Seeking Certainty in an Asymmetric Relationship: Livestream Shopping in China

The rapid growth of livestream shopping in China indicates that Chinese consumers are gravitating towards this kind of online shopping-but why? Based on a virtual ethnography of Taobao livestreams and in-depth interviews with viewers, this study found that Chinese users engaged in livestream shopping not only for convenience, but also because they enjoyed the asymmetric interaction process and buyer-seller relationship schema enabled by this technological platform. The distinct features of livestream showrooms facilitated an asymmetric copresence between hosts and viewers that then led to a mode of shopping where the livestream hosts acted as shopping consultants through vivid presence and strenuous performance, while customers enjoyed the benefits and privileges of a relatively personalized shopping consulting service with fewer obligations and lower interaction costs. This increased accessibility cultivated a sense of acquaintance and identification, and customers enjoyed companionship with fewer restraints due to the bounded nature of the intimacy between consultant and consumer. Meanwhile, tangible goods and the consistent and predictable presence of hosts provided certainty in the relationship beyond mere emotional connection. Together, these factors allowed livestream shopping to become a unique buyer-seller relationship and appeal to Chinese consumers because of their ambivalent cultural preference for relationship-oriented trust.