthermore, to encourage custo-
mer revisit and retain viewers, building trust and engagement are the key elements. Some
sellers build trust and confidence by sharing a behind-the-scenes look and their manufac-
turing process at their office or factory, and showing professional activities they engage in
(e.g. attend the industry events). Also, they build customer engagement through useful,
interesting lifestyle content and small talk and personal story sharing. Through these
activities, social bonding is more likely to be developed in the live streaming commerce
as compared to that in the traditional online commerce (Soni, 2019; Yen & Gwinner, 2003).
Live streaming sales approaches and strategies

While many sellers follow similar sales process steps, we found that strategies used in some
steps such as in the presentation, closing sales, and follow-up steps vary among sellers.
Their live video content and conversations are also different. Some sellers focused on
product details, while others allocate their time in the live streaming to entertain, educate,
or build relationship with customers. That is, we observed that they employ different sales
approaches to get attention, increase sales, and build customer engagement. These
differences often distinguish experienced, professional sellers from less experienced ones.
Based on our observation, there are four sales approaches encompassing a total of 12
strategies. A description of the sales approaches and strategies is summarised in Table 7.
Approach 1: Transaction-based approach (47%)

This is the earliest and most prevalent approach used by live streaming sellers. Sellers
focus on providing details about products and rarely talk about other things beyond
products, price/promotion and payment/delivery details. Under this sales approach, there
are three strategies.
1) Simple selling refers to the strategy in which sellers selling low-priced items present
customers with a large number of items in a simple fashion, and aim to close the sale
quickly. Some especially new sellers show only products without revealing their faces as
they may feel shy and uncomfortable about showing their identity.
2) Selling limits (quantity, time, offer) refers to the strategy in which sellers sell products
that have only one or few items available (such products as second-hand products) or
limit the number of items for sale, limit the time that customers can buy or the time that
they offer a special deal. This entices viewers to make a decision quickly otherwise items
will be sold out, and thus viewers are likely to compete with others and buy on an
impulse.
3) Demonstrative selling refers to the strategy in which sellers aim to enhance their
product presentation by telling a product story, talking about points of difference from
competitors, and giving a product demonstration to show product features, usages, and
benefits, and prove its effectiveness (before-after). This strategy is important not only for
complex products but also for others such as fashion, cosmetics, and even food.
Approach 2: Persuasion-based approach (27%)

