Channel expansion in the platform economy: a strategic perspective on retail and content platforms

Purpose This paper aims to explore the strategic competition between traditional retail platforms (shelf-based sales, now adding live-streaming) and emerging content platforms (live-streaming-based, now testing shelf-based channels) in the e-commerce industry, focusing on their optimal channel introduction strategies and influencing factors. Design/methodology/approach A game-theoretic framework is adopted to construct a model involving retail platforms, content platforms, live streamers and heterogeneous consumers. It analyzes whether platforms introduce additional channels, incorporating consumers' heterogeneous preferences (platform and channel dimensions) and examining the impacts of cross-channel effects, channel misfit degree and platform-specific advantages. Findings Retail platforms benefit from live-streaming channels only when cross-channel effects are strong or content platforms have significant live-streaming advantages. Content platforms tend to add shelf-based channels if consumers prioritize platform loyalty over channel type or their live-streaming advantage is weak. In equilibrium, both adopt new channels under strong cross-channel effects; otherwise, they maintain single-channel strategies. Originality/value It fills gaps in studying channel competition between two platform types and provides practical guidance for platform managers to optimize channel configuration in competitive marketplaces.