In the context of a company actively using virtual idols to carry out marketing activities, it is very important to help the company understand the key factors affecting consumer purchase intention. In total, 459 eligible responses were collected via an online questionnaire survey. The psychometric properties of the model were examined by factor analysis, and the multiple regression method was applied to test the hypotheses. This paper empirically analyzes the influence of virtual idol characteristics on consumers’ willingness to buy brand clothing, with consumers’ attitudes as intermediary variables and clients’ involvement in virtual idolatry and adult playfulness as adjusting variables. A quasi-replication study method using both MRA and fsQCA found that the popularity, homogeneity, relevance and anthropomorphism of virtual idols enhance customers’ willingness to buy from big to small. Among them, attitude plays an intermediary role in the influence of popularity on purchase intention, and plays a complete intermediary role in the influence of relevance and homogeneity over purchase intention; consumer idolatry involvement positively regulates the relationship between professionalism, relevance and attitude; consumers’ adult playfulness positively regulates the relationship between popularity and consumer attitude. Finally, from the perspective of improving attitude and purchase intention, we provide suggestions for virtual idol creation applicable by operation teams and clothing brand companies.

Live streaming has become the hottest marketing method for apparel brands nowadays. E-commerce anchors, as the core of live marketing, have an important role in influencing consumers' impulse purchase intention. However, the research on clothing brand anchor characteristics on consumers' impulse purchase intention based on live-streaming anchor characteristics has yet to be explored in related studies. The article uses consumer trust and attitude as mediating variables, and the cognitive-affective system as an analytical framework. All variables are tested by validated factor analysis, and FsQCA to analyze the grouping of anchor characteristics (attractiveness, popularity, professionalism, interactivity, and brand fit) in apparel live streaming marketing. The article discovers seven configurations that triggered consumers' high impulse purchase intention and five configurations of non-high impulse purchase intention. The findings indicate that (a) all dimensions of anchor characteristics have a significant effect on consumers' impulse purchase intention, in which the effect of popularity is most significant; (b) consumers' trust has a mediating effect between anchors' attractiveness, popularity, interactivity, brand fit, and impulse purchase intentions; (c) consumers' trust and consumers' attitude have a chain-mediated effect between popularity, brand fit, and impulse purchase intention. The results of the research will help clothing anchors to further understand consumers' information needs and perceived preferences, and provide references to improve the quality of live streaming.