How do Live Commerce and Streaming Shape E-commerce?
The increase in technological opportunities contributes to the evolution of the online shopping industry day by day. Especially people from generation Z want to do their shopping online, but while doing this, they want to interact with the product at the maximum level. In addition to these demands, the tendency to prefer touchless interaction created by the pandemic causes some e-commerce methods to come to the forefront like live commerce.
In this article, we will talk about what live commerce is, which has become popular in Asia and influenced the entire e-commerce industry, and its contribution to the online shopping experience.
What is Live Commerce?
Live commerce is the process of selling a product or service by meeting with the user in real-time through an interactive live broadcast. In this system, where e-commerce elements meet with live stream elements, people with high influence capacity examine the product in detail and share their reactions.
The audience of the broadcast has the opportunity to interact directly. They can ask questions or make comments about the product. With the effect of the broadcast, the tendency of the viewers to buy the product increases considerably.
At this stage, e-commerce elements come into play. Detailed information tabs about the product eliminate possible question marks. The option to add the product directly to the shopping cart provides a fast customer experience. Links to products that are similar or that can be used together encourage the user to buy more products.
Live stream shopping can also be converted into many formats. Interviews on the features of the product, tutorials, gamification, behind-the-scenes, and blending with giveaways are some of them.
Why did Live Commerce Become Popular?
The story of the popularization of live commerce is closely tied to the development of influencing as a profession. Online commerce platforms have made people’s lives much easier. Traveling to the mall to buy a single item seems like a tedious task today.
However, the possibility of one-to-one contact with the product in traditional shopping is very limited in online shopping. For this reason, people care very much about the advice of people they can trust. Thus, influencers are gaining more and more popularity every day.
Actually, being influenced to buy a product by people we trust is not a new concept. In our personal lives, positive comments from someone we trust can make certain products attractive, even if they are not intending to sell products.
Imagine a friend who uses a product that you may need and is very satisfied. He calls you and tells you about the product, but you have doubts about a particular feature of the product. You can ask this question directly to him. However, when it comes to an influencer advertising a product on social media, you need to do extra research for your curiosity or wait until you buy the product.
The factor that makes livestream e-commerce attractive is the idea of influencing people with interaction. Your confidence in the product increases exponentially when you can ask what you are curious about or when you enable the person in front of you to use the product in the way you want. At the same time, being able to buy limited edition items by attending a livestream shopping event specially organized for a small audience makes you feel much more special.
Which Products are Suitable for Live Commerce?
Users generally prefer to see products in live streams where the user experience can be visually understood. For this reason, the fashion industry is in great harmony with the structure of live commerce. In addition to fashion, live commerce makes a radical difference in the makeup, electronics, and furniture sectors.
Products that cannot be experienced visually and that appeal to other senses are more difficult to promote with live streams.
How are Industries Affected?
Live commerce has created radical changes in online shopping habits and the retail industry in Asia, especially in China, with the effect of the pandemic.
In the first stage, influencers started to promote their products on live broadcasts by collaborating with brands. Over time, this strategy began to become popular. However, the stamping of live commerce in the online shopping sector was made possible by the significant investments of major actors.
While the big actors of the e-commerce industry have adapted the video stream service to their platforms, the big actors of the video stream industry have started to make investments so that their infrastructure can be used in the e-commerce sector. On Singles Day 2021, which is famous in China’s shopping culture, a streamer named Austin Li Jiaqi sold $1.7 billion worth of goods alone on Alibaba’s Taobao Live platform.
According to McKinsey’s report, the value of China’s live-commerce market grew at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 280 percent between 2017 and 2020.
These developments in Asia have triggered investments in live commerce for the whole world. Walmart partnered with TikTok and created a shoppable live stream experience that yielded great returns.
Other retail giants also made live commerce investments. They managed to create a very high trade volume with live events on days such as Black Friday and Valentine’s Day when the shopping volume is at its peak. The volume of these investments is increasing day by day.
Amazon, Facebook, and Instagram have started to experiment with live streaming services where they can increase their income by taking advantage of the audience they can reach. Amazon launched a shopping platform called Amazon Live to bring together influencers and users on a single platform and provide a live streaming service.
The Future of Shopping and Live Commerce
The spread of live streams and becoming one of the main business strategies may mean increased influencer investments and the creation of special departments for companies. For this reason, new business lines and role definitions may emerge.
Product promotion via live broadcast requires special skills compared to traditional social media promotion. Thus, being a live broadcast influencer can become a unique profession.
Influencers that appeal to small but engaged audiences may become more important figures, as it is difficult to directly interact with a large audience.
In addition, giant technology companies position live commerce as an important point among their virtual reality investments. Because live commerce is a strategy that fits very well with the interactive nature of Metaverse. The potential of virtual reality technology signals that live commerce will become more widespread.
Working with the Right CDN Provider for the Best Streaming Service
In order to sell through live commerce, many elements need to work together seamlessly. One of the most important of these is to offer an uninterrupted and quality streaming service. The products are promoted as an adventure that takes the user to the shopping cart. If this adventure is interrupted or functionally inadequate, it negatively affects the whole experience.
Medianova’s CDN for video and streaming services can easily integrate into your infrastructure. It provides a high-quality and multi-bitrate adaptive experience from the most convenient point to your user’s location.
As Medianova, we see CDN services as a whole. By contacting our team, you can discover why Medianova is the answer to all the CDN solutions you need.
