Real-Time Sales Data, Streamer Improvisation, and Sales Performance: Evidence From Live Stream Selling
Authors: He, Yumei; Huang, Ni; Wang, Lingli; Sun, Yan
Journal: MIS Quarterly (2025)
<jats:p>Live stream selling has surged as an innovative form of e-commerce, supporting high social interactivity and fast-paced sales for large-scale audiences. However, live streamers must manage complex, concurrent tasks— such as presenting products, engaging with viewers, and employing various sales tactics to facilitate consumer purchases, while dealing with uncertainty in foreseeing viewers’ reactions and time pressure for selling products. This study examines the role of real-time sales data in influencing streamers’ impromptu decision-making and sales outcomes in live stream selling. On the one hand, real-time sales data might exacerbate the already complex decision-making, overwhelming and distracting streamers. On the other hand, it may help streamers improvise their tactics and utilize time more efficiently and effectively to improve sales performance. In partnership with a leading global live stream selling platform, we analyzed data from a randomized field experiment to unravel whether, how, and under which conditions the provision of real-time sales data affects live stream sales performance. The streamers in the experiment were randomly assigned to either the treatme…