Ecommerce is deeply rooted in how brands conduct business. But with fierce competition, having an online store is not enough to drive sales. Live commerce has recently taken precedence over static ecommerce pages as it provides customers the best bits of digital and physical retail experiences.
Live commerce offers businesses the opportunity to have a dialogue with customers and provide advice and inspiration in real-time to strengthen the customer relationship. Read on to find out how businesses can join the bandwagon to increase their conversion rate.
What is Live Commerce?
Live commerce combines live video streaming and shopping, where customers interact with retailers through live sessions and purchase products and services through the same channel. The social element of interaction in live commerce intends to entertain and inform viewers about new products and answer any questions or concerns about product usage with the ultimate intention to drive sales.
BeLive Technology is a key player in the live commerce industry as they power up businesses with live streaming capabilities merged with the essential ecommerce features.
They offer you the option of customizing and integrating their technology into your existing platform, or they can create for you an entire platform based on your needs.
Types of Live Commerce
Live shopping has replicated some of the sensory excitement lost through ecommerce and successfully closed the gap between consumers and products to create a loyal customer base. Some of the most common formats of live shopping that businesses can use include:
1. Online Marketplaces
By integrating live streaming into online marketplaces, businesses can provide their customers the closest possible experience of ‘being there’ even while they are tuning in from the comfort of their homes. Such real-time interaction with product specialists or shop staff can replace the urgency of an actual marketplace and prompt immediate purchase action.
TMON, a major e-commerce store in Asia, reported a 21% conversion rate and a 130x revenue increase through a single live commerce session when they began live shopping services in early 2017. This isn’t an isolated incident. In the same year when AliExpress launched their live shopping, they saw a whopping 320,000 goods being added to the cart per one million views for a single live session.
2. Influencer Streaming
Businesses can also collaborate with influencers who have the power to captivate the audience. Influencers can leverage their personal brand to promote products through interactive live streaming videos. While this format may not be suitable for all businesses, influencer marketing can provide the highest conversion rate if your products are targeted toward a younger demographic.
3. Live Events
Live events go hand in hand with online marketplaces and influencer shopping. Businesses can live stream newsworthy events like new product launches, retail holiday specials, or limited edition drops to encourage live shopping.
Live Commerce Trends and Beyond
The COVID-19 pandemic has acted as a catalyst in boosting the live shopping trend. Since the global population is forced to stay at home, live commerce has brought shopping to the customers when there can be no physical contact between retails and customers.
As we continue to follow social distancing norms, this pandemic-driven live streaming culture has become an integral part of the consumer purchase journey. The live shopping market in China is worth $170 billion in 2020, and this number is only meant to grow in the years to come.
BeLive Technology’s live streaming features include an in-stream product catalog for instant conversions.
Challenges with Live Commerce
Live commerce is definitely an enticing option for businesses. But just like any new trend, it has its own set of challenges. As businesses cannot control certain elements like product malfunction or the host going off script, live events remain largely unpredictable.
Besides, live events require a captive audience to be present at the exact stream time. If your company does not have a pre-existing audience, you may need to ramp up your viewership by investing in marketing. Businesses may also be challenged with live streaming technicalities like storing the live videos for future viewing and the overall novelty surrounding the technology involved in live commerce.
Overcoming the Challenges
Just like any new technology, adopting live commerce is a learning curve for businesses. While it may seem like new territory, careful preplanning and market readiness are key to reaching live shopping success. Businesses can fight the live commerce unpredictability by smartly planning the set, script, guests, and giveaways beforehand. Live streaming can prove a viable service to explore if businesses invest in the right game plan, products, traffic, and shopping experiences.
Bottom Line
Live commerce is here to stay. And it is coming for every part of the online world. Depending on the products and services, businesses can spin it off their own way to meaningfully engage with consumers, educate them about the products and drive overall business growth.
The online world is constantly changing, but one thing remains certain: live stream ecommerce isn’t going anywhere. If your business is ready to make that next move, contact BeLive Technology for a free consultation.