As sellers gain more experience in live streaming, they go beyond the transaction-based
approach to persuade viewers to become interested in and engaged with them. They
employ the following strategies to entice, entertain customers, and differentiate them-
selves from other sellers who sell the same products.
1) Character refers to the strategy in which sellers create or possess unique characters
(personality or demographics) that attract viewers to engage with them. These include
being attractive, sexy, funny, as well as being poor, or very young/old so that reviewers are
more sympathetic towards them, and therefore motivate viewers to feel the need to
support them.
2) Game-Prize refers to the strategy in which sellers employ games (e.g. fortune wheel,
drawing straw, word or price guessing) in exchange for rewards such as money, gold, gift,
vouchers, discount, or free products. Some sellers also set rules to sell or offer a special
deal to viewers randomly through a simple lucky draw or systematic sampling (e.g. for
every ninth viewer who comment in the box). Games play multiple roles: to motivate
viewers in order to draw in more people to watch the live streaming, to enliven the selling
atmosphere, and to motivate them to stay longer in the live streaming.
3) Show refers to the strategy in which sellers perform the show (singing, dancing,
voice imitation), dress with colourful, theme-based props and accessories, or generate
funny memes that are worth sharing. For example, a seller selling dried seafood creates
such catchphrases as ‘my mom must try this dried shrimp’, ‘your mom should taste this
dried fish in her lifetime’, which people enjoy playing and these go viral. Also, the same
seller and his team mimic the song and posture played by fishermen when they drag
the fishing nets. Show is used for intermission ads or while waiting for viewers to
respond.
Table 7. Typology of selling approaches and strategies in live streaming commerce.
Frequency (% of
Total/% of
Approaches/strategies Category) Description Products Sample customers’ comments in live videos
Transaction-based 47% Sellers focuses almost all the time on selling their products
approach
Strategy 1: Simple selling 27 Sellers talk only about product and price and expect to sell low-priced items Questions on products and prices, and reserving items.
(11%/23%) quickly. The display shows a large volume. Commonly e.g. giftshop,
used by a wholesaler. gadget, toys,
cosmetics
Strategy 2: 49 Transaction is more interesting, exciting due to flash sale or Second hand ‘My Internet is slow even when I chose the most expensive
Limit quantity, time, (20%/43%) limited quantity. Prospects are motivated to make a quick items, clothes, package so I cannot order any item in time’
offer) purchase. bags, mobile
Strategy 3: 39 Sellers spend time/effort in enhancing product presentation Electronics, ‘Can you try xx item?’ ‘You’re very kind, have never throw a
Demonstration (16%/34%) and demonstrating the products to show product feature/ clothes, skin tantrum when customers ask to show/try products again’
benefit care/
cosmetics,
food, game
Persuasion-based 27% Sellers employ non-product-related tactics to stimulate viewers to attend and engage with sellers, which could ultimately stimulating demand
approch for products.
Strategy 1: Character 27 Sellers’ characters (e.g. sexy, attractive, pitiful, eccentric, Food, fashion, ‘Love watching your live streaming. Nice voice like a DJ, Nice
(11%/42%) eloquent) are so outstanding or uncommon that people basket, bags, personality, very pleasant to look at’ ‘You’re so hot’
find it interesting to follow their broadcast. cosmetics, ‘Here you come, can’t sleep when I didn’t watch your live’
supplements
Strategy 2: Game-Prize 28 Sellers create games (e.g. word guessing, fortune wheel, Clothes, gold, Many comments are answers to questions in games e.g. Guess
(11%/43%) lucky draw) and offer prize (e.g. free item, special electronics the name of the fruits with two syllables
discount) to reward viewers for their participation or
referral.
Strategy 3: Show 10 Sellers perform the show (e.g. dancing, singing, rapping, Food, fashion, ‘It’s so fun that I’m about to dance too.’ ‘I Like your dance
(4%/15%) dressing) or create funny memes that viewers enjoy, gold posture, will follow and show to my boyfriend’.
mimic, and share to others.
Content-based approch 11% Sellers provide useful content for customers to increase engagement with them
Strategy 1: Product- 15 Sellers do a product review and comparison, organise Q&A Fashion, A seller revealed true story how he gets second-hand authentic
related (6%/58%) or consultation session, broadcast the event related to electronics, branded products for sale at lower price than other sellers. A
products they sell, show producer’s/supplier’s factory, food customer comments ‘Your prosperity comes from your
JOURNAL OF MARKETING MANAGEMENT
share story behind or knowledge about product and honesty and sincerity with customers’
product development process.
(Continued)
17
18
Table 7. (Continued).
Frequency (% of
Total/% of
Approaches/strategies Category) Description Products Sample customers’ comments in live videos
Strategy 2: Non-product- 8 Sellers share useful content not related to products they sell Fashion A second-hand bag seller frequently flying to Japan gives
related (3%/31%) such as online business, beauty tips travel tips to Japan.
A. WONGKITRUNGRUENG ET AL.
Customers commented ‘Thank you. Lots of new knowledge I’ve

