Until recently, online shopping was characterized by little to no interaction between sellers and buyers. But with advancing technology, this reality is changing. The eCommerce space has transitioned to become customer-first. And brands are transitioning from brick-and-mortar to livestream shopping companies to amp up engagement and drive conversions.
Livestream platforms have taken the social media and eCommerce worlds by storm, with brands witnessing a conversion rate of 30% from their livestream shopping events. To put things in perspective, this number is ten times higher than traditional eCommerce platforms where there’s limited scope for engaging with the audience.
What is a Livestream Shopping Platform?
The livestreaming market gained steam in 2017 in Asia with the emergence of platforms like Taobao Live. Since then, it has gained popularity across the world, and is even expected to grow from $11 billion in 2021 to $25 billion in the US by 2023.
Several such livestream shopping companies exist that host live shopping events on their platform for brands across the globe. In fact, the livestream market in the US has seen the emergence of online marketplaces like Amazon Live and Talkshoplive meant exclusively for livestream shopping.
These platforms are designed to boost sales wherein an influencer or celebrity is roped in to promote the product or service.
The other popular livestreaming destination is social media platforms, such as YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitch, Twitter, and Instagram. Unlike professional live shopping platforms, they offer lesser scope for customization, customer engagement, interactivity, and real-time analytics.
That’s why brands and retailers are quickly realizing the best livestream shopping platform for their products might be their owned websites! Companies like Firework enable branded livestream to host such livestreams on their own websites, thus humanizing brand interactions. This helps brands deliver an enhanced shopping experience to their customers.
How to Choose the Right Livestream Shopping Company or Platform?
Choosing the right livestream shopping company for your brand is key to business growth. You ought to find a suitable platform to showcase your products and tells your brand story effectively.
Here are 3 tips you need to consider whilst looking for an ideal livestreaming app for your brand.
1. User-friendly interface
Imagine hosting a massive livestream with a renowned celeb only to notice that the customers are struggling to scroll through your live shopping app.
For your brand to taste success, it’s recommended to pick a livestreaming app with a user-friendly interface that is easy to navigate and enables interactivity. Along with this, the app also needs to ensure a lag-free viewing experience, irrespective of the device it’s being played on.
2. Tailored to your requirements
Brands usually have a specific goal in mind that they plan to achieve with the livestream. Be it a reaction button or a dynamic carousel of their portfolio, the app has to cater to these needs.
And what better than having the entire livestream customized to suit your brand?
Certain livestream shopping apps make it possible for users to toggle with the theme, layout, and interface at their convenience.
3. Tried and tested
Livestreaming on an online app has its own set of challenges. Once the livestream is taken online, things cannot be reversed or modified.
So it always helps to use only those applications trusted by brands involved in eCommerce.
Can you Implement Livestreaming on your Website Through Shopify?
But what if you’re operating your eCommerce business on Shopify?
You can still livestream on the platform. Yes, you heard that right!
Brands can go live simply by using third-party Shopify Integrations. This provides brands an opportunity to convert potential customers or expand the existing user base.
Through Firework’s Shopify integration, businesses can grow their presence with the livestream shopping and shoppable videos feature. It’s a must-have tool, especially considering how brands have to put their best foot forward to promote their products.
However, what brands use live streaming?
Several brands involved in retail, cosmetics, F&B, and other sectors have used the livestream shopping through different platforms in a bid to enable business growth.
Let’s look at a few examples of real-life brands that created effective and relevant livestream shopping events.
1. Petco the Perfect Fit Livestream Campaign
Petco, the retail pet supplier, hosted a combination of a pet fashion show and a dog adoption drive. The event called ‘The Perfect Fit’ was broadcasted live on Facebook, garnering over twice the sales than what was invested in its organization.
Unlike the conventional livestreams, the viewers were up for absolute entertainment as they witnessed dogs walking down the ramp in style. This resulted in over a million customers tuning in for the livestream and all the dogs featured on the fashion show getting adopted.
2. NYX Livestream Campaign with Pop Stars
NYX Cosmetics was one of the earliest proponents of livestream shopping.
Source: NYX Cosmetics Livestream
It triggered the nostalgia of the customers by inviting early noughties pop stars like Lance Bass, Brandy, and JoJo to recreate looks from the past decade in its throwback event on Triller.
The brand touched the nerve of its audience without actually investing in advertising but instead by exploring the new-age concept of shoppable videos on a live selling platform. The campaign was well-directed towards the target audience, which included millennials and Gen Z, who were redirected to the relevant shopping page on the NYX website.
3. JCPenney Live Shopping called JCP Live
JCPenny has harnessed the power of live digital shopping by livestreaming the sale of its holiday merchandise on Facebook, YouTube, and its e-commerce site. Titled ‘JCP Live’, the show offers a curated shopping experience for the brand’s latest holiday merchandise.
Each segment is based on a theme with a revolving cast of influencers sharing their expertise on topics ranging from family fun, top tech, and cozy comfort to health and wellness, and last-minute holiday shopping.
Engagement goes off the roof during these livestreams as customers get to comment, ask questions, and even win gift vouchers during the segment.
4. Samsung Panama Aligned Their Online & Offline Experience
Samsung Panama replicated the in-person shopping experience in its live shopping event hosted online. The livestream was quite successful as viewers constantly engaged with the host in the chat box.
Customers turned up in huge numbers as exclusive deals were up for grabs in this live event. The livestream registered thousands of viewers across the globe, garnering the attention of tech enthusiasts and tech geeks alike.
5. The Honest Company
The Honest Company is known for frequently organizing livestream shopping events on the live shopping platform, Amazon Live. The founder, Jessica Alba, took the onus of presenting the products available on their site.
The livestream video featured a shoppable carousel where customers could shop for products directly without getting off the site.
6. Clarks Shoppable Livestream on Instagram
Clarks hopped onto the livestreaming bandwagon recently to take their shoppable livestream out on Instagram. A video commerce solutions company was brought into the picture so that the brand could achieve the targetted sales.
Customers viewing the livestream were presented with a browsable carousel of products. Tapping on any of the products would lead the customer to the shopping cart for a hassle-free checkout.
7. Walmart on Short-Video Streaming Platform
Source: Walmart short video livestream
Walmart associated with the short-video streaming platform TikTok to launch their very first livestream shopping event. The ‘Holiday Shop-Along Spectacular’ event brought their holiday-special products to center stage as customers got a first-hand experience whilst being on the app.
Post its success, Walmart has regularly hosted such livestream shopping events for its loyal customer base.
8. Estée Lauder’s Live Shopping Feature for Customers
Estée Lauder group of companies incorporated the live shopping feature for its diverse product portfolio. It has renowned celebs, accomplished makeup artists, and dermatologists on board who take the customers through their products during the course of the livestream.
All these events are regarded to be credible sources of information and help the consumer in their decision-making process.
9. KitKat
KitKat introduced a livestream shopping event in the hope of driving online sales and visits to physical stores in Australia. The brand managed to acquire leads on its Facebook livestream by targetting potential customers through the Comment to Message feature on Facebook messenger.
The campaign was a massive hit, especially amongst 35 to 44-year-olds resulting in more than one-third of Kitkat’s yearly sales in Australia.
10. American Girl’s Livestream Success with Firework
What happens when a brand receives a 25% engagement rate on their livestream?
It rises to greater heights of success. Case in point, American Girl.
The livestream was first broadcasted on the brand’s digital properties and their media partners’ social channels, then replayed on Firework’s other partner channels.
11. Fresh Market Livestream Stint
Fresh Market uses livestreaming technology to replicate its exquisite in-store experience online.
Source: Fresh Market Leveraging Livestream
Early in 2022, the company held its first livestream event from its recently renovated company store. The fully managed livestream beat industry averages, with a three-fold boost in product click-through rates and an eight-fold increase in live engagement rates.
The technology has increased sales and attracted new customers for the company by enabling a closer connection between the two.
12. Albertsons Livestream Success with Firework
Albertsons was one of the first US supermarkets to employ a livestream shopping platform to make, host, and curate short or livestream videos to communicate with customers.
Source: Albertsons Employed Firework Livestream
Through livestreaming shopping and shoppable films, the company hopes to establish itself as the sole provider of content pertaining to food.
They want to duplicate the in-store purchasing experience by integrating livestream shopping into their website and mobile application, where customers may peruse the product, choose what they want, get advice from a salesperson, and then complete the deal.
13. Aldo Livestream With Influencers
Establishing a connection with the audience gets easier when brands rope in their favorite influencers or personalities who inspire their buying decisions. To do that, Aldo used livestreaming to rope in celeb stylist Mini Cuttrell and TikTok influencer Nate Wyatt.
Source: Aldo Roped in Influencers For Their Livestreaming Event
The audience saw their favorite influencers creatively promoting the brand while the brand exhibited its collection in real-time. The results were remarkable, with an engagement rate of more than 300% and an average watch length of 12 minutes.
14. Nordstrom Has a Dedicated Live Shopping Channel
Nordstrom became one of the few livestream shopping companies to introduce a dedicated live shopping channel.
Source: Nordstrom is now a Livestream Shopping Company
The channel hosts dozens of live shopping events around trending themes like fall fashion and spring beauty. By bringing those topics into the context of live shopping, Nordstrom offers them in a more engaging way, asking viewers questions and gaining responses in real-time, something that a “static” piece of content (like a blog post) would never permit.
15. CAIA Livestream Shopping Platform for Selling
The Swedish cosmetics company CAIA entered the livestream shopping platform space in 2019.
Source: A Dedicated Livestream Shopping Channel
The brand’s first livestream had a conversion rate of 5%, which was significantly higher than the normal conversion rate for its website. There has been no turning back since, as the company keeps creating livestream shopping experiences that connect with its audience.
16. Kiehl’s Ramadan Livestream Campaign
Kiehl’s, the skin and haircare brand, leveraged livestream shopping for its Ramadan campaign.
Source: Kiehl’s recently organized a live commerce event in Malaysia
They displayed good audience knowledge, a top priority for livestream shopping platforms. They connected with their Malaysian clients through the message of visiting loved ones’ homes, a custom during Ramadan.
A series of “open house” Instagram Live events featuring Kiehl’s beauty advisers served as the campaign’s focal point. The results were excellent, with an 8x return on advertising and event hosting.
17. Gucci’s Global Psychedelic Collection Live Campaign
Source: Gucci GG Psychedelic Collection Livestream Campaign
Gucci is a well-known fashion and lifestyle brand on a global scale. It was the first premium company to use livestream shopping platform. It also introduced Gucci aLive, a video shopping interface.
The video service connects store staff with consumers through cell phones or online computers. Customers are welcomed by adorning black-tux-bow-tie-and-red-gloves-clad employees who highlight the various products.
18. Heinz Halloween Campaign Success with Firework Livestream
Heinz, one of the top companies in the fast-moving consumer goods industry, recently held a livestream event on its website to advertise a Halloween pop-up shop.
The event achieved great success in terms of spectator engagement and conversion thanks to livestream media. Over 16 million impressions and a 7% engagement rate were recorded by Heinz on various platforms.
19. Quivr 150% Spike in Sales During Livestream Shopping
In 2020, Quivr tested livestream shopping platforms for the first time. The creator spoke to a 50-person audience for an hour about Quivr’s brand history and its products.
The audience responded well to the session, and the business has since held numerous further livestream shopping sessions. Due to the popularity and reach of the livestream, the brand frequently sees a 150% spike in sales during the following 24 hours.
Source: Quivr testing livestream shopping platform
Wrap Up
With livestream shopping becoming mainstream, we will see more and more brands turning their own websites into livestream shopping destinations. This will give brands more leverage to plan and design their livestreams in a way that helps them stand out as well as study their customers’ behavior closely.
With ready access to first-party data, brands can get insights into what their customers are responding to and prepare future livestreams accordingly.
As the eCommerce world evolves into this hyper-interactive shopping experience, customers are certainly in for a treat.
