Elizabeth Christenson|Editor, Retail Leader
Source: retailleader.com, June 2023
One-to-one live-shopping experiences provides retailers an opportunity to convert online customers in a personal, consultative environment.
What this means: Livestream shopping hasn’t been as widely adopted in the U.S. market by consumers, but that doesn’t mean that learnings from other markets can’t help it to inform new content strategies for retailers here. Content and commerce continue to converge across many parts of the industry and livestream video can still drum up excitement and engage audiences directly. As the industry grapples with how to drive impulse purchasing in digital channels, livestream video presents a great opportunity to highlight features and benefits while showcasing product scarcity.
Livestream shopping — also called live-video shopping or live commerce — enables retailers to broadcast products digitally via a video platform. Livestream shopping provides retailers an opportunity to connect directly with online consumers to educate them on products or services, resolve customer service questions and sell products.
Livestreams can happen one-to-one with a single shopper or one-to-many through a shopping event. Either option provides a personalized experience where consumers can interact, engage and ask questions via video or an accompanying live chat channel.
“One-to-one live-shopping experiences give brands an opportunity to convert online customers in a personal, consultative environment,” Kyle Wong, Emplifi’s chief strategy officer, told Retail Leader.
For one-to-many live shopping experiences, brands can hire influencers, leverage in-house talent or work with whomever is the best fit to host a virtual shopping event. One-to-many livestream shopping experiences are typically scheduled in advance and can be broadcast to an unlimited audience size. The event can be hosted on the brand’s website, on social channels or a partner website, with audience participation capabilities customized depending on the brand’s goals for the event.
“Livestream shopping removes the friction associated with physical shopping, but maintains important benefits like human interaction,” Wong said. “It’s also a matter of convenience as consumers can shop and connect from any location, at any time.”
Shopping is just one aspect of what live technology can offer.
“Livestreaming brings the entertainment and fun factor that consumers so often crave on social channels, offering an engaging and interactive customer experience for online shoppers.” Wong said.
Advancing shopping opportunities
One way that one-to–many livestream shopping is evolving is for customer retention and community. For example, Nordstrom adopted live shopping events to engage their community, and launched an entire channel dedicated to livestreams last year.
“Some of their live events featured prominent stylists and skin care professionals to connect with their audiences,” Wong said. “Being in the moment allows customers to participate in real-time, which helps build a strong community who will keep coming back for more.”
One of the primary advantages to livestream shopping is it introduces the potential of massive website traffic and significantly greater conversion rates. Based on Emplifi’s data, one in four shoppers added products to their shopping cart during a livestream, with purchase rates increasing by as much as 50% when shoppers opened a one-to-one live experience.
Like many e-commerce initiatives, livestream shopping events spiked during the pandemic, but the trend is constantly advancing as brands find new ways to introduce it into their e-commerce efforts. From the types of video platforms and features being used to the influencers and content creators hired to host events, the space is always evolving, Wong said.
Livestream shopping can be a major differentiator for retailers looking at new ways to connect with their audiences as well.
“Because live shopping enables brands to meet the customer where they are, giving them direct access via their favorite social channels and video platforms, it drives greater customer satisfaction and elevates brand reputation,” Wong said. “Even if a customer doesn’t check out via live, they could come back to the store as a more educated shopper.”
According to a recent guide published by Emplifi, some best practices to help brands and retailers refine their live shopping efforts include:
- Experiment with different days and times to go live as well as with different featured products and live event hosts.
- Monitor and evaluate your live streaming efforts to help scale your strategy with a data-driven approach.
- Create targeted live streams for different audiences and promote different products on various streams.
- Strike a balance between professional and a more casual approach to convey an authentic feel for your brand that doesn’t come across as over-produced.
- Engage your audience in live sessions with giveaways, quizzes or other interactive elements.
- Create urgency by giving consumers time-sensitive reasons to tune into your session – think discounts or limited time offers.
- Find an engaging host like an influencer or a brand ambassador.
- Promote streaming events with marketing campaigns.
- Dedicate a team member to oversee and manage in-house livestream shopping.
- Focus on niche communities and limited drops
The ideal platform for live shopping experiences not only gives consumers a chance to interact with a brand via a video platform, it enables purchasing capabilities, Wong said. Social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and TikTok offer native livestreaming and e-commerce capabilities along with various live streaming apps that brands can implement to host live shopping events on owned website properties or within retail apps.
Livestreams can still serve a purpose even after the real-time event has concluded.
“Brands can utilize their recorded live streams on their website or YouTube channel, which can help prospective customers learn more about products via a self-serve model,” Wong said.
Moving forward, live shopping experiences are expected to continue to have a huge impact on the e-commerce channel.
“As technology continues to advance, so will livestream shopping capabilities, helping drive major outcomes for the brands that embrace it,” Wong said.
Emplifi identified five key opportunities available to retailers that invest in a livestream shopping strategy:
- Live commerce, especially via one-to-many livestream shopping experiences, allows retailers to reach an unlimited audience of interested shoppers at any given time with a more engaging and interactive online shopping experience than traditional methods.
- Livestream shopping accelerates the buyer’s journey as the stream introduces a product and creates a sense of urgency to purchase right away.
- Livestream events set brands apart – especially among younger generations of consumers – from their competitors who don’t offer live shopping.
- Live shopping brings the offline shopping experience online, which is what consumers crave.
- Livestream shopping builds brand-consumer engagement and strengthens relationships.
“Livestream is a perfect way to retain customers when leveraged as a solution to provide quality post-purchase care,” Wong added.
What’s next: Retailers and brands should think about creating holistic content and commerce strategies that include livestream where appropriate, but also look to all video assets at their disposal to ensure they can reach audiences across content mediums.