never known’ ‘Please also review accommodation’
Strategy 3: Service 3 Sellers provide augmented service to prospects and Spiritual objects, A seller organises a field trip to find a magic tree.
(1%/12%) customers. fashion, A customer said ‘Wherever you go, we’ll go with you; Thank
cosmetics you and have a safe way back’
Relationship-based 16% Sellers share private life with customers. Sellers regard customers as friends, and vice versa.
approch
Strategy 1: Share personal 29 Sellers share their daily activities, introduce their family Fashion, A seller cried after sending his son off to a boarding school.
life (12%/74%) members. cosmetics Customers commented ‘Be strong, think of giving him
great experiences’, ‘Had the same experience before. You’ll
be better. We’ll support you’
Strategy 2: Share 7 Sellers share their private feelings, and customers show Fashion, A seller related the story about him and his mom when
feelings/experiences (3%/18%) empathy towards sellers cosmetics young and poor. Customers commented: ‘I’m touched,
crying, and so proud of you’.
Strategy 3: Community 3 Sellers invite customers to participate in meaningful Fashion, A seller thanks customers for supporting him so he could
activities (1%/8%) activities such as prayer, donation, charity. cosmetics, donate some money to poor kids to have a better
Spiritual education.
objects A customer said ‘I wish you prosperity and health. You are a
good person’.
Approach 3: Content-based approach (11%)

Content marketing is important in social media marketing. It is not easy to maintain
customer loyalty given the large number of competitors in social commerce. Prospects do
not want to hear only about products and pricing incentives or even repeated entertain-
ment can be boring. Providing content that is useful to customers is important in building
a long-term relationship with them. The content-based live streaming is not intended to
sell products and is broadcasted in a different live streaming than that aimed for selling
products. Content can be related to products, or not related, and can be developed into
the service.
1) Product-related content includes a product review, extended demonstration, Q&A
or consultation sessions, usage tips, real-time events, and a behind-the-scenes look at
product development or the assortment process. For example, a retail seller that sells
clothes visits the supplier factory in China, showing raw materials and development
process. A food vendor teaches how to cook a specific menu. A skincare seller provides
an acne consultation and routine and make-up tips. Useful content can help enhance
customers’ perception of expertise and reliability of sellers.
2) Non-product-related content is useful content not directly related to product sellers
sell but is relevant to customer interests and lifestyle. For example, an attractive seller
selling clothes is requested by her customers to share her beauty tips and make-up demo.
She also broadcasted during the time while she consulted with the surgeon for nose
surgery in Korea, then after she left the operating room, and had subsequent Q&A
sessions days, weeks, and months after the operation.
3) Service refers to the strategy in which sellers provide augmented service that may
not be related to the products they sell. For example, a seller sells auspicious soap, lipstick,
wallet, and offers a freemium service for fortune-telling and lottery guide. A cloth seller
launches a live variety programme e.g. love and family consultation, fortune-telling, and a
field trip to find spiritual trees and magic numbers for lotto. A cloth seller offers to buy
imported goods when she travelled abroad.
Approach 4: Relationship-based approach (16%)

Sellers adopting this approach consider their customers as friends whom they care about,
want to share good and bad times with, and have activities together. Strategies for
relationship development under this approach are as follows.
1) Sharing personal life refers to the strategy in which sellers share what they do, their
daily activity or hobby, and show their family members and belongings. Some broadcast
while they are eating, travelling, playing sports, visiting temples. Some share interesting
moments in a day such as admitted to the hospital room, collecting a fallen baby bird,
Table 8. Comparison of engagement metrics across sales approach combinations.

Sales approach One way ANOVA
Approach 1 Approach 1 + 2 Approach 1 + 2 + 4 Approach 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 F p-value
n 28 20 11 10
Views 4,837.30 23,238.75 27,462.88 59,469.91 10.476 .000
Reactions 78.72 732.96 739.33 1,573.29 6.048 .001
Comments 479.90 1,893.84 1,460.03 1,824.18 4.195 .009
Shares 125.79 507.41 410.45 545.40 4.515 .006
Followers 33,523.96 118,549.80 87,875.18 328,632.30 7.241 .000
encountering ghost or fire in their neighbourhood. Sometimes sellers just feel bored or
lonely and want to talk with their customers regarded as friends before going to bed. One
even sells his new mobile phone that he does not like.
2) Sharing feelings/experiences is the strategy in which sellers share their private
feelings and experiences with customers. For example, a seller received negative feed-
back. She was almost crying, and her fans expressed empathy towards her and tried to
boost her morale. Also, some sellers share food for thought and work-life experiences with
their customers. For example, sellers share their background, how they have struggled in
life, and lessons learned before they became successful sellers. Another shared experi-
ences (e.g. mood swing) after she got her uterus removed.
3) Community activity is the strategy in which sellers invite customers to participate in
meaningful activities such as prayer, donation, and charity. For example, one seller
occasionally live streams to lead a prayer and invite viewers to meditate together.
Another seller invites his customers to join him to donate money or in-kind resources
to a temple. He revealed later how much money he and his customers donated and
broadcasted activities he and his family has done at the temple.
From our observation, more sellers adopt a transaction-based, followed by persuasion-
based approach. A content-based approach is the least adopted approach as it requires
more effort and knowledge in developing content. A relationship-based approach also
takes time as bonding needs to be developed between sellers and their customers. The
next question is which strategy is most effective in enhancing engagement metrics.
Sales approach and engagement metrics

