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Live shopping combines the act of shopping with livestreams. It’s a modernized version of home shopping networks. What’s different is that these livestreams are more interactable thanks to social media. It becomes more of an experience instead of just clicking “Add to Cart” over and over again.
China has long been using live shopping to showcase a variety of products. In fact, live shopping is so popular that around 617 million people participate in live shopping.
What drives such profits is the use of influencers. Not only are they bringing their followers to these streams, but they know how to entertain people. They turn shopping livestreams into something people want to watch, instead of seeming like a commercial.
Live shopping hasn’t caught on yet in the U.S., though it’s only a matter of time. Facebook encouraged live shopping by creating Live Shopping Fridays. For three months, starting in May 2021, major companies like Sephora and Abercrombie & Fitch livestreamed to their followers.
The idea is to entertain them, talk about trends, and show off products.
Walmart has started livestreaming on TikTok and has seen its followers increase by 25%.
Absolutely!
You should start practicing and building up your audience now before everyone starts doing it. It’s a great way to stand out from your competitors and encourage spontaneous buying.
You can help increase conversions because you’ll be with them every step of the buying journey.
While still fairly new in most places, there are some guidelines for proper live shopping streams emerging.
You should already know your audience, but if for some reason you don’t, make sure to learn about your audience before attempting a live stream.
Do you know who your buyer is? Their age range? What products do they like the most?
You need to have everything planned out before going live, while mistakes make you human, not being prepared makes you look unprofessional.
Think about what your goal is for each livestream. Is there a specific product or design you want to show off? Are you hoping to bring life back to an unpopular product? Do you want to show off a new product or design? Do you want to get to know your audience better?
These are things to be aware of before you start streaming. Answering these questions will help you shape what your live stream will be. If you choose to do so, it can even help you write out an outline or a script to follow during the stream.
Make sure that you pick a clean, well-lit area. You want to make sure that people can see you well. Also make sure the area is quiet, so customers can hear you properly.
As for tools, even having a simple tripod and ring light can make a huge difference. If you feel like you don’t have a good background, get a backdrop or even a sheet and hang it up.
You can’t host a livestream about your products without having products! Luckily for you, it’s easy to get samples for you to show off.
You have two options.
The first is to create a campaign with the design you want. Make sure to not add the “Storefront” tag. Next, set your profit to $0, and then buy one item. You’ll only pay the base cost of the item and shipping.
The other option is to make a promo code that takes the cost from the overall profits of that campaign. Make a purchase with the promo code. Add “pr=CODE” to the end of the URL when you visit the campaign. Again you’ll pay the base cost and shipping.
Remember, like your customers, you have to keep shipping in mind. If we happen to be during a busy season, like the Christmas season, be aware it may take longer than usual for the product to reach you. Make sure you have the product in your hand before advertising that you’ll be doing a livestream about it.
Consistency will help build an audience because they’ll know when you’ll be streaming. Stream at the same time and on the same day as much as possible.
Make sure to build up the excitement before you go live. Use social media, emails, and more to let your audience know you are going live. Have people follow your pages and get notifications.
No, having an influencer host is not something you have to do. If you have an influencer with a decent audience size that likes your products, feel free to ask them to host. It’s not necessary though for a good livestream.
Instead, what you need is a good personality. You want to entertain your watchers, not just sell them products. You need to be a good host.
Before you start panicking, you don’t need to be perfect, in fact, any mistakes or nerves that you show will let your audience see that you’re human. Authenticity is becoming a huge part of how younger generations shop.
You need to be trusted for people to watch and buy from you. They’re more likely to buy from someone they trust than a random salesperson.
Make sure you know what your audience is looking for. You can do this by asking them through social media, “leaking” some product images and seeing the reaction, and creating polls before the stream starts. This will help you know what will grab your customers’ attention.
Maybe you’re not sure how to sell your items. You can’t exactly hold up a product and say “Buy this!”
What you should do is showcase them. If you’re selling clothes, model them! This encourages people to buy because they can now see how it looks on a person, which makes it easier for them to imagine it on themselves.
With home decor, you display them and talk about some of the product details. If you have a pillow, squeeze it so customers can see how soft it is.
Try to have some fun with it, let your personality influence how you choose to sell.
Make sure to answer any questions that viewers ask or change the angles of a product if requested. The goal is to have friendly, casual interactions that leave customers feeling satisfied.
It’s been mentioned before in this article, but you shouldn’t just focus on selling your products if you decide to livestream. You want to focus on interacting with your viewers.
So what else can you do besides talking about your products?
Well, you can talk about your design process if you’re the one creating them. You can ask for your viewers’ opinions on what kind of products or designs they’d like to see.
The biggest attraction to live shopping for customers is the interaction they get. Make sure to talk to your audience and answer any questions they may have. Let them know occasionally that they can engage through comments and emojis during the stream.
You can have special calls to action that are designed specifically for the stream. A great example is having a countdown timer. You can have a countdown until a product is available or have a countdown that shows how long people have until a product disappears.
Have special stream-only discounts that will be active during the stream. Tell your audience your code and emphasize that it will only work while you’re live.
Once the camera is off, that doesn’t mean your work is done. After the stream, check out your analytics. How many people watched? For how long? What products sold the most? What changes you can make to improve the next stream?
There’s a variety of different ways you can start livestreaming. A good place to start is on social media because you already have an audience built-in. There is software that can help you stream as well, but they will either have a monthly cost or will take a percentage out of your sales.
Since you are just starting, it’s best to use the free tools available to you. Each of these social media platforms offers step-by-step instructions on how to go live.
The answer to this question really depends on you and what your store needs. Do you feel that sales have hit a wall and you don’t know how to increase them? Live shopping could be the solution.
Do you hate the idea of “performing” in front of a group of people? Then you should find an alternative to live shopping. If it stresses you out too much, not only is it bad for your health, but it will be bad for the live streams as well.
Remember, you can always give it a try and if it doesn’t work out, you can stop. Just make sure to let your audience know.
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