Blogger’s Park: Shop live online
Ankur Dayal
As the e-commerce growth story unfolds, brands have focussed on engaging directly with the consumer, a trend that’s picking up. Using the direct-to-customer (D2C) approach, brands have begun to understand user behaviour and deliver the right products. The more the engagement, the more connected a consumer feels to a brand, which makes them less likely to shop with a competitor.
After social media and direct commerce made shopping experiences simpler, you can now shop live online. Live commerce, combining instant purchasing of a featured product and audience participation through a chat function or reaction buttons, is a part of this next big leap in retail.
Emerging channel
Under live commerce, e-commerce platforms turn into digital stores by providing a real-time shopping experience to customers through live streaming. Live commerce lets brands carry out instant sales in a live streaming environment. Audiences can watch, interact with the host and shop simultaneously.
In its report, McKinsey & Co said given how China has fared, live commerce initiated sales could account for 10-20% of all e-commerce by 2026 globally. Live commerce can help brands and marketplaces by adding to their growth stories via increased interactions, building audience connections, and providing potential consumers with an immersive experience. Since live streaming can be entertaining and immersive, videos featuring marketing influencers make it possible to keep customers hooked on to watch longer. Virtual live chats and 1:1 consultation with brand representatives ensure that the audience gets a personalised shopping experience. Pushing offers and one-time discounts to be availed right then brings a sense of urgency, culminating in a purchase. Some brands have reported up to 10 times higher sales via live commerce than in conventional e-commerce.
Growing popularity
The benefits of live commerce include reducing distribution costs as overheads come down when products are sold directly to consumers from a warehouse. It also creates easier order-of-operations and processes for receiving an order, having a label created, and quick shipping to consumers. The interaction via live sessions or video Q&As allows the celebrity influencer to act as the salesperson. Product features can be better discussed by explaining how it functions, answering customer pain points, comparing similar products, discussing the pros and cons.
While live commerce has taken a huge leap in China, in India, the predictions are positive. While a research report by leading consultancies suggests that live commerce may reach $4-5 billion Gross Merchandise Value by 2025, mobile and data penetration could take it to $40 billion by 2025.
Regardless of location, live shopping offers high rates of engagement. It’s seen as one of the best ways to pull in Gen Z shoppers. Given their obsession with video formats, live commerce is helping build innovative shopping formats and experiences. And so, everything from health and beauty, fashion and retail, food and beverage have found success in a live shopping format. With short-form video gradually taking over as the preferred content form for online shoppers, brands have found the right opportunity to pursue video and live commerce as they explore new avenues.
The author is CEO & co-founder, Primarc Pecan