Our observation revealed that many sellers adopt only a transaction-based approach. Very
few adopted approach 2 only, and no sellers adopted approach 3 and 4 only. This
suggested that sellers with less experience started with a transaction-based approach.
As they gained more experiences and skills in live streaming, they added additional
approaches to help attract and retain customers.
To examine the relationship between the sales approach and engagement metrics, we
randomly selected five videos of each of the 87 Facebook Live accounts and recorded
video views and engagement metrics. Some accounts in our list were no longer available,
and some deleted their historical live videos, leaving 69 sellers. Some sales approach
combinations (e.g. approach 2; approach 1,4; approach 1,3,4) were eliminated due to
limited observation, and thus four sales approach combinations were compared.
Table 8 of summarises the means for video views and engagement metrics (reactions,
comments, shares) across four sales approach combinations. Using only approach 1 (trans-
action-based approach) results in the least views and engagement metrics while all
approaches combined result in the highest views and engagement. Next, a one-way
analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to test for significant differences between
Table 9. Sales approach in the live streaming commerce.

Short term Long term
Functional Transaction Content
Affective Persuasion Relationship
Table 10. Relationship mechanisms across four sales approach in the live streaming context.
Relationship Sales approach
antecedent Transaction Persuasion Content Relationship
Sellers’ strategies Low price, Limited Character, Product-related, Non- Personal activity,
offer, Game, Show product-related, Experience sharing,
Demonstration Service Community activity
Sellers’ skills/ Product/technical Interpersonal skills, Technological skill, Interpersonal skills,
expertise and knowledge salesmanship, Empathy and Charisma
personality traits Charisma Customer knowledge
Relationship value Functional value Emotional value Epistemic value Social value
Relationship Trust in products Viewers’ Experience, Respect and Trust in Customer relationship
mediator Obligation/ sellers, Gratitude, Investment,
Reciprocal favour Reciprocal favour Friendship
Relationship Sales, Satisfaction Visit frequency, Engagement, Sales, Engagement, Loyalty,
outcome and repeated Engagement, Product line extension Product expansion
transaction Referral, Sales
the means of these metrics across sales approach combinations. ANOVA results showed that
the mean views and engagement metrics differed significantly (F = 10.47, 6.05, 4.20, and 4.5
for views, reactions, comments, and shares; ps<.01) across four sales approach combina-
tions. Thus, sellers adopting multiple sales approaches seem to obtain significantly more
views and engagement outcomes than those adopting a single sales approach.
Discussion
Our quantitative analyses revealed that live streaming is effective in increasing sales leads,
enhancing customer experience, and building customer engagement. These benefits can
be reaped at different levels among sellers who employ different sales approaches and
strategies to attract and retain their customers. Along the transactional-relational con-
tinuum, the qualitative analysis revealed four sales approaches which can fit in the time
orientation and exchange meaning dimensions (Bagozzi, 1975; Benamour & Prim-Allaz,
1999) (see Table 9).
A transaction- and persuasion-based approach can help build customer relationships
in the short run while a content- and relationship-based approach can help retain
customers in the long run. Our results in Table 8 suggest employing a variety of
approaches, both functional and affective, for the most effective outcomes. For example,
a combination of approaches 1 and 2 which are functional and affective oriented,
respectively, result in higher engagement metrics than approach 1 or 2 only or a
combination of approach 1 and 3. Approach 2 is a shortcut in building awareness but
may not be sustained in the long run (i.e. high followers but lower views and reactions).
Approach 3 takes time and effort in developing content, and thus fewer sellers adopt this
approach as compared to other approaches. However, approach 3 is deemed important
for building a long-term relationship.
Among the four approaches, sellers’ selected approaches are likely to be determined
by their personality and expertise. From our observation, sellers can combine multiple
approaches in one video (e.g. persuasion-based approach is added to transaction-based
approach) but content- and relationship-based approaches are often broadcasted in

