Gain-framed product descriptions are more appealing to elderly consumers in live streaming E-commerce: Implications from a controlled experiment

Live streaming e-commerce has become increasingly popular among elderly consumers. This new form of online shopping allows the elderly, who might be less effective in making purchase decisions than younger people, to better understand the products sold through the comprehensive descriptions provided by the anchors. This study is interested in investigating the effects of the gain-loss framing of product descriptions on the elderly's purchase intention. A total of 36 participants between the ages of 60 and 70 were invited to watch a number of live streaming videos involving either gain- or loss-framed product descriptions in a controlled experiment. The results show that the gain-framed descriptions of the products engendered significantly higher purchase intention among the participants than the loss-framed ones. In particular, the gain-framed descriptions were effective for the participants with high approach motivation, but not for those with low approach motivation, which suggests the significant moderating effect of approach motivation. This study focused on the elderly customers whose life quality can be greatly enhanced by live streaming e-commerce. The findings not only add to the knowledge about the effects of message framing, but also provide useful implications for live-streaming e-commerce practitioners to increase the persuasiveness of their product descriptions. © 2022 Wuhan University