Rapid expansion of apparel live-streaming e-commerce in China has been accompanied by phenomenal womenswear return rates, largely due to gaps between online fit expectations and offline try-on experiences. Drawing on information foraging theory and cognitive load theory, this study investigates how key live-streaming components (streamer, apparel, interface) and self-perceived body shape influence attention allocation during apparel evaluation in digital retail contexts.
An eye-tracking experiment with 60 young female participants was conducted to simulate live-stream shopping, using five sets of experimental stimuli varying in style, color, posture, gesture and interface, complemented by a questionnaire on body information and attention preference.
Consumers' visual strategy shows view-driven spatial dynamics, shifting from local to holistic and back to local processing. Pants style induces distinct visual search patterns, while color interferes with cognitive resource allocation in key regions. Self-perceived body shape shifts attention upward to waist and downward to calf as consumers ranged from slender to overweight. Nonverbal cues enhance attention and localization to key regions. No-background increases attention to calf without affecting core fit-related regions, while overlaying a size chart attracts attention without altering overall patterns.
This study introduces an integrated visual attention framework for apparel evaluation in digital consumption, explaining consumers' visual foraging behavior through the layered mechanisms of perceptual salience, attentional guidance and information competition among multiple visual information sources. By extending from outcome-based decision-making to pre-purchase visual search behavior, this study provides implications for apparel brands and live-streaming practitioners to optimize information presentation, thereby supporting consumers in more informed apparel evaluation and decision-making.