separate live videos.
As the four approaches may influence relationship building differently, to further
understand the contribution of each sales approach to relationship development, we
will revisit Verma et al. (2016)’s online relationship marketing model (Table 4) and discuss
relationship antecedents, process and outcome in the context of live streaming com-
merce (see Table 10).
A transaction-based approach is adopted widely and firstly as it is simple and requires
the least effort but exhibits low relational development (J. Z. Zhang et al., 2016). With this
approach, sellers focus on providing product information and demonstration to reduce
uncertainty and enhance the trust that a product will meet the customer’s expectation
(Jap & Ganesan, 2000; Mohr et al., 1996). This was considered as functional value con-
sumers can receive from live streaming commerce (Wongkitrungrueng & Assarut, 2018).
Therefore, the evaluation of sellers is based on objective skill criteria, such as product
knowledge (Andersen & Buvik, 2002). The relationship outcome mainly focuses on sales
growth and repeated transaction (Jap & Ganesan, 2000; J. Z. Zhang et al., 2016). Repeated,
continued interactions due to the amount and quality of information and product mix can
help move from the transactional to the transitional phase (J. Z. Zhang et al., 2016).
A persuasion-based approach is added after the sellers gain more experience, together
with greater competition in the live streaming platform. Many sellers invent persuasive
tactics to maintain their sales and customers by enhancing viewers’ experiences, making
their live sales more enjoyable, and standing out from competitors. This is enabled
through transaction-specific investments (e.g. rewards) and social activities (e.g. partici-
pating and enjoying games and shows) (Andersen & Buvik, 2002; J. Z. Zhang et al., 2016)
which offers emotional value in addition to functional value (Wongkitrungrueng &
Assarut, 2018). Sellers are therefore evaluated beyond objective criteria to include per-
sonality and salesmanship skills (Lacoste, 2018; Rentz et al., 2002). The relationship out-
come focuses on the increasing frequency of visit and engagement (activity participation,
referral, and emotional reaction). These outcomes are likely to be mediated by viewing
experience (Ang et al., 2018) and reciprocal favour and obligation to return the favour (Lin
et al., 2018). However, persuasive techniques are often imitated, resulting in similar games
and activities across sellers, and thus this approach may not help in moving towards the
more developed relationship.
A content-based approach is therefore adopted by more advanced sellers who put
effort into creating and delivering useful content and services that are relevant to
customers’ interests, worth following, and not easily imitated. These provide customers
epistemic value, which is evoked when a product/service stimulates curiosity, generates
novelty and/or satisfies a desire of knowledge (Sheth et al., 1991), which in turn increases
revisit and engagement with the brand. To provide such value, sellers need to develop
customer knowledge, gain an understanding of customers’ interests, and develop
advanced technical and consultative skills. When the seller offers customer benefits that
cannot be easily obtained from other sellers, customers may respect, trust and depend on
sellers more as they are perceived to be the expert (Hibbard et al., 2001; J. Z. Zhang et al.,
2016). As a content-based video is treated as a separate broadcast from selling videos, and
this service is provided free of charge, customers may feel grateful and would like to
purchase products to support the sellers (i.e. reciprocal behaviour). Moreover, as trust
towards sellers improves (Wongkitrungrueng & Assarut, 2018), this allows sellers to
expand their product mix. For example, an apparel seller reviews a cosmetic that makes
her face look bright, and finally, she sells that item in another live video separate from that
for clothes.
Under the relationship-based approach, customers do not view sellers as product
providers but as friends whom they can trust and care about (Grayson, 2007).
Customers get to know sellers on a more personal level as sellers remember customers’
names and preferences, share with them their personal life, feelings, and experiences, and
sometimes invite them to join their community activities. As their interactions increase
over time, sellers reveal who they are behind the scenes (i.e. their true self). In turn,
customers can understand sellers’ situations, share feelings with them, and react appro-
priately towards their thoughts and feelings (i.e. empathy) (Wieseke et al., 2012). For
example, a seller broadcasted her live video during a family trip, and customers com-
mented that they like her current look more than her typical sexy look intended to attract
customers while she sells products in live sales. In another case, a seller changed her
communication style from being polite and professional to being aggressively funny
which is truly her own personality, leading her to become famous today
(GMM25Thailand, 2018).
Moreover, bonding is likely to be strengthened. This can be illustrated from the
way they address each other using the terms used for relatives (e.g. brother, aunt)
or friends (e.g. use ‘Gu’ and ‘Mueng’, very informal version of ‘I’ and ‘You’, consid-
ered rude to call non-close friends), the topics they talk with each other (e.g. love,
health, family), the way they act (e.g. comfortably wearing pyjamas to talk with
customers), how customers care about sellers (e.g. ask about the sellers’ or their
family’s health, send gifts to the seller), and expect from sellers (e.g. a customer in a
hospital room asks a seller to keep her company, a customer said he/she missed a
seller, cannot sleep well if a seller does not show up). Such bonding is likely if sellers
share some characteristics (appearance, personality, style/preference) in common
with customers (Doney & Cannon, 1997), and customers perceive that they are
identified with sellers (i.e. social value) (Sirgy et al., 2000). Such social value is
found to have the strong effect in influencing customer engagement
(Wongkitrungrueng & Assarut, 2018), commitment and loyalty (Ahn et al., 2014),
and the opportunity to expand product mixes. To achieve these outcomes, the
relationship process involves not only seller’s investment but also customers’ invest-
ment (their time, money, emotional resources) (Dwyer et al., 1987). Many customers
spend their time listening to sellers’ non-product related informal talk. That is,
seller–buyer interaction under this approach goes beyond commercial purpose to
a personal relationship or friendship.
Implications
Theoretical implications
This study contributes to our understanding of online commerce and relationship market-
ing in three main ways. First, while prior research (Bianchi et al., 2017; Han et al., 2018;
Zhang & Benyoucef, 2016) has focused on a customer’s perspectives (e.g. motivation and
intention to purchase from s-commerce, relationship benefits expected from sellers),

