The Effect of Visual Perspective on Consumer Viewing and Purchase Intention in Live Streaming

With the rapid development of the digital economy, live‐streaming marketing has become an important choice for businesses and consumers. Online product presentations are critical for e‐commerce platforms to convey information and enhance product impressions. Based on sensory marketing theory, this study employs a questionnaire survey method to explore the impact of different visual perspectives (first‐person or third‐person) in live streaming on consumer continued viewing and purchase intentions. It further examines the mediating effects of virtual tactility and flow experience, while incorporating product type (functional vs. hedonic) as a moderator. Study 1 indicates that the visual perspective of online product presentations significantly directly affects consumer continued viewing and purchase intentions, with the third‐person perspective being more effective in stimulating intentions. Building on this, Study 2 further investigates and validates the mediating roles of virtual tactility and flow experience in this influence process. Multi‐angle presentation enables thorough product scrutiny and virtual tactility. When the perspectives match, consumer visual habits enable detailed product scrutiny. This boosts engagement and shopping immersion, triggering flow experience that impacts continued viewing and purchase intentions. Furthermore, Study 3 reveals that the product type moderates the relationship between visual perspective and consumer continued viewing and purchase intentions. In FPP live streaming, functional products elicited a more positive consumer intention than hedonic products. Conversely, in TPP live streaming, hedonic products elicited a more positive consumer intention than functional products. The conclusions of this research provide valuable references for merchants to reasonably design and optimize the visual perspectives of their online product presentations.