Live streaming strategies for agri-products: Logistics, timing, and initiator selection

A new form of live streaming strategy for agri-products has emerged, where farming cooperatives introduce live streaming at the planting period in the growing region to enhance consumer trust in product quality and bring additional traffic. Using information updating theory, we analyze the accuracy of quality signals when live streaming is introduced at different times (planting period vs. selling period). Additionally, we explore the impact of different initiators (farming cooperative vs. influencer) by proposing four hybrids live streaming strategies and developing a game-theoretic model to examine the strategic interactions involved. We demonstrate that when early live streaming generates limited traffic and consumers face low uncertainty about product quality, introducing live streaming at the selling period is preferable. However, higher yield uncertainty makes introducing live streaming at the planting period more advantageous. Additionally, although influencers have a popularity advantage, they become less effective when the additional fees are high. The choice of the optimal initiator is inconsistent when different timings for introducing live streaming are chosen. We further identify the logistics service provider’s optimal service level under the interaction between introduction timing and initiator type, and indicate that strategic profit concessions by the farming cooperative can benefit both parties. Our findings provide valuable managerial insights by comprehensively analyzing optimal agri-product live streaming strategies from the perspectives of consumer surplus and the three supply chain members.