research on a seller’s perspective (e.g. seller’s strategy) is sparse (Busalim & Hussin,
2016; Han et al., 2018; Verma et al., 2016). There is a lack in identifying seller-focused
factors that affect non-transactional behaviours, particularly, customer engagement in s-
commerce (Busalim & Hussin, 2016; Luarn et al., 2015). This study provides a comprehen-
sive understanding on the live streaming commerce, demonstrating the influence on
engagement metrics, delineating the sales process, and identifying the sales approach
and strategies that sellers use to attract, engage, and retain customers. In explaining the
live streaming sales process, we extend the work of Andzulis et al. (2012) and Moore et al.
(2015) studying the role of social media in the sales process, and the work of Alturas
(2003), Coughlan and Goldman (2017), Crittenden et al. (2010), Grewal et al. (2002),
Harrison and Hair (2017), Moncrief and Marshall (2005), and Rodriguez et al. (2014) on
the evolution of sales process by presenting how sellers in the digital era use a live
streaming platform to directly sell products and build a relationship with the customer.
Second, our research suggests that different levels of engagement may result from the
use of different sales approaches and strategies. Thus, our findings extend the scope of
sales orientation beyond the transactional-relational selling orientation (Anderson &
Narus, 1991; Guenzi, 2003). As J. Z. Zhang et al. (2016) suggested, more transitional states
and thus other sales orientations should occur before the seller–buyer relationship
eventually stabilises. While some research has elaborated on the transactional-relational
selling continuum (Bagozzi, 1975; Benamour & Prim-Allaz, 1999; Jüttner & Wehrli, 1994), to
the best of our knowledge, no prior empirical research has comprehensively examined
sales approaches and strategies, especially in the online commerce context. Our findings
suggest different pathways (combination of sales approaches and strategies) sellers can
pursue to build engagement and relationship with customers.
Lastly, this study extended research on relationship marketing and selling (Arli et
al., 2018; Palmatier et al., 2006; Steinhoff et al., 2019; Verma et al., 2016) to the live
streaming commerce to explore sellers’ strategies for building online relationship
with customers. From our observation, four sales approach combinations can be
adopted at different times based on increasing experiences, that is, more advanced
sellers adopted more approaches. This contributed to the literature on relational
selling which mainly adopted a static perspective despite the importance of rela-
tional dynamics (Arli et al., 2018; J. Z. Zhang et al., 2016). In doing so, we discuss the
relationship between different sales approaches and different sets of relationship
process and outcomes. While relationship outcomes in prior research (e.g. Verma et
al., 2016) have focused mainly on intention and commitment to repurchase (i.e.
expectation of continuity and loyalty), little attention, especially in the online context
(Steinhoff et al., 2019), has been paid to social ties or friendship that can exist from
repeated interaction (Li et al., 2018). Our data revealed friendship existed among
online sellers and buyers, and this is likely to be attributed to not only seller’s
relationship investment (seller’s activities) (Arli et al., 2018; Verma et al., 2016) but
also customer’s investment of their time and resources not examined before in the
existing relationship model. As Palmetier et al. (2009) called for exploration of new
relationship mediators, reciprocal favour is proposed to be another important med-
iator likely to exist as customers receive free gifts or rewards for inviting prospects
and useful content or services and feel the need to return the favour.
Managerial implications
