Mini-programs as substitution or promotion? Deciphering the cross-channel impact on e-marketplace purchases

Purpose This study disentangles the impact of consumers’ adoption of mini-program channels on social media on their purchase behavior in e-marketplaces from a multichannel retailer’s perspective and examines the moderating roles of two types of brand messages (informational and transformational messages). Design/methodology/approach Based on 2,204 transaction records from a Chinese multichannel retailer, this study used a Poisson regression model with fixed effects for empirical testing. The case of the WeChat mini-program in China was employed. Findings Adopting mini-program channels on social media reduces consumers’ purchase frequency but increases their purchase breadth in e-marketplaces. Moreover, informational messages worsen the negative effect of mini-program channel use on purchase frequency. In contrast, transformational messages reduce the negative effect of mini-program channel use on purchase frequency and amplify its positive effect on purchase breadth. Practical implications Managers can effectively leverage mini-programs to widen the range of consumers’ product purchases in e-marketplaces and the intensity of transformation messages posted within mini-programs to alleviate their negative impact on purchase frequency in e-marketplaces. Originality/value Previous studies only focus on the intrachannel impact of mini-program channels; however, this study highlights their cross-channel impact. Its findings underscore the dual role of mini-program channel use in e-marketplaces. Additionally, the nuanced moderating effects of informational and transformational messages enrich our understanding of mini-program channels on social media. Moreover, a substitution framework is utilized to understand the cross-channel effects generated by mini-program channels, demonstrating the applicability and generalizability of the framework in a new context.