Whether it is called Live Stream Shopping, Shoppable Video Commerce, Live Video Shopping, a new shopping channel is born.
Every day, as merchants, we see the need to operate “contactless”. The pandemic is forcing businesses to temporarily close, and even when stores are open, we’re seeing a growing number of consumers choosing to shop online. In this context, Live Stream Shopping presents itself as an effective alternative. This is a real , measurable shopping channel that, in the most successful implementations, can be a source of additional revenue for online creators and our store sellers who, until now, have not exercised their talents only between four walls.
Live Streaming Shopping makes it possible to continue to animate its customers – by accompanying the prospect in his purchasing journey, and by extending the link with his current customers. Even better, this video and interactive format helps make the most loyal customers, brand ambassadors. Nothing will replace physical contact in the store, but this new tool exists and who knows, won’t it bring other advantages?
In this article, we deal with the case of events organized by a company for an audience (and not one-to-one shopping video consultation, which we will analyze in a future guide) and outside the platforms of the giants of the internet or platforms such as TalkShopLive , CommentSold, BrandLive, which work with multiple brands.
Live Stream Shopping, what is it?
Live Streaming Shopping makes it possible to broadcast live streams of events on the Internet, and to have a real-time dialogue with the participants. The goal is to present them with products that they can buy immediately. It is the fusion of e-commerce and Live Streaming. Live Streaming Shopping is different from Conversational Commerce, which is one-to-one.
What are the features of Live Stream Shopping?
Buying during streamed events is nothing new. Home shopping channels have been around since the 1980s. But what makes Live Stream Shopping even more powerful are the following features:
- There is a real dialogue: people watching can interact via a chat room and can – when the brand allows it – speak with the host
- A sense of community: people who do not know each other can discuss, give their opinions and advise each other
- The purchase is instantaneous: this is what differentiates Live Streaming Shopping from a simple Live Streaming, which remains on the dimension of discovery and brand image
- On the production side, it is not necessary to go to a fully equipped TV studio. With the right platform, a live stream is done from everywhere, very easily.
China: why such a lead in Live Stream Shopping?
Live Streaming Shopping has long been a huge success in China. We all know the importance of platforms and mobile apps in the life of the Chinese consumer. According to Coresight, Live Streaming Shopping generated $63 billion in sales worldwide in 2019 (only $1 billion in the United States) and, according to iResearch, it will reach $138 billion in 2020 (+119%!).
524 million Chinese will enjoy a shoppable live stream experience this year, and more than 100,000 brands have used it in China, including Ralph Lauren, Clinique, Tommy Hilfiger, Lancôme, Levi’s, Louis Vuitton, L’Oréal, Burberry and many more, says Latentview Analytics ,
Unlike the US and Europe, where streaming is mainly used for games and entertainment, in China live streaming is the preferred solution for Chinese consumers when they want to discover new products and buy them immediately.
Amazon, Facebook/ Instagram and YouTube are accelerating their Live Stream Shopping strategy?
Long before the pandemics, the major American platforms launched their video commerce offers. Amazon, for example, operates a live-streaming platform, Amazon Live Creator, which allows brands and users to stream and view live shows, showcasing products available for sale on its site. This year, YouTube introduced a new shoppable ad format and placed products to buy below videos. Facebook has also enabled live shopping and made an acquisition in this area in 2019, Packagd. Instagram now has its own Shop. Without forgetting the American kings of TV shopping HSN and QVC who are about to launch a shopping streaming service.
What should be considered when choosing a Live Stream Shopping solution?
- Start using your own platforms (site, blog):
Two reasons for this: first of all to keep full control over your audience and customer data. Then, it is in your best interest to rely on your own strengths – your acquired customers, your community, your brand image – to start testing this medium, instead of going to “buy back” on third-party platforms the customers you may have. – to be already. One does not exclude the other, but it is advisable to animate its own customers and prospects before going to invest acquisition budgets which may not be necessary.
- Offer the possibility to buy your products directly
Otherwise, it is an operation of image, of publicity. The participant must be able to directly access an integrated platform to buy, pay, follow the progress of his delivery, and contact customer service.
Social media have understood this, which are constantly launching new purchase-to-payment functionalities, leading the consumer to stay in their universe, and to buy items discovered on the social network, without leaving the application.
- Interaction features
To guarantee a feeling of community, one of the strong points for the commercial success of such an event, the animator(s) must involve the people present, who thus lavish their advice, each other, spontaneous way, out of the discourse of the brands.
- Be able to broadcast the event in replay
- SEO: The service provider must optimize the shoppable content for search engines
Especially for Google Video. Google has published recommendations to help marketers improve the placement of their native video content at the top of the first page of SEO. This point is important so that, after the Live event, its replay content appears first in the search page when the consumer will make a request for such or such product promoted in the replay.
- Comprehensive analytics dashboards
If the goal is to drive both engagement and sales, the key measure of success is the conversion rate.
