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Live Shopping @ Marsaana
Events have long been one big part of PR and our job here at Marsaana, and with everything going digital, it was bound to happen to events one day, too. For us, that happened in autumn of 2020, when we hosted our first live shopping event in Finland. Since then we have hosted many live shopping events with several brands with our new business unit Live Shopping Experience, and hosted anywhere between a few hundred to 5000 viewers per event.
LIVE SHOPPING
A live shopping event is essentially a livestream that is integrated to your e-commerce website. This allows customers to shop real-time without ever leaving the event, or frankly, their couch. Usually led by influencers or brand professionals, it gives brands the opportunity to create a strong emotional connection and change consumer behaviour.
Our experience has shown that being able to interact with the host and get an exclusive deal during the live show makes customers more likely to make a purchase.
Live shopping events are not only live, though. After the live stream has ended, a recording of it can be uploaded to the e-commerce website. This provides great value-adding content and keeps on bringing conversions, as we have seen that about 60% of all purchases made were by people watching the recording.
CONSUMER PREFERENCES AND LIVE SHOPPING
In a study made by Forester (1), it was found that 70% of European consumers are interested in live shopping, as it addresses important pain points, like trust, price, and immediacy.
By demonstrating your products during a live shopping event, consumers have a chance to see the products and get immediate answers to their questions. As getting a good deal is one of the top values of livestream shopping, getting exclusive deals taps into your customers sense of urgency and makes it easier to convert views to transactions. Being able to shop during the livestream shortens the customer journey and recommendations from hosts and peers help to make purchase decisions faster.
LIKE IT OR NOT - LIVE SHOPPING IS COMING
Why are we so certain of that? When it comes to predicting the next big thing, it’s always a good idea to look at what the big players are doing.
Instagram has recently introduced the shop in-app function, and has expanded that to livestreaming. Businesses and creators can now add up to 30 products to showcase and pin during a live. Viewers can shop or save the products from the video. (2)
TikTok has partnered with Shopify to create in-feed shoppable video ads through TikTok Channel app, to shop directly within their Shopify store. Some businesses have also started to trial a new “Shop now” button inside the app. (3)
Amazon launched Amazon Live, which for now is only available in the US. It allows Brand Registered sellers and vendors to go live to promote their products. (4)
As of lately, Facebook has also started “Live Shopping Fridays” series as part of their e-commerce push. For now, it has started as a limited series, but in the future if rolled out full-time, this will ideally be something that benefits brands, users and Facebook itself, as it boosts user activity and eventually Facebook will take a cut of all purchases processed during lives. (5)
SOURCES
1 - Forrester: Shoppertainment is landing in Europe.
Link: http://azcms31.alizila.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Shoppertainment-Is-Landing-In-Europe1.pdf’
2 - Facebook: Instagram and Live Shopping
Link: https://www.facebook.com/help/instagram/1189600611393606
3 - TechCrunch: TikTok Invests in Social Commerce via New Shopify Partnership
Link: https://techcrunch.com/2020/10/27/tiktok-invests-in-social-commerce-via-new-shopify-partnership/? guccounter=1
4 - TechCrunch: Amazon Live is the Retailers Latest Effort to Take on QVC with Live Streamed Video Link: https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/08/amazon-live-is-the-retailers-latest-effort-to-take-on-qvc-with-live- streamed-video/
5 - Social Media Today: Facebook Launches Live-Stream Shopping Events, the Next Stage in its Evolving eCommerce Push
Link: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/facebook-launches-live-stream-shopping-events-the-next-stage-in-its-evolvi/600394/