On paper, live shopping seems perfect for markets in North America and Western Europe. These are huge markets that brands continue to go all-in to battle for, and live commerce offers a clear and engaging selling point for the social-media-savvy crowd. While it has proven to be a game-changer in massive eastern markets for years, in the West, an expected boom in the use of live streaming technology to sell just hasn’t occurred.
Instead, it’s been more of a simmering niche, but there is now the gaining of momentum. Trying to stand out as a new and novel way to shop that’s different from shopping channels, like QVC, platforms like Poshmark and Whatnot have seen their users grow sales tremendously, even to the point of collecting $1,000 in sales per show. So, what’s needed to propel the tech into eCommerce and unlock its colossal potential?
Here are the top 5 cybersecurity startups in Southeast Asia protecting businesses from digital threats and providing digital security solutions
Live streaming primarily for entertainment
Live streaming is already widely used across Western markets. For decades, with increasing quality, it’s been the go-to way to find and watch live sports. With more options coming up through more social platforms like Twitch and YouTube, they have given more reason to cut the cable, being free forms of live entertainment. Whether it’s a live-streamed podcast, the live stream of some gameplay, or another kind of live show, people are showing up.
In fact, some 51 percent of British adults have watched a live-stream video, with Facebook Live, YouTube Livestream, Twitch, and Instagram Stories being the most popular ways to do so. In the US, 2023 saw over 160 million people watch live videos, and overall, Q1 2024 saw some 60 percent more viewers for live streams than even the previous high enforced through circumstance seen in Q1 2020.
Where the technology is truly being utilized to its fullest, and most akin to live commerce, is where the live elements is built into the product. Building from the standardized, more passive viewing experience, Buzz Bingo now puts on several live bingo events every day. In these streams, their hosts make the cheeky calls and interact with the audience, while the audience gets their digital bingo cards and play along in real-time. It’s all live, bolstering the immersion tenfold.
Entertainment integration
The key seems to be the entertainment angle. Live streaming is greatly sought out by customers for its potential entertainment value and the online social aspects it can enhance, be it real-time play or seeing popular people on social media discuss and react. Two of the key factors identified by Forbes in its coverage of the rise of live commerce in China were integration in social media and harnessing the power of influencers in fandom culture.
Now, in China, the revolution has been streamlined by the must-have all-in-one app WeChat. Through the super app, people can message, access social media, make payments, and more. While the big social media sites are prevalent in the Western market, the audience is splintered. Sites like Poshmark and Whatnot host shows on their own platforms, which further splinters the potential audience and makes gaining traction that bit more difficult.
Even with this being the case, more customers are finding the live shopping experience on these dedicated sites and are sticking around for regular and special sales events. Live tech in eCommerce is gaining traction, but perhaps not as quickly as once anticipated.