Livestream shopping is a digital shopping experience that combines live video, real-time interactions, and instant purchasing capabilities. It’s like a fusion of traditional TV shopping channels, social media, and eCommerce.

The host of the livestream presents products, demonstrates their usage, and interacts with viewers in real-time, answering questions and offering more details about the products. Viewers can then make purchases instantly, often through integrated shopping features within the platform.

Though livestream shopping started to gain traction in China around the 2010s, it has exploded worldwide more recently due to the shift in market trends and social commerce.

The Origins of Livestream Shopping

For instance, Amazon introduced Amazon Live in the United States, where influencers or store owners can host live shows to promote their products. The viewers can ask questions, click on product links, and make purchases while watching.

Similarly, in China, there’s the highly popular Taobao Live, a platform owned by Alibaba. A famous example from Taobao Live is Viya, a top-tier influencer or “livestreaming queen” who often attracts millions of viewers to her streams. Viya and other influencers have sold a wide range of products, from cosmetics and clothes to cars and even houses.

Another example is Instagram’s “Live Shopping Fridays” initiative that was launched in 2021. It partnered with brands and creators to deliver shoppable live videos every Friday, making it easy for Instagram users to discover and shop for products in real-time.

TikTok also ventured into livestream shopping, partnering with Walmart in the US for a first-of-its-kind livestream shopping event on the platform in 2020. Users could shop for fashion items directly from Walmart without leaving the TikTok app.

These platforms have shown that livestream shopping can be a powerful tool to build customer engagement, provide instant gratification, and create a more entertaining and interactive shopping experience.

How Viable is Amazon Livestream Shopping?

While merchants that qualify for Amazon livestreaming should certainly take advantage of it, at the moment this feature is only available to a certain subset of businesses on the platform.

Amazon livestream shopping seems to have a high barrier to entry given the spend you have to be on. This would be an option more so for larger Amazon sellers that want to take their eCommerce efforts to a whole new level without necessarily having to expand beyond the platform.

Many eCommerce merchants aren’t on Amazon at all, however. Jumping onto this platform just for the livestream functionality isn’t all that viable, despite the huge returns that can reportedly be derived.

The good news is that other platforms seem increasingly interested in adding full livestream functionality, one standout example being TikTok.

Is TikTok Livestreaming The Future?

Tiktok recently added their TikTok Shops feature for select merchants, which enables users to shop in-app much like on Instagram. Tiktok as a whole has been very open about its status as a search engine and shopping app – its unique blend of features and powerful algorithm make it a great tool for eCommerce businesses.

TikTok livestreaming could take this role to the next level, however. Their livestream shopping features could potentially be the wave of the future for several reasons:

Young Demographics

TikTok has an incredibly large and engaged young user base. This demographic is particularly comfortable with e-commerce and digital consumption and is often more open to innovative shopping methods like livestream shopping.

Strong Algorithm

TikTok’s recommendation algorithm is highly effective at matching content with users who are likely to be interested in it. This can be leveraged to connect livestreams with the right audiences, making targeted selling more effective.

Video-Centric Platform

The very nature of TikTok as a short-form video platform makes it a perfect fit for livestream shopping. Users are already accustomed to consuming video content, and live shopping streams can seamlessly fit into the TikTok experience.

Influencer Marketing

TikTok has become a hotbed for influencer marketing. Influencers who have already built trust with their followers can use livestream shopping to recommend products effectively, leading to higher conversion rates.

Interactive Shopping Experience

TikTok’s platform lends itself well to creating interactive, engaging shopping experiences. Users can ask questions and provide real-time feedback during livestreams, making the shopping experience more social and personalized.

Innovative Ad Formats: With its AR and VR ad formats (“branded effects”), TikTok is pushing boundaries in terms of how brands can present their products to consumers. Livestream shopping could potentially incorporate these innovative formats in the future, providing an even more immersive shopping experience.

While the new TikTok livestreaming functionality specifically for eCommerce is not yet available, it is apparently in the works. It might be a great idea to start developing a following on the platform now so that when these features are released, you already have the community to warrant a livestreaming experience!

