Understanding livestream-based commerce: An in-depth study of live streaming auction platforms in Turkey through observation and interview methods

Electronic commerce contributes to the global expansion of trade by making products and services accessible to consumers via the internet. A rapidly evolving form of e-commerce, known as livestream-based e-commerce, offers a dynamic shopping experience in which sellers promote their products in real time, engage with viewers, and enable consumers to make instantaneous purchases. The integration of an auction system into this livestream-based e-commerce experience creates a competitive and exciting environment for both sellers and buyers, facilitating the sale of products or services to the highest bidder and making commercial activities more interactive and dynamic. The purpose of this study is to facilitate the understanding and evaluation of the auction system used in livestream-based e-commerce, which has become increasingly popular in recent years in Turkey, and to investigate its current status in the country through interviews and observations. In this context, the specific objectives of the study are to explore how streamers initiate live auctions, their pre-stream preparation processes and presentation techniques, strategies for building engagement and trust with viewers, pricing strategies, challenges encountered, and the position of this method within the Turkish e-commerce landscape. This study was designed in accordance with a qualitative research design. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore the thoughts and experiences of streamers who engage in sales through live streaming. Additionally, a non-participant observation technique was employed to observe the sales processes of streamers/sellers during livestreams. As a result of the study, in addition to descriptive statistics on the streamers, findings were obtained regarding how streamers initiate live auctions; their pre-stream preparation processes and the initiation and termination phases of the stream; how the stream background is arranged; product promotion methods; the determination of starting prices and the price-raising process in auctions; competitive struggles; methods for creating sincere connections and interactions; strategies for accelerating purchases; approaches to building trust; distinguishing characteristics observed in other auction streams; challenges encountered in livestream-based commerce (LSBC) and their solutions; approaches to resolving technical issues in LSBC; and criteria for evaluating stream success.