Live Commerce is progressing in so many ways in a world that is always changing. This trend report will showcase all of the upcoming trends for 2022 and the following years. We’re going in-depth on Live Video Shopping to discuss how it got hooked and other hot trends. In this article, we’ll examine the elements of hybrid retail and demonstrate how to create individualized, engaging experiences that appeal to both traditional and online customers.
The global pandemic has undoubtedly transformed practically every organization, whether they were prepared for digital transformation or not. But it’s important to realize that the Live Video Shopping trend has been around for a while. It was simply given more time because of the pandemic. Three years ago, the hype accounted for more than 10% of eCommerce sales in China. The most crucial factor is that customers appreciate it, and the US and European markets are quickly catching up. The rates for adding items to basket and making sales are unparalleled!
What is Live Commerce?
Live commerce is a technique for monetizing videos that involves selling a service or product during a live stream. This method of monetization is often referred to as “live selling” or “live stream shopping.”
In other words, you can say Live commerce is the combination of internet shopping and livestreaming. Customers participate in a Livestream to connect with the brand, meet other customers, and make instant purchase decisions. It’s a great opportunity for customers to interact with the business and inquire about the merchandise.
By clicking a button on or near the video player, viewers can buy the goods that are being discussed on the live broadcast using this type of video monetization.
Where did it all start?
When it comes to live video shopping, China has been far ahead of us. China has long been the world’s leader in digital consumer markets, with a market of tech-savvy customers that numbers about 1 billion internet users. Live streaming e-commerce has also been a popular method of advertising and selling products through influencer streams.
Viya, a well-known influencer, hosted a livestream as part of Taobao’s Singles Day 2019 sales extravaganza, which drew over 43 million visitors. The estimated income from livestream shopping in China by the end of 2022 is $423 billion.
How does it work?
E-commerce and retail businesses have been utilizing the well-established live commerce strategy. Live commerce enables customers to watch a live broadcast of the product
and then place an order directly from the live stream, similar to how teleshopping allowed customers to watch a broadcast, get a concept of the product, and then buy by contacting a number to place their order.
All of this can be done without having to search the internet for the item like you would in a traditional e-commerce scenario. It is similar to the digitization of telephone shopping. Furthermore, live commerce allows users to instantly purchase a product or service if it appeals to them, which is completely different from traditional e-commerce.
Live stream commerce can be used by companies or influencers to launch new items, showcase them, host webinars, customer feedback. Customer engagement is also increased by live commerce. Customer interaction is quite limited in traditional e-commerce; but, with live commerce, firms can interact with customers more directly. It enables them to establish direct contact with customers who may be highly motivated to purchase your products, improving conversion rates.
Why should E-commerce businesses dive into Live Commerce?
Engagement rates for traditional e-commerce is much lower than any live commerce integrated business. Maintaining a customer relationship takes effort but brands and businesses are striving to improve their relationship with their customers because of the cut-throat competition in the Live Commerce market.
Integrating Live Commerce with your business revamps your whole business image and helps your stay connected with your target audience. This helps improve the browsing time a customer spends on a product website/app and provides better product clarity.
Streaming live video also enables enterprises and entrepreneurs to receive instant feedback from their audiences while streaming. They can also maximize revenue generation and exposure through live streaming.
Understanding the foundational pillars of Live Commerce.
1. Selecting the right live commerce platform
The main foundation of a Live Commerce business is a strong and apt live video streaming platform. This can be a challenging part but Gizmott makes it easier for you. Gizmott offers the #1 live video commerce platform, Flixbuy. With Flixbuy you can deliver high-performance shopping experience to your audiences. Flixbuy’s JS player and SDKs, enables seamless video shopping in your mobile/smart TV apps and websites.
2. Customer engagement
Create an experience that engages and attracts customers to your platform. Online shopping must be made enjoyable by developing an emotional connection and a sense of exclusivity. Customers may feel “in-the-moment” by using interactive features like chat and reply buttons in the experience. By doing so, they would be engaging actively in the event rather than just watching it.
By alternating between formats like DIY projects, tutorials, unboxing events, fashion shows or cookery shows, chat shows, product debuts, etc., combined with the clever use of gamification aspects, you may add variety and entertaining to the event. Additionally, live stream viewers-only limited-time deals can make shoppers feel compelled to make purchases.
3. Powerful influencer/KOL network and content
Establish an active network of KOLs and influencers that consumers can rely on for guidance when choosing products. Give these spokespeople the resources and instruction they need to produce engaging content for your audience while putting together a solid business case for the influencers who will promote your product or service.