- Security
You need to ensure that your audience can safely access video content (and that you will have this same guarantee as you grow in this medium)
- Authorisation
Your team must be able to easily manage video content and easily give permissions to people authorized to act as presenters (influencers, ambassadors, internal sellers)
- Remuneration
You must ensure that the platform will allow you to know the sales made by your ambassadors (your sellers, influencers, ambassadors) in order, if necessary, to remunerate them accordingly, with all the desired flexibility (eg a percentage difference on sales) . This aspect will prove to be essential with the rise of what is called the Passion Economy, anyone who is an expert or is passionate about a subject ready to become an ambassador for a brand they love.
- Customization
The platform must be 100% aligned with your brand image so that your audience has the feeling of a real program created by you for them.
- ROI and pricing
What proven returns on investment does the service provider have with companies similar to yours (with a comparable sector of activity, type of event and audience).
We will soon be offering you a complete guide to Live Stream Shopping solutions including a functional comparison that will allow you to better identify the differences and thus support you in your choice.
To be informed of the availability of the Live Stream Shopping Guide published by Le Journal des RH and FrenchWeb, we invite you to subscribe to our newsletter dedicated to new services and solutions to accelerate your digital transformation .
What Live Stream Shopping solutions are available on the market today?
Among the key players in Live Stream Shopping, we can cite:
BAMBUSER and its Live Video Shopping solution
Bambuser is a software company created and managed by Maryam Ghahremani in 2007 and based in Stockholm, Sweden. In September 2019, Bambuser launched Live Video Shopping, a cloud-based software solution for retailers and e-commerce, to host live shopping experiences on websites, mobile applications and social media.
Among its clients, the company cites Moda Operandi, Monki, NA-KD, Stronger, CAIA cosmetics and Lyko.
Results (source Bambuser): Up to 20% of participants add items to the basket.
“ Live Video Shopping is becoming more and more popular for a good reason: it is very efficient. However, it is still important that retailers maintain control of their brand experience and customer relationships. That’s why Bambuser strives to bring to market the best solutions to attract customers and drive sales through live streams in their own environment, ” said Jesper Funck , Chief Product Officer at Bambuser.
BRIGHTCOVE, the video heavyweight to broadcast its Live Video Shopping
Brightcove , created in 2004 by Jeremy Allaire , is a major cloud-based player offering video hosting services, interactivity, OTT services and new ways to monetize video content. Its power and flexibility allow it to create, broadcast and host all types of corporate video events, including Live Video Shopping. Unlike the other companies mentioned, its activity is not solely centered on direct orders. Brightcove will therefore include shopping call-to-actions and shopping cart features in the realization of Live events (product demonstrations, parades, etc.), with the aim of converting more participants into buyers.
Among its clients are achieving significant results by incorporating interactivity into their video content, the company cites Endeavor Drinks Group.
TV PAGE The specialized eCommerce video platform
TV Page is a Video Commerce platform, co-created in 2011 by Allon Caidar, CEO. The company is based in San Diego, with an office in Europe. Known for allowing retailers and brands to offer their store salespeople and influencers “mini shops” to sell the products they like on the brand’s or retailer’s website, TV Page has added a function of Live Stream Shopping.
Thus the brand’s store sellers, but also its influencers, experts, fans and customers who have been authorized in advance by this brand, can create live, shoppable experiences themselves, during which customers can buy directly.
To increase the event’s audience, the ambassadors advertise them themselves on their own social networks, thus directly engaging the communities that follow them.
Recorded shopping sessions can be replayed in “mini shops” in the name of each ambassador present on the brand’s website. This creates additional traffic that continues to drive sales – and ambassador commissions – well beyond the live event.
During live events, the public can interact with the ambassadors in real time (via Zoom, Google Hangouts, Microsoft Teams, Gotomeeting and Twitch).
TV Page’s customers include Macy’s, which created Macy’s Style Crew, its own Video Commerce community with more than 2,000 participating store sellers, Lenovo, Bed Bath & Beyond, BuyBuy Baby, ReserveBar, Key Jellewes, TJX, HSN…
Results (source TV Page, from January to September 2020): Conversion rate multiplied by 3. Average order amount increased by 35%. Each viewer costs an average of $0.15 and brings the brand an additional $6.19 in revenue.
“ Live Shopping is another component of e-commerce that e-commerce retailers and brands can use to drive traffic to their online stores and increase sales,” explains Allon Caidar, CEO and co-founder of TVPage.
SPOCKEE and its Shopping Party solution
Player of one-to-one Live Video Shopping (which we will analyze in a future guide, with players like GoInStore , chosen by Les Galeries Lafayettes, Hero and others ), Spokee has added to its basic business a solution Shopping Party “ Bring your community together during unique events”. Spokee, a company created in 2018 headquartered in Montreal, has an office in Paris. The company cites as clients, for its one-to-one solution, Yves Rocher, Tape à l’oeil.