149 / 2024-04-22 10:13:13

Managing Returns in Livestream Retailling

Retail Operations；Social Influence; Return Management; Game Theory

This study investigates the impact of social influence on livestream shopping, which involves three parties: a retailer, an influencer, and viewers. Social influence plays a crucial role in generating high demand during live shopping events. However, due to the time lag between ordering and receiving the product and the declining effect of social influence over time, buyers' decisions may change, resulting in returns. The more the influencer initially sells, the greater the returns. To maximize profit, the retailer must balance the trade-off between the initial selling quantity and returns. To address this issue, we consider a retailer that cooperates with an influencer by offering him a specified quantity of products and paying him a commission fee. We investigate how the quantity and commission fee decision will affect the influencer's selling effort and finally affect the initial demand and returns.