How Live Commerce Is Transforming E-commerce Digital Strategies in 2021

Live Commerce is a breath of fresh air in the E-commerce industry. And it doesn’t seem to fade away any time in the future. It actually has grown so big that, according to Coresight Research, the U.S. live streaming market is expected to hit $25 billion by 2023. 

Let’s see how live commerce is transforming digital e-commerce strategies in 2021.

What’s Live Commerce and Why It’s Exploding in 2021?

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Live Commerce is a baby of online shopping and window shopping.

There were a lot of challenges while pandemic, but a few of them were the most prominent ones: the online shopping experience wasn’t smooth enough to drive sales and customers weren’t able to leave their homes to visit the nearest mall and check the new things out there. That is why the concept of real-time sales had such great success.

Live Shopping looks and feels the same as QVC. The only difference is that customers don’t need to call 1-800. Purchase the goods happens while watching the live stream without leaving the video or switching the tab. 

Customers simply add the wanted product to the cart and check it out from the comfort of their sofa using their laptop or a phone. 

Real-time engagement and showcasing the goods filled the void for many people who suffered while being home and having a lack of shopping experience and social activities.  

How Does Live Commerce Create Value For The Consumer

Usual shopping used to be fun. That is why the brands’ goal is to recreate that feeling of having fun while shopping online. And live commerce is a great way to do so. 

Showing the products in real-time, describing how it feels when you touch the material, how it tastes, looks, how much it weighs – live streaming gives a chance for brands to share all of those details with the customers in real-time. 

Basically, live commerce closes the gap between the companies and the customers by building that personal connection through real-time engagement. 

Who’s Leading the Live Shopping Game

Chinese companies are leading the market. They were the first to enter the live commerce e-commerce market back in 2016, and since then, they’re skyrocketing up and up.

The Western countries are confidently following the trend and seem to build up their capacities pretty quickly. Down below I added a list of the key players in the market.

Alibaba’s Taobao

Taobao is a huge Chinese retail giant that was the first to enter the live commerce market in 2016. In 2020, Taobao earned $7.5 billion during the first 30 minutes of Taobao live dedicated to the Singles’ Day campaign.

Amazon Live

Amazon Live was launched in 2019 with the purpose to turn online shopping into live shopping. Page with a stream includes the stream itself, the area with the live comments, and all of the shopping cards with the goods listed below the stream, which allows customers to interact with the stream and make purchases at any given moment.

Amazon Live also implemented Amazon Influencer Program, allowing influencers to earn money on the product they sell in their live streams.

Walmart

Walmart is hosting its live events where they actively promote clothes, beauty products, and home accessories. 

Their interface is pretty advanced – every time the product is discussed in the stream – it becomes highlighted in the panel on the right, so you can easily purchase it. Besides that, you can see how many people added the item to the cart in real-time, which also creates a sense of urgency.   

Nordstrom

Nordstorm is another huge US retailer that uses the power of live stream shopping to connect with their audience. To hop on the event, you need to fill in the form with an email. You can pick the stream you want to join in the schedule and attend a live stream with professional stylists or designers. So the streams are not only about live shopping and products promotion but also about education and valuable information that might attract even more people to join.

PetCo

Credits to PetCo, 2021.

PetCo is one of the leading players in social commerce right now. They’re one of the first companies that collaborated with Facebook on their Live Shopping Fridays, and the results talk for themselves. Check out this live stream with integrated shopping cards right on Facebook with 2.2 million views.

Tommy Hilfiger  

Tommy Hilfiger was one of the first brands that got inspired by the Chinese live-stream shopping experience and started to host live shows to engage with their audience and increase revenue. To be short, one of the shows reportedly attracted 14 million viewers, and the brand sold 1,300 hoodies in two minutes.

Types of Live Commerce Experiences:

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Online Marketplaces 

Amazon, eBay, Walmart, and others are competing to get as many customers as possible. Live Commerce is a new tool that helps them attract and keep customers on the platform, increasing their revenue and the time customer spent on their marketplace. 

Live Auctions

Platforms like Be.Live helped many auctions and real estate companies connect with their audiences by producing live auctions back in a day.

Interestingly, many of those companies continue using the live streaming studio as a part of their offline experience since it’s helped them extend their audience and drive more sales. 

Influencer Streaming

Influencers are using their brand and trust to connect with their audiences. Live commerce built on such a strong connection is a powerful tool that boosts sales and engagement.

For example, Valeria Lipovetskiy actively promotes her jewelry store in live streams while having more than 1,5 million subscribers on Instagram.

Live Events

Pandemic influenced all the offline events and pushed the organizers to find ways of interacting with their audiences online. This change boosted the live streaming industry in general and changed the way people approach the organization of the events.

Even though now more and more pandemic restrictions are being removed and people are bringing offline events back to life – all of them are offering online participation which becomes a part of the new normal.

What’s Next for Live Commerce 

Live Commerce is transforming digital E-commerce strategies in 2021 and definitely will continue to do so in the upcoming years. More and more brands will join the live stream shopping and build a new sales channel with live streaming.

Those who haven’t started exploring live commerce yet should begin researching and investing in live streaming and live sales. This powerful tool will help to shorten the customer journey and push your business to the next stage.