The offline retail industry has been particularly affected by the pandemic. Consumers rushed to purchase online while brick-and-mortar businesses and other retail establishments were told to close their doors. The trend toward shopping online, prompted by the pandemic, resulted in an all-time high amount of online purchases in 2020, which continued to rise to $871 billion the following year.
What Is a Livestream Shopping Application?
Livestream shopping results from the convergence of video streaming, influence marketing, and e-commerce. Livestream retail describes a method of doing business in which retailers, influencers, and brands advertise and sell things using the medium of live streams. These sessions may well be held via a social media channel, a smartphone website, a platform, or marketplace.
The Evolution of Livestream Shopping
Live shopping, often known as live commerce, is a revolution in e-commerce that started in China and has now expanded to other countries. This experience of online shopping in a market-like style may be traced back to Taobao Live, which debuted in 2016 on the app developed by Alibaba. Livestreaming and shopping were brought together for the first time in China thanks to a project that Alibaba Group spearheaded. The channel was designed to engage, entertain, and educate consumers about new trends.
The Global Ascent of Live Shopping
Over the last few years, the recognition of live-shopping platforms has increased to the point that it has expanded beyond the boundaries of certain regions and into every corner of the world. Amidst the rise of digital-first retail practices and intensifying rivalry among companies, livestream shopping has established a solid presence in the industry.
The exponential growth of the metaverse adds further weight to the compelling argument that live commerce has enormous untapped potential as a core sales channel. As an early indicator, Samsung released its most recent product, the Samsung Galaxy S22, in a completely virtual setting.
Advantages of Livestream Shopping for Brands and Retailers
The worldwide live commerce ecosystem has had a number of noteworthy events over the course of the last few years. Companies of various sizes, including industry heavyweights such as Google, Pinterest, Twitter, and TikTok, as well as start-up businesses, have all experimented with this novel method of selling products and services. But what specific advantages does shoppable video streaming provide for these businesses?
Conversion rate increase
Greater sales are driven due to the enhanced convenience of real-time shopping. As stated by McKinsey, firms claim conversion rates that are on average 30% higher during live shopping events. In 2021, conventional e-commerce in the United States only reached 2.8%.
Improving brand appeal and differentiation
Additionally, companies are getting into the livestreaming game to improve their brand image. The technology enables businesses and retailers to have real-time conversations with customers, giving the impression that the brands are more accessible to the target audience.
Authenticity
Livestream shopping delivers the brand right to the customer’s smartphone without requiring video editing or photoshopping. It implies that clients get an unedited picture of the actual goods and that when they make a purchase, it appears precisely the same as it did on live stream. Because of this, live events provide the impression that corporations are genuine and focused on people. This advantage is essential for contemporary organizations since 90% of customers consider authenticity the most important consideration when choosing a brand.
Engagement in real time
The audience participation and the unpredictability of the livestreaming both contribute to the excitement of live shopping. Because users may post comments and ask questions in real time during live shopping, viewers are more involved in the purchasing experience.
Entertainment
Livestream shopping combines the worlds of commerce and live video entertainment to provide an experience that is more pleasant and diverse than traditional shopping. More likely, this one-of-a-kind combination of genuine rapport, shopping, and an enjoyable experience will fulfill the requirements of 31% of customers in the United States who are ready to spend extra for an unparalleled shopping experience.
In-store activities such as quizzes, challenges, and unpacking sessions may contribute to the gamification of live shopping by appealing to customers’ natural desire to play.
Immersive experience
Live videos allow businesses to add multimodal interactions that can help them develop a good emotional relationship with a consumer. These interactions have a characteristic known as immersiveness, and they present themselves as a blend of extended reality and flat user interfaces. Immersive-first technologies like augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), for example, may create an even deeper level of immersion and display a product from any angle.
Top 5 Livestream Shopping Applications
Even though the host and the goods are quite important, the software is the channel that connects your business with the clients. In order to provide you with a more in-depth understanding of what live-shopping software entails, we have compiled a list of the top choices available to assist companies in selling their stock live.
TalkShopLive
This app for live streaming is marketed as a robust platform for live streaming and home shopping. TalkShopLive is a famous platform with top celebrities and brands. It enables anybody to sell live by establishing their own channel. Customers can be converted into buyers via integrations, in-platform purchasing, and automated fulfillment.
Bambuser
This livestreaming app was founded in Sweden, another network with significant promise for live shopping. Since 2007, Bambuser has addressed the requirements of retailers, global brands, and enterprises by simplifying the selling process and making it more personal and engaging.
Channelize
Channelize, a complete e-commerce solution for B2C companies, is yet another option on our list of livestream shoppable platforms. Channelize allows businesses to engage customers in real-time by enabling seamless integration, scalable APIs, SDKs, and user interface kits. These features all help to reinforce a company’s brand image.
Livescale
Livescale is a live commerce startup that allows companies to generate awareness and revenue using a personalized and branded experience for their customers. The product feed synchronizing, integrated adoption, easy checkout integration, and complex first-party analytics are some of the defining aspects of the features.
Amazon Live
Amazon, which has the dominant position in the retail industry, was one of the pioneers in starting this trend. Since 2016, Amazon Live has assisted companies in showcasing their items, promoting those products, and engaging with their target audience in real-time. Through the use of the Amazon Live Creator app, businesses have the opportunity to begin live-streaming on Amazon. This tool assists in the production of live streams, the same as their capture and management.
To Sum Up
People’s shopping habits are shifting due to the increasing prevalence of digital technologies in today’s environment. They are no longer in need of, or interested in, shopping at traditional stores. Rather, shopping online has become the norm in the society that has emerged after the pandemic.
In the last several years, it has been abundantly clear that emotion, contact, and dialogue are all quite important for companies. Without these elements, organizations can only compete with one another to see who can provide the lowest price, and Amazon is already in the lead in this competition. Therefore, the only way to achieve organic sales in the digital age is to provide a more humanized experience.
Livestream shopping, on the other hand, gives a more personal feel to the product or service by combining elements of digital, interactive, and social. Because of all these factors, live shopping is now very marketable, with improved conversions and enhanced brand awareness.
Orangesoft will assist you in embracing the live streaming future of retail and will simplify this process. Please get in contact with us, and we will collaborate on the development of a cutting-edge livestream shopping app.