4. Seamless E-commerce integration
Integrating E-commerce with live streaming guarantees that clients can easily move from browsing to buying. Customers may, for instance, have a one-click buy option during a live feed so they can purchase their preferred product without exiting the stream.
5. High-quality viewing experience
Get yourself some customized tools that can help you foresee your demand and have the capability for high-quality, buffer-free viewing.
6. Reliable and fast delivery
Make sure you analyze the outcomes of each live commerce session and track yours as well as audience performances. Provide your customers with a world class delivery using an in-built reliable logistics or a third party logistic provider.
Key considerations before tapping into Live Commerce.
Based on our experience, here are some key guidelines that will help you accelerate your Live Commerce journey.
• Identify your target audience
Much like all business models, you need to identify who you hope to reach through live commerce. Finding a target market is very essential. You should also conduct research on your audience to better understand their requirements and goals. Only then can you develop the appropriate value proposition and generate network effects to expand your customer base.
Additionally, the research will assist in locating the ideal influencer and KOL network, which you may choose from your initial pool of brand ambassadors, store employees, and specialists.
• Identify the key influencer
This is significant because the majority of live video shopping occurs on social media. The influencer will advertise your products to their audience and lend credibility to them.
• Determine what you want to offer
Understand which products or services you want to offer through your Live stream commerce route and then choose the right partner that can deliver this most effectively.
• Sort out your backend
Before going live, you need to make sure you have an internal moderator, who can assist you in handling comments, questions, and more. So be flexible and take your time to deliver the live stream. This is important for a seamless, organized event.
• Add giveaways, coupons or discounts during pre-launch
Offering your customers with discounts, coupons or giveaway campaigns can help maintain your audience engagement and can attract more customers.
Delivering an unforgettable customer experience.
Providing both new and existing consumers with a complete experience is one of the main difficulties faced by retailers today. Clearly, your product or service must be competitive in terms of pricing, availability, infrastructure, and other factors. However, it’s more crucial than ever that you pay attention to how customers are changing their behaviour.
Marketers have many opportunities thanks to live commerce. They can connect with a millennial population that has spending power now and will have even more in the future.
Numerous studies have also hinted at the fact that certain businesses are experiencing up to 30% conversion rates with live commerce. Senior vice president of content at Insider Intelligence Zia Daniell Wigder stated, “That’s about 10x what you would typically expect to see. So that’s another reason brands are interested in this.”
Livestreaming commerce won’t be limited to certain product categories like clothing and accessories. Although there will be some specific ones like lifestyle categories, fashion, cosmetics, and home decor, which actually have a lot of potential in this retail trend.
Top 5 benefits of Live Commerce.
1. Reach a wider audience
You can reach a global audience base in real time without spending heavily. Using free platforms like Facebook or Instagram live can furthermore increase your audiences regardless of the broadcast or live stream location.
2. Enhance customer engagement
Incorporating live commerce into your business can expand the scope of creativity which leads to more customer engagement. Live streams can increase real-time interaction without the need of a 24/7 customer service. Live commerce is more than just filling your cart. Comments and reactions on a product or a service can boost the shopping experience.
3. Drive conversion rates
Live commerce isn’t about just a one-click purchase away feature, it’s about driving revenue for brands and having conversion rates 10x times higher than traditional E-commerce conversion rates.
4. Brand differentiation and awareness
Live commerce can considerably boost brand awareness among the audience, encourage impulse buying, as well as help increase the overall traffic to your website. It also allows you to stand out from your competitors.
5. Improves marketing tactics
Live commerce can measure customer behaviour and help calculate the impact of a campaign. This can help brands or businesses deliver the content of interest according to audience performances.
The future of Live commerce business on a fast-forward.
Live commerce is one such technology that keeps improvising along with digital advancement. We can see live commerce expanding into new sectors such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR), which can make shopping even more immersive and enables buyers to see a product from every angle. Consumers can have a virtual face-to-face conversation with a show host or influencer just as though they were speaking in a store.
Live commerce is expanding its reach to industries like healthcare, engineering, finance and more, in time. The retail sector is booming and preparing to move into the trending metaverse and there will be buying and selling of virtual assets in cryptocurrency, NFTs and blockchains.
Transform your digital shopping experience with Flixbuy.
To summarize, with Flixbuy, you can increase customer retention and improve instant purchases. Companies that use Flixbuy as their live commerce platform have better conversion rates and will continue to rise as the future of live commerce expands.
As you embark on your Live Commerce journey, don’t forget to carve out your vision with Flixbuy’s solution for brands, retailers, distributors and content creators.
We hope this guide will help you kickstart your live commerce journey with a professional-grade live commerce platform. Visit our website or reach us out through info@gizmott.com to see how easy and fast it is to launch your own live commerce platform.