Characteristics and roles of streamers in e-commerce live streaming

TLDR

Streamers are central to e‑commerce live streaming, a successful influencer marketing strategy, yet a systematic profile of them is lacking. The study investigates the roles and characteristics of ELS streamers and their matching relationships. Grounded theory was applied to semi‑structured interviews of 96 consumers to derive these insights. Eight characteristics were identified and grouped into four roles—opinion leader, spokesperson, interactive friend, and salesperson—providing the first systematic role set and a framework for training streamers.

Abstract

Streamers are the individuals at the core of e-commerce live streaming (ELS), which is a successful influencer marketing strategy. However, a systematic profile of ELS streamers is lacking. This study aims to investigate the roles and characteristics of ELS streamers, as well as their matching relationships, by applying the grounded theory method to analyze semi-structured interviews of 96 consumers. Eight characteristics of ELS streamers (expertise, attractiveness, credibility, interactivity, popularity, price support, affinity, and responsiveness) are identified and further classified into four roles (opinion leader, spokesperson, interactive friend, and salesperson). This study is the first to create a role set for ELS streamers and the first to systematically elucidate the roles of ELS streamers and their corresponding characteristics. It not only supplements e-commerce, influencer marketing, and role theory research by identifying new characteristics and roles of ELS streamers, but it also provides a clear framework practitioners can use to train streamers.