Competition vs. co-opetition: Livestreaming market entry decisions for fresh produce firms on e-commerce platforms
摘要
In practice, platforms such as East Buy and JD.com commonly develop their own livestreaming technology to sell fresh private labels while some fresh produce firms on platforms have not engaged in livestreaming. If these fresh produce firms enter livestreaming market, they need to select merchant livestreaming, or platform livestreaming which involves co-opetition (i.e., combination of livestreaming cooperation and product competition) relationship with platforms. To explore these strategic options, three theoretical models are built. Results suggest that the optimal livestreaming market entry and mode selection strategies for fresh produce firms are influenced by the number of followers acquired through platform livestreaming, fixed livestreaming costs, and the relative scale of follower acquisition between merchant and platform livestreaming. Besides, fresh produce firms’ adoption of merchant livestreaming is not a desirable strategy for platforms. These findings are still valid when considering quantity loss and online reviews.