Live streaming ecommerce is the hot new social trend that combines live video with infomercial-style sales. Live commerce—as it is often called—started in China a few years ago, and expanded in the US last year.
Here’s a quick backgrounder.
- In live commerce, influencers on TikTok and other platforms demonstrate products, answer followers’ questions, highlight their talents, and convince consumers to buy right from the stream.
- COVID accelerated live commerce adoption, as consumers looked for entertainment and new ways to shop.
- Top categories sold are jewelry, clothing, cosmetics and food.
- Brands are using live commerce to drive awareness and reach consumers they can’t access via traditional channels.
- Walmart and TikTok ran their first US live commerce test in December 2020 and have another planned for this month.
- One of the big questions about this trend is how long it will take Americans to catch up with Chinese consumers.
- Two-thirds of Chinese shoppers purchased via live commerce in the past 12 months.
- Brands in China, including Cartier and Procter & Gamble, live stream frequently often for several hours at a time.
Sources: eMarketer 2020, Forbes 2020, MIT Sloan 2021, Smartbrief 2020, Springwise 2020
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