Selection of livestreaming mode: Impacts of blockchain technology

Abstract

On the production side, blockchain is being widely applied to agricultural product supply chains (APSCs), which can effectively improve circulation efficiency and reduce transportation losses. On the sales side, many companies are utilizing key opinion leaders (KOLs) to promote and sell agricultural products. The combination of the two enhances the farm-to-fork transparency of agricultural products and stimulates consumer purchases. Based on these, we construct four theoretical models to study blockchain investment and livestreaming mode strategies in the APSC. The results show that investing in blockchain always stimulates consumer purchases of agricultural products, while KOL livestreaming increases consumer purchases only when the increase-traffic power is greater than a certain threshold. There is a win-win situation where the fresh product supplier (FPS) and the e-retailer can benefit from investing in blockchain and introducing KOL livestreaming, respectively. Investing in blockchain is always beneficial for the KOL, and there is free-riding behavior in the APSC. Interestingly, the enhanced increase-traffic power within a certain interval may become a negative driving force, seriously harming the FPS. In addition, we find that investing in blockchain and introducing KOL livestreaming does not always benefit consumer surplus and social welfare, which depend on the KOL’s increase-traffic power, commission rate, and unit cost.