Management and Economics
| Open Access | Consumption as a Streaming Habit: A Comparative Analysis of Behavioral Patterns 5–10–15 Years Ago and Their Influence on the Microtransaction Structure of Spending
Nurmukhambet Yernur , CEO & Founder of Piera, TikTok Shop-native brand San Diego, California, USAbstract
The study analyzes changes in consumer behavior over the past fifteen years and traces the transition from preplanned purchasing to a form of consumption integrated into ongoing digital activity. The temporal framework includes 2010, 2015, 2020, and 2025 because these time points reflect distinct stages in the transformation of digital retail environments, platform infrastructures, and payment practices. The analysis combines a structured review of specialized literature, a comparative interpretation of statistical datasets published by eMarketer and McKinsey, and a case study of a retail business that demonstrates stable product market fit and operates within a documented quality certification framework. The findings show that by 2025, 69 percent of consumers make purchases within an ambient shopping format embedded in media use. This shift is associated with the fragmentation of payment acts, a decline in average order value to 59 USD, and an increase in purchase frequency. The results also support the proposition that algorithmic product discovery has become more influential than search driven purchasing in shaping consumer choice. Verified trust signals, including Lab Tested status, also perform a significant structuring function within digital transaction environments. The study concludes with applied implications for the configuration of D2C strategies in social commerce ecosystems.
Keywords
e-commerce, streaming consumption, social commerce, TikTok Shop, microtransactions, behavioral patterns, ambient shopping, consumer trust, Lab Tested certification, impulse purchases
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