The impact of circadian rhythms on impulse buying behavior and return rates in livestream e-commerce

Livestream e-commerce enables continuous consumer engagement across the day, yet the role of time-of-day in shaping consumer behavior remains underexplored. This study examines whether shopping during nighttime hours is associated with differences in impulsive engagement, post-purchase outcomes, and consumer retention. Using 982,746 session-level observations from Douyin livestream commerce, we compare consumer behavior during a daytime alertness window (10:0018:00) and a nighttime low-alertness window (22:0006:00). Descriptive analyses, Welchs t-tests, and multivariate regression models are employed to evaluate circadian differences across engagement, sales, return behavior, and retention-related measures. Results show that nighttime livestream sessions generate significantly higher impulsive engagement and sales volume but are associated with lower retention and engagement stability. In contrast, return rates do not increase meaningfully for nighttime purchases once economic and contextual controls are introduced, indicating that heightened impulsivity does not translate into higher regret-driven returns. These findings suggest that time-of-day systematically shapes both short-term commercial performance and longer-term engagement outcomes in livestream commerce. By introducing circadian timing as an explanatory dimension, this study extends applied economic analyses of digital markets and offers implications for platform strategy, performance evaluation, and time-sensitive policy considerations in 24-hour online retail environments.