5 great impacts of Livestream on online shopping as shared by the experts of creative agencies, branding agencies, and web design companies
With 11,000 stores closing down due to the Covid pandemic in the year 2020, it changed all of our lives in every aspect including our way of interaction and preference for shopping, regardless of having a home-decor store or a branding agency. Because of the recession, such a high number of stores closing, and brick-and-mortar stores still struggling to get back to their initial strength, consumers have shifted their attention to online shopping more than the traditional way.
Shopping is a lifestyle, and consumers demand innovations and evolutions in this space in order to improve their experience. As the number of digital buyers is increasing day by day, there also comes a rise in their expectations for an alternative and optimized online shopping experience. Online shopping involves less human connection, so consumers are thirsty for the engagement factor received at the traditional store. And, to satisfy their thirst and provide a cutting-edge experience, Livestream went mainstream.
If you are thinking Livestream is something new and has been introduced to the online shopping space for the first time, it’s not if you are an 80s kid. About 40 years ago, channels like HSN and QVC were popular for their approach-on live selling.
By now, Livestream shopping is already an established billion-dollar industry in China, says a report shared by an award-winning creative agency. Particularly in China, it is growing with the accelerated speed that the sales which were $171 billion in 2020 are predicted to reach $423 billion in 2022.
China’s Livestream eCommerce market has grown at a compound annual growth rate of around 280%.
Moreover, Coresigh Research predicts the Livestream shopping market to hit $25 billion in the United States by 2023. Limited to the United States, Amazon launched an in-house QVC video shopping-like platform called Amazon Live. In 2020, Walmart also launched live shopping on Tiktok, which not only received 7 times higher views than expected but also raised their followers to count by 25%.
What is Livestream Shopping?
In simple words, Livestream shopping is an event where a live video is streaming while displaying a range of products/ products and in response to that, the online viewers make real-time purchases. Online viewers are given the flexibility to communicate directly with the host/promoter via online video or chat mode. Livestream events are generally hosted on a 3rd party platform, mobile app, social media, or a subdomain of an online platform. It doesn’t necessarily require a web design company to create an eye-catchy platform. The main benefit is, as it’s live streaming, there are fewer chances of imagery or setting manipulations, boosting trust and confidence in the audience.
Livestream shopping sessions are mainly hosted by a popular celebrity, public figure, company’s CEO, or top influencers in their respective industries. The hosts generally speak about a product or a particular feature, what the brand stands for, its vision, and why they are associated with and promoting this particular brand they are in love with, allowing followers to join the video, ask questions and make a purchase. It’s available to record the video and watch later, but to allure the audience to tune in to the live video, there are different sorts of additions of games or rewards.
Livestream is extremely beneficial for brands as it allows a two-way commercial conversation with their audience and stores it for later checks. Similar to in-store purchases, brands develop personal bonds with their audience.
Not only it helps brands to create a strong bond with the audience and increase sales, but it also engages their audience to keep checking in.
Impact of Livestream on Online shopping
Brand Awareness
It’s only possible to create a successful brand if you have the attention of the right audience. As Livestream events are hosted by public figures or influencers, your brand gets identified by its followers. It is well-known how the followers pay attention and take into account what their favorite person speaks about. This increases the chance that their fans will become new leads for your business and raise brand awareness.
To leverage the most, you can also get into partnerships with companies and influencers to expand your reach. Additionally, to get the best outcome, select the host – influencer as well as their audience having an interest in your business niche.
Content Variety
A great benefit of Livestream is it allows the use of video content and multimedia like text, images, and live chat. When leveraging this flexibility, results in engaging content. Moreover, different platforms have different flexibility outlined in terms of the presentation methodologies.
Apart from video content and multimedia, live streaming provides you the ability to record your session. Most of us have trouble comprehending information right away when we hear it for the first time. And, so it requires us to hear it multiple times before reaching the mean. You can share your videos to your social media posts, attach them to your emails, and post them on your website. You can even consider using the content on your site, and social media.
Audience Potential
Do you remember the time your company hosted an event and printed 500 tickets, but you invited only 250 people at the venue’s highest capacity? This is not a concern in the Livestream and this is why we praise it. For live streaming, you can invite as many people as you like to attend the session. Many times a person wants to attend a particular event, but because of the shortage of time, expense, or commitments, they can’t attend.
No boundaries are limitations here in terms of geography and size. People from across the globe can tune in. The only thing that can take you a back seat is the server capacity of the streaming platform. Make sure to select a professional live-streaming service that delivers the level you expect.
Insight Tracking
If you are a non-technical person, who you select as your Livestream platform service provider plays a crucial role here. A professional Livestream service supplier provides 24/7 instant support when you need it the most.
To understand the outcome of the Livestream, it’s essential to get the insight details. Majorly, Livestream platforms have in-built tracking tools to track the number of viewers, engagement ratio, behavior, purchase, etc. This data helps to identify the potential prospect and improvise the streaming elements for better performance and audience engagement. As it also gives you an insight into how the audience is iterating and engaging, you can further customize the strategies for the best results.
Distraction Free Streaming
One major factor for an underperforming Livestream is the ads and clogged screen. Free-streaming offering channels like Youtube are often filled with distractions like adverts and logos of various brands that break the engagement and divert the audience’s mind.
Building undivided attention during the Livestream is the main key to the conversion. Most non-free streaming service providers offer ads-free streaming to ensure your audience doesn’t have to see irrelevant content in order to enhance the experience of both sides, the brand, and the audience.
Summary
Nowadays, people are pivoting towards online shopping in larger numbers than ever before. The only element they feel missing in contrast to traditional shopping is the human connection. Livestream shopping is what your audience needs. It provides a real-time stage of human connection and personal touch just like traditional shopping.
Livestream increases brand awareness and offers distraction-free streaming, tracking and analysis, audience potential, content variety and so much more. To achieve the benefits, you need to ensure the selection of quality of the content, presentation, and the host – a public figure. Choose an excellent Livestream platform and dive in to get the best for your audience and the brand.
Author Bio:
Brijesh Jakharia co-founded SPINX Digital in 2005 and takes great pride in crafting web and mobile marketing solutions for mid-market businesses to enterprises. Marketing is his passion, and the thrill to build a brand from the ground up has helped him craft successful brand stories for world-class clients. While not at work, he loves to spend his time on research and reading digital content stories.