From a practitioner standpoint, our study has the following implications. First, our find-
ings regarding the live streaming sales process suggest that most sellers follow this multi-
step process similarly except for the last step (follow-up) that may be fully practised by
some sellers. Follow-up is important in building customer confidence for new customers
and maintaining ongoing communication with existing customers among today’s high
competition. While many sellers can attract hundreds or thousands of customers during
the live streaming lasting 1–3 hours, a lesser number of customers would stay for the
whole period. The number of viewers seems to be at its highest during the first 30–
40 minutes and then starts to decline. Thus, we suggest that sellers should carefully
manage the time schedule, informing customers about specific time for specific items, to
help manage customer boredom and viewing experience.
Second, this study offers more detailed advice on a variety of sales approaches and
strategies live streaming sellers can employ throughout the sales process to increase sales,
engagement, and build relationship with customers. We suggest that functional-oriented and
affective-oriented approaches should be used in combination with more effective outcomes,
and sellers should also adopt long-term-oriented approaches for long-term relationship
development. Content-based approach takes time for bonding to be developed but it is
important to create informative content that educates and provides eye-opening experiences
to consumers. This is useful in building favourablea and trustworthy image. Relationship-
based approach can be achieved through seller’s interesting lifestyles (activities and experi-
ences) (i.e. lifestyle selling) that would attract viewers to follow and convert viewers to become
fans and friends. These two approaches offer sellers an opportunity to extend their product
mix. In fact, ongoing communication with customers to receive real-time feedback is impor-
tant in obtaining customer knowledge which can be used in customising their product
assortment for their target segment and helping with the inventory management.
Third, as previous research suggested that different relationship strategies entail
different relationship processes and lead to different outcomes (Palmatier et al., 2006),
we suggest sellers employ a variety of strategies that match with their personality/skills/
competencies, customers’ characteristics, and that provide multiple values to customers
to meet different relationship outcomes. To implement proposed strategies, sellers are
required to develop skills beyond product knowledge and salesmanship to include
interpersonal skills, empathy, and technical skills.
Finally, our findings also have implications for live streaming platforms. As we
observed, with the popular Asian e-commerce platforms, Taobao and Lazada, sellers
utilise live streaming in a more professional but rigid manner and are limited from
going beyond transaction-based and persuasion-based approach compared to
Facebook Live. The sharing of useful content is limited to the product they offer and is
usually part of the transaction-based approach. We have not observed the usage of the
relationship-based approach. Facebook Live can provide further support to maintain its
leading position. Based on our findings, Facebook could add a function that helps with
stream scheduling, real-time poll, and logistics activities (e.g. reservation, payment and
delivery) which seems easier in the e-commerce site. In addition, they should design
functions that help sellers easily develop content or share their lifestyle/activities. Also,
auto-caption recently launched in Facebook Live (Perez, 2019) may be extended to allow
customers to easily capture the product details or usage tips.
Limitations and future research

