TRUST–INTERACTION–PURCHASE PATHWAYS IN LIVE E-COMMERCE: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM ‘YU HUI TONG XING’

Abstract

Live-streaming commerce converts social attention into transactions as trust reduces uncertainty, interaction supplies diagnostic and emotional cues, and purchasing feeds back into trust. This study examines that pathway in the Douyin account ‘Yu Hui Tong Xing’ (与辉同行), launched on 9 January 2024. It uses only public, auditable observations from the live room, established business media, and third-party monitoring platforms. Trust is proxied by follower accumulation and audience continuity; interaction by viewers, concurrent audience, chat messages, likes, and stream frequency; and purchase by units and reported gross merchandise value (GMV). Across launch, day 15, day 50, and year one, the account recorded 53.574 million launch viewers, 1.177 million average concurrent viewers, 114,000 messages, over one million units, and at least RMB150 million GMV. Cumulative GMV exceeded RMB627 million by day 15, approached RMB1.3 billion by day 50, and surpassed RMB9.3 billion across about 621 first-year streams. Overall, the findings support a descriptive, mechanism-consistent—not causal—trust–interaction–purchase pathway for this highly visible empirical case