Optimal channel strategy for an e-seller: Whether and when to introduce live streaming?

The introduction of a live-streaming channel presents numerous opportunities for e-sellers, effectively reducing consumer uncertainty and enhancing consumer valuation. Few studies have investigated whether and when an e-seller should introduce a live-streaming channel. To fill this gap, this paper considers two live-streaming channel strategies, where one is the e-seller and another is live streamer. This study aims to investigate the impact of live-streaming selling on the e-seller's optimal decisions, our findings show that introducing the live-streaming channel benefits for the e-seller when the slotting fee is sufficiently low in the e-seller operated live-streaming channel, or when the live streamer's sales ability is sufficiently high in the live streamer operated live-streaming channel. Then, we examine the pricing decisions in different channels of the e-seller considering live-streaming selling, it shows that the price in the live-streaming channel is not always lower, which is dependent on the live streamer's sales ability. Moreover, both the e-seller and the live streamer consistently prefer the e-seller to operate the live-streaming channel when introducing the live-streaming channel within a specific range of slotting fee. Finally, the research was extended to a hybrid channel scenario, and the results reveal that the e-seller may not consistently benefit from such configurations.