Innovation, Competitive Advantage, and Customer Loyalty: Insights from Live Streaming Enterprises

Abstract

With the rapid development of e-commerce, giants like Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent have ventured into the live streaming industry, leading to intense competition among numerous live e-commerce platforms and posing challenges related to customer retention. Despite platforms offering promotional activities, consumers' curiosity often leads to frequent platform switching. Furthermore, there has been a continuous increase in e-commerce complaints, especially in the live e-commerce sector, with issues related to logistics, product quality, returns, and exchanges affecting the overall shopping experience. Additionally, the lack of brand differentiation among platforms has contributed to decreased customer loyalty. This study investigates the relationship between innovation capability, competitive advantage, and customer loyalty in live streaming businesses, utilizing 576 valid questionnaires and structural equation modeling for analysis. The results reveal that innovation capability has a positive impact on both customer loyalty and competitive advantage. Competitive advantage also positively influences customer loyalty and serves as a partial mediator between innovation capability and customer loyalty.