Live shopping has proved to be more than just an eCommerce trend: as customers are looking for interactive shopping experiences, more brands are adding it to their marketing and sales strategies. According to IDC by 2023 4 in 10 retailers will have integrated live shopping into their commerce platforms.
The 2 big drivers of live shopping adoption:
- Live shopping dramatically improves the customer journey, having a conversion rate of up to 5x vs “traditional eCommerce”
- It’s extremely easy to start a live shopping channel, and you already have everything you need to get started
Live shopping provides this live, interactive shopping experience where customers join a live video, interact with the host or fellow potential customers, ask questions, get the desired answers, and buy. Straight from this entertaining live video experience.
Here are the numbers that stand behind this shopping experience:
3x more views – Internet users spend more time watching live content than any other form of media
3x engagement – live video generates more engagement (chats, emoticons, reactions) than any other form of content
70% product views – from the total views, 70% view a product page (almost twice as many as with traditional eCommerce
9% conversion rate – almost 1 in 10 viewers purchase at least one product from a live shopping session
So no wonder that everybody bets on live shopping.
You need just 4 things to get started with live shopping. And you already have them
1. A product (or service) to sell
Live shopping is a mix of live video streaming, content, and shopping. It helps you digitally recreate the in-store experience. By doing it, you offer an interactive shopping experience to online customers. Simply put it helps you showcase your product in front of a live audience.
Any product or service can be sold through live shopping. Our partners have successfully used Streams.live to sell products ranging from books to cars. We’ve created live shopping sessions helping viewers register for 1 on 1 consultancy sessions or for governmental funds. We’ve helped brands showcasing their latest collections and influencers better demonstrate how their audience could better use beauty products.
As long as there is a product or service that people are interested in, live shopping will help you get better results, regardless of what you plan to sell to your audience.
Here is what brands are selling through live shopping
2. A live shopping software
Ready to start selling your products live? Let’s see what live shopping software works best. Depending on the shopping journey that you want to create, you can either use a social media platform that allows live selling or opt for a live shopping software that allows you to completely own and customize the experience.
A powerful live shopping software solution allows you to go live. To engage your audience and sell directly from this experience. A mobile phone is everything you need for a successful live shopping event.
Look for a solution that is easy to ease. But at the same time, it supports your reaching your goals, no matter how big they are.
Here is what you should look at when choosing your live shopping software:
- Will it help you reach your goals?
- Is it easy to use?
- Does it give you total control over the customer journey?
- Does it offer the right value for its costs?
- If needed, do you get any form of support?
3. A host for the session
In our experience, this is one of the biggest bottlenecks. Many think that a live shopping session needs to be hosted by an experienced (and often expensive) influencer. Somebody that has already created a large fan base and has experience with going in front of the camera.
In fact, anybody can host a live shopping session. And we have discovered that intimacy and authenticity are, in the long run, the key elements – for live shopping at least. Nobody knows how a product helps its buyers other than those that are passionate about them. Like an experienced shop assistant or the person that laid the foundation of the business.
Based on the host of the experience, we’ve identified 3 major categories for live shopping sessions:
- Sessions hosted by influencers; focusing on reach and entertainment
- Sessions hosted by brands representatives/shop assistants; focusing on educating the customers and returning the best conversion rates
- Sessions hosted by influencers + brand representatives; these experiences provide a great mix of entertainment and shopping
The reality is that you don’t need a third party to go live in front of the camera. 9 out of 10 customers say authenticity is important when deciding which brand they support (with their time and money), and live video helps create authentic experiences for your shoppers. Especially when a brand representative decides to go in front of the camera.
4. Somebody to sell to
Despite what some may think, you don’t need thousands of viewers for a successful live shopping session. You just need to have a small, engaged audience that wants to learn more about what you are doing. And how your products or services can help them out.
Streams.live helps you engage your audiences, regardless of where they like to spend time online. You can embed the live shopping session on your website, and at the same time share the video experience on your Social Media channels like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or Youtube.
For the younger generations, the shopping journey itself is as important as the products they are looking to buy. Here is what they think about live shopping:
