How Livestream Shopping Impact Retail trends in 2023

Livestreaming has taken off in recent years. This refers to recording and broadcasting media simultaneously in real-time over the Internet.

We’re show you’ve probably watched someone livestream before, whether on YouTube, Instagram, or any other social media platform.

From Q&As to behind-the-scenes footage, there are many different types of livestreams that people produce, and in this post we’re going to focus on livestream shopping in particular.

Continue reading to discover everything you need to know about live stream shopping, from interesting livestream shopping statistics to the livestream shopping impact on retail trends.

What is livestream shopping?

There’s only one place to begin, and this is by answering the following question; what is livestream selling?

Livestream shopping, or live shopping, is a marketing strategy whereby a host promotes products through a live video. The host can be someone who works for the business, a celebrity, or an influencer.

The concept is very similar to home shopping TV, where a person talks about a product’s features and shows viewers how to use it and buy it.

A chief difference between conventional online shopping and livestream shopping is that the latter is unedited, meaning the audience interacts with the host in real-time.

To help you get a better understanding, let’s take a look at some livestream shopping examples:

• Bloomingdale’s – Bloomingdale’s have hosted many live shopping sessions. They like to make them feel like an event. On one occasion, they sent cocktails and macaroons to early registrants to enjoy while watching the stream.
• CAIA Cosmetics – CAIA Cosmetics drives conversions with livestreams that offer product tutorials.
• NYX – Make-up brand NYC hosted a highly successful livestream, which involves three celebrities – JoJo, Brandy, and Lance Bass – attempting to recreate their own 90s looks using items from the 2021 NYC fall collection. There was a direct ‘buy now’ button for watchers.

How does livestream shopping work?

Livestream shopping involves delivering video and audio content to your audience simultaneously while it’s being recorded.

This is achievable by combining processes, including video playback, decoding, CDN, segmentation, compression, and encoding.

With livestream shopping, in particular, you can take advantage of a number of different features to include live purchases, such as ‘buy now’ buttons and product links. The features available depends on the platform you use.

Livestream shopping market size

Many businesses undergoing retail transformation are embracing livestream shopping to modernise their business. This is an industry that is clearly growing, but how big is the livestream shopping market?

Well, China certainly leads the way when it comes to livestream shopping, with an estimated $480 billion made from livestream shopping sales in 2022. While the UK is not quite at this level yet, livestream shopping will play a key role in coming years. In fact, McKinsey have forecasted that between 10 and 20% of all ecommerce sales in 2026 will be initiated from live commerce.

It’s believed that most UK shoppers (31%) spend between $10 and $20 during a live shopping stream, while 29% spend between $20 and $50. Moreover, TikTok Live is the preferred live shopping platform for almost 30% of adults in the UK.

Benefits of livestream shopping

Now we need to answer the question, why livestream shopping? This means looking at the benefits in further detail.

• Enhance loyalty and engagement – Livestream shopping can help you boost consumer relationships. In 2021, ALDO, a Canadian retailer, hosted a livestream, which resulted in a 308% increase in engagement rates.
• The FOMO effect – A live shopping session creates the FOMO effect because there is a time limit, i.e. the influencer is only going to be livestreaming for ‘x’ amount of time. Also, during live streams, customers get a unique chance to see a product in real-time and there are often discounts and special deals, which people don’t want to miss out on.
• Boost conversion rates – Livestream shopping is a massive revenue driver for brands. Research shows that businesses with live commerce strategies have experienced conversion rates of approximately 30%, which is almost 10x higher than typical ecommerce conversion rates.
• Differentiate your brand – As mentioned, livestream shopping is still in its infancy to a degree in the UK. However, the monumental success of live shopping in Asia shows what’s to come. This makes now the perfect time to capitalise on livestream shopping as a brand differentiator, helping you to stand out from the competition.

Different types of livestream platforms

Earlier, we established that UK shoppers prefer TikTok Live for live shopping streams. However, it’s certainly not the industry leader, as Taobao takes that crown. Taobao is owned by Alibaba, the Chinese ecommerce giant. In China, 3 in 5 shoppers have tuned into at least one of the live shopping streams on Taobao.

Of course, you may be looking for a live shopping platform that’s more tailored to a Western audience. Some of the options available to you include:

• NTWRK – NTWRK promotes shopping events and daily limited-release product drops.
• Livescale – This is a live shopping app that integrates with Shopify and many other ecommerce platforms.
• Bambuser – Brands like H&M have used this live streaming platform for shopping events.
• Buywith – This tool enables influencers to shop live with their followers on brands’ ecommerce websites, which is perfect for brands looking to capitalise on influencer marketing.
• Popshop Live – This is a platform specifically for iOS, which enables sellers to host shopping shows from their iPhones.

The impact of livestream shopping on retail trends in 2023

Now that you have a great idea of what livestream shopping is, how it works, and the different livestream shopping platforms available, let’s delve into the livestream shopping impact on retail trends in 2023:

• Phygital – Phygital is a term that refers to the blending of digital and physical elements in retail to create a wholesome consumer experience. Live shopping can take the phygital experience to new heights by increasing consumer engagement across both digital and physical touchpoints. There are many ways you can integrate online and offline experiences with livestream shoppings. For example, you can display livestream shopping campaigns at malls, as well as advertising in-store exclusives during livestreams.
• Personalisation – Personalisation has been a trend for the past few years, but livestreaming is making more personalisation possible. Livestreaming allows customers to view products up-close and ask questions in real-time. We can also expect hyper-personalised experiences with the rise of one-to-one livestreams with optimal attention to detail.
• In-house brand advocates – In 2023, we can expect a new group of ‘influencers’ to make their mark. Leveraging in-house brand advocates is a trend we’ve seen soar because of livestreaming. Store associates represent a new wave of influencers. After all, who knows your brand better? Plus, leveraging an in-house brand advocate certainly won’t cost you as much as a celebrity or social media influencer would. A passionate and friendly brand advocate can also give your brand more personality.

Embracing livestream shopping to reach more customers

As you can see, livestream shopping gives you another effective way of reaching more customers online.

The livestream shopping impact on retail trends shows that these new selling platforms really are having a monumental effect on the retail sector. If you don’t acknowledge and embrace livestream shopping now, you’re at risk of being left behind.