From Sports Cars to baby clothes, anything can be sold through Live Commerce. This new experiential trend allows customers to join live video experiences, interact with the hosts, and purchase goods straight from the live experience. But the truth is that some products are more appropriate for this type of sale. So let’s see the best products for live commerce sessions. And why.
But first, let’s see what is live commerce and how does it work.
Live commerce finds itself at the intersection of live video streaming and commerce. On one side of the screen, you have somebody like an influencer or a store assistant showcasing products in front of the camera. On the other side of the screen, you have a large audience that is watching this experience live, interacts with the host(s), and buys the products straight from this live experience.
From another perspective, live commerce finds itself in the sweet spot where eCommerce meets traditional brick-and-mortar retail. And it does it by taking the best from both experiences. While an experienced shop assistant showcases products just like in-store, you can still reach large audiences from all over the world. While customers get their questions answered on the spot, there is no need for physical stores to host this real-time, interactive experience.
Having this overview, it’s clear that (almost) anything can be sold using this sales channel. However, some products work better in this environment. Let’s see which are these product categories and what makes them perform excellent in live shopping sessions.
Best products for live commerce sessions
As we can see, there is a connection between the top online shopping categories and merchants adopting live commerce as a new way of selling. Here is what we’ve pinned out as the best 5 product categories to sell through live video commerce.
Fashion and apparel with live commerce experiences
Fashion is the leading industry for online sales. And there’s no surprise that the industry is also the top performer for live commerce sessions. It’s only normal for eCommerce’s biggest industry to predominate the live stream shopping scene. But truth is that fashion represents the perfect fit for social commerce.
Fashion works hand in hand with influencers and endorsers, and we often see that the purchasing journey for clothes doesn’t start on the product page of a static website. It starts during a fashion show or by being showcased by a famous influencer. It starts with a dynamic experience.
Fashion items are perfect for social commerce, being named the best products to be sold on social media platforms. Now, brands can use this influence during live, engaging experiences, where customers have access not only to an individual item but to entire outfits as well. Thus helping them have a better understanding of the real look and feel of the desired items.
Beauty and Personal Care Products in the live commerce trends
An industry that’s expected to exceed $784 Billion in value by 2027 could not miss this list. What makes Beauty and Personal Care products fit for live commerce experiences? The market size alone?
By operating in a very competitive market, Beauty brands need to innovate to create better shopping experiences for their customers. However, the key aspects that we need to follow here are:
Beauty and personal care products are subject to experiential purchases. Customers are looking to have a deep understanding of what the product can do for them, but also how it should be used. This is why according to a 2018 Report for Video Categories for Females, more than half of the views go to Beauty and Style category. You need a proper understanding of how to use the products, an understanding that often can not be offered by product pictures and short descriptions.
Here are two other metrics that help us understand the industry’s need for real, live video experiences:
- The top five beauty influencers on Youtube have a cumulated number of subscribers of almost 90 million.
- 90% of the industry’s marketers feel that live, interactive video sessions should become a norm for the industry by the end of 2023*
But you don’t have to take our word for it. You can start free, engage your audience through a live commerce experience, and see the results for your own. There’s nothing to lose here.
Consumer electronics amongst best products for live commerce
print screen from Samsung’s live commerce session
According to Statista, consumers worldwide are forecast to spend over 2.05 trillion on electronics by 2023. And almost 40% of the total market revenue will be generated online, making it one of the best-suited industries for live commerce.
Customers are spending more to be entertained at home. At the same time, they need to have a better understanding of how the products look and act. Now, rather than creating endless lists of technical specifications, brands and retailers can showcase the device’s capabilities in front of large audiences. Live.
During the live shows, the hosts can compare different items and showcase the Pros and Cons for each of them. Let’s not forget that not everybody is looking for the same thing we purchasing a new TV or laptop.
Can you sell cars through live commerce?
Yes. Done right, a live commerce session that focuses on cars can exceed even our wildest expectations.
Traditionally, the industry used the internet was used to drive foot traffic to showrooms, not to sell cars. Especially because cars themselves are situated at the intersection of material and experiential purchase and eCommerce was not able to offer it.
“Is buying a car a material purchase or an experiential one”?
Munich Business School Working Paper – “Material vs Experiential Purchases”
And then things changed. More and more customers did all the research online, before even putting a step into a showroom. It was only normal for automotive brands to start selling cars online.
Automotive giant Tesla, but also resellers like Vroom and Carvana focus their efforts on creating the customer journey their clients are looking for. This includes allowing customers to purchase cars with just a few clicks and delivering them to their doors.
“All products will ultimately move online, and now it’s autos’ turn,”
Paul Hennessy, CEO of Vroom
A live commerce experience allows customers to see and hear the car they are about to purchase. Through live video shopping, car salesmen are empowered to do what they do best – showcase the automotive – in front of larger audiences. And when needed, customers can be invited to private, one-on-one experiences, where they find answers to any of their questions and customize the car to their exact needs.
Furniture/Home decor products for live commerce
To better understand why furniture/home decor products go hand in hand with live commerce, let’s take a look at the following stats:
- Worldwide, millennials represent the biggest adult generation (msci.com)
- In the US, millennials represent the largest generation on the mortgage market (housingwire.com)
- 67% of millennials prefer to shop online rather than in-store (invespcro.com)
- 82% of survey millennials stated that decorating their homes is important to them (Statista)
Connecting these dots, we see that the largest segment of adult people has started buying homes and loves to decorate them. At the same time, they would prefer to buy their furniture online. This data show why the online home decor market is expected to grow by $83 billion in 4 years.
Adding the fact that home decor products are part of an experiential purchase, makes the industry well suited for live commerce. Customers need interactive, live experiences. But at the same time, they need to better understand how the new products will fit their homes. How to combine them with existing objects. Customers need inspiration. And live commerce is binding these pillars into a shopping experience that satisfies the customers’ needs.
Ikea, one of the worlds’ largest furniture sellers, has already implemented a live commerce pilot session on the Korean market. This comes as a normal upgrade for the Swedish giant that has always focused on inspiring its clients. After all, selling furniture is about selling the “home” feeling rather than products.
Conclusion
Live commerce is undoubtedly the future of commerce. This new sales channel offers a completely new shopping experience, one meant to close the gap between online and offline.
Although it’s suitable for any product or service, during this article we’ve pinpointed 5 product categories that perform best in live commerce sessions.
