–for brands and e-commerce professionals–
What is Live Stream Shopping? Live Stream Shopping is a transformative retail solution that brings the in-store experience into the digital world by allowing viewers to watch a live video, engage, and purchase products straight from this live experience. It reduces the gap between in-store and online experiences by creating branded interactive shopping experiences. And now it’s available on Instagram.
How e-commerce professionals can use Live Stream Shopping on Instagram?
First, we should mention that at this moment, Instagram has the Live Stream Shopping feature available just for us-based companies and content creators. Also, only viewers located in the US have access to the whole experience.
But as shoppable video becomes a new trend for companies from all over the world, this experience will (most likely) soon be available for Instagram users from other parts of the world as well. Here is what you should know.
On Instagram, Live Stream Shopping is connected to the Instagram Shop. You need to have your products already added to your Catalog. Otherwise, you will not be able to add them to your live stream.
Shop option available with Instagram account. Source: Instagram
When using Instagram to create live stream shopping experiences, these are the steps you need to follow:
- Select the camera icon
- Activate Live option – bottom of the screen
- Pick Shopping
- Add your products. Up to 30 products can be added. And make sure to do it before you go live, products cannot be added once you are live.
- Start the live video stream. Products can be pinned one at a time
Once you go live, the pinned products will be available for purchase directly from the live broadcast.
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Why is live stream shopping on Instagram better than selling through pictures?
Over the last 20 years, eCommerce has not changed that much. We have pictures, descriptions, prices, reviews, and the Buy button. Yes, websites are a lot faster. Pictures are better. Descriptions are longer. The process has been optimized, but the experience itself has never truly changed.
Live stream shopping allows you to digitally recreate the retail experience. Unedited, live video will show the products as they are. It’s authentic. Customers value authenticity and will look for it before choosing to buy from a brand. Use live video in your favor. It will always inspire something level of intimacy, even if millions are watching.
Answering a question on the spot is more valuable than even the most complete product description.
Using Live Stream Shopping on Instagram allows you to use other powerful built-in features as well. Instagram checkout, also available for US-based businesses, allows customers to purchase products without leaving the platform.
To create even more engagement, you can invite a co-host for your session. Combining live stream shopping with influencer marketing will bring incredible results.
Instagram Notifications can be combined with your shoppable video sessions. This way your fans will always know when you are about to go live.
Final Thoughts
With 500 million daily active users, Instagram allows businesses and content creators to easily interact with their fans. With more than 75% of US-based brands onboarded, the e-commerce features have been well received by Instagram users. The latest addition, Live Stream Shopping, already confirmed itself as the best way to digitally recreate engaging experiences, similar to in-store purchases.
But although Instagram proved its undeniable value, it comes with its shortcomings. Acting as a marketplace, Instagram customizes the whole customer journey – based on its plan. Brands can control the content that they share with their followers, but the purchasing journey is fully crafted by the platform. This is why more brands are now focusing on bringing their client onto their website. This allows them to create a customer journey focused on their clients’ needs, where buyers can directly interact with the brand.
Indeed, it sounds a lot more complicated to go online on your platform. But guess what? It’s not. Streams.live allows you easily integrate the whole Live Stream Shopping experience into your website. No coding required. No downloads. No complicated integrations.
