Abstract:
The rapid growth of e-commerce live streaming in China has transformed consumer behavior, particularly in the cosmetics industry. China's deep internet integration fuels massive online shopping. E-commerce live streaming is driving a surge in impulse purchases (especially cosmetics), predicted to grow further. Businesses need to understand this behavior in live streams to succeed, but research specifically linking live streaming to impulse purchasing is lacking and urgently needed. This study investigates how customer characteristics (age, gender, education) and the feature of live streaming influence impulsive purchase of cosmetics purchase in live streaming, and then cognitive impulsive stimulation and psychological impulsive stimulation affect customer satisfaction of cosmetics purchase through live streaming. Quantitative data from 400 cosmetics consumers reveal that: 1) Special offers and professional streamer are primary drivers of impulse purchases; 2) Psychological stimuli outweigh cognitive factors in triggering unplanned buying; 3) While price satisfaction scores highest, product quality satisfaction remains low. The findings demonstrate that the live streaming model excels at capturing attention but requires robust quality governance to sustain consumer loyalty. Future success hinges on balancing hedonic immediacy with substantive value delivery.