The Benefits of Livestream Shopping

Livestream shopping offers numerous benefits to eCommerce businesses, including but not limited to the following:

• Increased Engagement: Livestream shopping creates an interactive platform for businesses to engage with their customers in real time. This real-time interaction, including answering questions, responding to feedback, and even entertaining viewers, can significantly increase customer engagement.
• Real-Time Sales Conversion: With integrated shopping features, customers can make purchases instantly while watching the livestream. This real-time conversion from viewing to purchasing can accelerate the sales process.
• Building Trust: Seeing products in use during a livestream can help increase customer trust. Demonstrating a product’s features, showing how it works, and answering viewer questions can make customers feel more confident about their purchases.
• Expanded Reach: Through social media shares and recommendations, livestream shopping can reach a wider audience compared to many traditional eCommerce channels. In some cases, influencers with large follower bases can help spread the word even further.
• Personalized Shopping Experience: Livestream shopping allows businesses to provide personalized shopping experiences to their customers. Influencers or hosts can provide product recommendations, style tips, and more, tailored to the viewer’s preferences.
• Increased Customer Retention: The interactive and entertaining nature of livestream shopping can help to increase customer retention. Customers are more likely to return for the engaging experience and real-time interaction.
• Unique Promotional Opportunities: Businesses can leverage livestream shopping to launch new products, run flash sales, or host exclusive events. These unique promotional opportunities can drive buzz and urgency around their products.
• Gathering Valuable Data: Businesses can use data from livestream shopping sessions, such as viewer numbers, engagement rates, and purchasing behaviors, to inform their marketing and sales strategies.
• Cost-Effective Marketing: While there are costs associated with setting up and running a livestream, it can often be more cost-effective than traditional advertising channels, especially considering the potential reach and direct sales capabilities.

How to Livestream for eCommerce

Livestreaming can be somewhat intimidating for those who have never done it before.

Back in the day you needed fancy software and equipment to properly live stream – and you still do for certain purposes such as livestream gaming. However if you want to simply speak to your followers and do some promotions, the process is fairly straightforward no matter what platform you are using.

Th following livestreaming tips are relatively general and can be adapted to many livestreaming platforms like Facebook Live, YouTube Live, Instagram Live, TikTok, Kick, or Twitch.

• Choose Your Platform: Decide where you will livestream. Different platforms have different audiences and functionalities. If you already have a substantial following on a platform, it might make sense to livestream there.
• Plan Your Content: Before you start livestreaming, you should have a plan. What will you be showing or talking about during your stream? If you’re doing a product demonstration, for example, make sure you know exactly how you’re going to present it.
• Prepare Your Equipment: At minimum, you’ll need a device with a camera (like a smartphone or a laptop), a stable internet connection, and a quiet, well-lit space. If you want to step up the quality of your streams, you might consider investing in a good quality external webcam, microphone, lighting equipment, and a backdrop.
• Set Up Your LiveStream: This will vary depending on your chosen platform. For instance, on Facebook, you would go to your page, click on “Live,” and follow the steps to set up a live video. On Instagram, you’d click the camera icon at the top left of your home screen or swipe right from anywhere in Feed, then scroll to Live at the bottom and tap.
• Promote Your LiveStream: Let your followers know when you’ll be livestreaming. You can post a schedule or send out reminders leading up to the stream.
• Go Live: Start your livestream according to the instructions on your chosen platform. Make sure to introduce yourself and your topic right at the beginning, as viewers may be joining who aren’t familiar with you or your content.
• Engage with Your Viewers: One of the unique benefits of livestreaming is the ability to engage with your viewers in real-time. Be sure to interact with your viewers, responding to comments and answering questions.
• Close the Stream Properly: When ending your stream, be sure to thank your viewers for watching, recap what you’ve covered, and give them a reason to come back for your next livestream.
• Review and Improve: After the stream is over, most platforms provide analytics about your stream, such as peak live viewers, total views, and average watch time. Review these metrics to understand what worked well and what could be improved for future streams.

Is eCommerce Livestreaming Worth It?

The wild success of the Home Shopping Network should tell you everything you need to know about the potential of livestream shopping for eCommerce businesses.

Combining the loyal audiences curated by social platforms, the entertaining and addictive nature of social retail, and the interactive aspect of livestream shopping, you have the perfect storm when it comes to potential revenue generation.

Not everyone is a streamer or has a streamer personality however, and that’s OK. This is an opportunity for camera shy eCommerce merchants to sync up with influencers or leverage the power of social media marketing agencies in order to help them execute.

Regardless of whether or not some of these apps like TikTok implement a native livestream shopping feature, don’t let that stop you from hosting a live shopping event!

Anyone can start up a livestream on these platforms and host a shopping event or auction for free, the only caveat is that the shoppers won’t be able to actually “buy” the products using any app functionality. Instead you can direct them to product pages on your website, or take down their name and connect with them after the fact through DMs as the viewers “claim” certain items using an auction format, which has been a staple of the Facebook live scene for a while now.

The key to making live shopping work for you is to start developing an audience on social media. Even though you always have the chance of attracting outsiders to a live event, especially on platforms like TikTok and Twitch, it always pays to have a built-in audience first. This will give you a strong base to work off of.

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