This study has some limitations that can be addressed in the future research. First, our
study’s objectives are exploratory and descriptive in nature. Future research can further
examine the relationship among sales approaches/strategies and other relationship out-
comes to identify combinations of sales strategies suitable for different contexts (e.g.
product categories, platforms, geographical areas, B2 C vs. B2B exchange).
Second, it may be useful to explore the role played by some relationship mediators
such as reciprocity in influencing short and long-term relationship outcomes. Several live
streaming sellers offer referral discounts/rewards for their prospects, and respond to
customers’ individual requests (e.g. try-on each item that each viewer requests), and in
some live streaming platforms, buyers and sellers can give virtual gifts to each other (Yu et
al., 2018). Thus, it is interesting to study whether reciprocal favours or the pressure to
purchase often experienced in the offline context (Furukawa et al., 2014;
Wongkitrungrueng et al., 2019) also holds in the online context.
Finally, our study focuses on smaller sellers who are prevalent in live streaming
commerce. It is challenging but worthwhile for larger corporations to employ Facebook
Live in building sales and relationship with customers, and to examine sales approaches
and strategies that work effectively in a large firm context.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
ORCID
Apiradee Wongkitrungrueng http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2392-4540
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Journal of Marketing Management

ISSN: 0267-257X (Print) 1472-1376 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rjmm20

Live streaming commerce from the sellers’

Apiradee Wongkitrungrueng, Nassim Dehouche & Nuttapol Assarut

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/0267257X.2020.1748895

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Live streaming commerce from the sellers’ perspective:

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

CONTACT Apiradee Wongkitrungrueng [email protected] Business Administration Division, Mahidol

Live streaming commerce background and research

Table 1. Comparison of live streaming commerce with existing types of commerce.

Table 2. Motivational process of live streaming adoption.

Theoretical background on sales orientation and online relationship

Transactional and relational selling orientation

Relationship marketing in online retailing

Table 3. Relational orientation dimensions.

Table 4. Online relationship marketing model.

to seller–customer cooperation as customers are requested and incentivised to invite pro-

Overview of the study

Table 5. Facebook Live commerce characteristics.

Study 1: Live streaming and engagement outcomes

Table 6. Engagement metrics for diﬀerent types of posts.

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

Figure 1. Engagement metrics growth before and after Facebook Live.

standardized PC2 (14.5% explain var.)

100KGSHO khunmayh Livebysu livepatu livesoddNangnuba numnungo pappimsh YUMIBS

Figure 3. Box plot of engagement metrics of sampled accounts.

Study 2: Live streaming sales process and strategies

Live streaming sales process

Live streaming sales approaches and strategies

Approach 1: Transaction-based approach (47%)

Approach 2: Persuasion-based approach (27%)

Customers commented ‘Thank you. Lots of new knowledge I’ve

Approach 3: Content-based approach (11%)

Approach 4: Relationship-based approach (16%)

Table 8. Comparison of engagement metrics across sales approach combinations.

Sales approach and engagement metrics

Table 9. Sales approach in the live streaming commerce.

approach) but content- and relationship-based approaches are often broadcasted in

intention to purchase from s-commerce, relationship beneﬁts expected from sellers),

Limitations and future research

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