The Future of online shopping!
Live commerce seeks to bring together two of our biggest online habits – entertainment and shopping! We do this by creating a fun user experience with entertaining hosts that interact with viewers live, responding to comments and suggestions whilst demonstrating products that are on sale.
What is live commerce?
So, what is live commerce? We like to think of it as ‘QVC for Gen Z’ but in reality, it is far more than that!
Live commerce seeks to bring together two of our biggest online habits – entertainment and shopping. We do this by creating a fun user experience with entertaining hosts that interact with viewers live, responding to comments and suggestions whilst demonstrating products that are on sale.
This form of shopping has been around in China since 2016 and is set to go global as the future of online shopping! The US is currently dominated by traditional e-commerce, where consumers search for products that they want and might read some reviews. TikTok is revolutionising this with the chance to shop online with live interaction. As a TSP (TikTok Shop Partner), we are responsible for the front-end production of this – the livestreams themselves!
A booming market
Always a few steps ahead in terms of their adoption of new technology, live streaming e-commerce, or live commerce, has boomed over the last five years in China since it’s launch at a special ‘Singles Day’ event in 2016. It has grown over 280% from 2017 and 2020, with sales in excess of $171 billion in 2020. McKinsey estimates that live-commerce could make up 10 to 20 percent of all e-commerce by 2026.
Live commerce works because it combines two of our biggest online habits – entertainment and shopping. It combines this with elements of gamification to increase consumer satisfaction and ensure they keep coming back for more. Live commerce was used by 30% of Chinese internet users in 2020 and the figures keep rising.
How is it different to telesales?
There are some similarities between live commerce, such as the fact that products are demonstrated live. However, Telesales is passive insofar as someone has to choose to go to that channel and tune in. Live commerce, however, can be found on social media platforms. This means that there is already a large existing consumer base that you can reach with over 1 billion users globally in the case of TikTok.
Livestreams are pushed to users’ feeds using the system’s algorithm so not only do more people tune in, but they are also more likely to stay as it should be something they are interested in. During the short period of time in which users are in the room, monetises consumer attention during a sales window that encourages impulse buying thanks to the sense of urgency created by flash sales and other deals.
Live Commerce Creates Value
So why do brands bother? There are two main ways that live commerce creates value:
What you see is what you get
During a livestream, brands are able to strengthen consumer trust by merging brand narrative with product knowledge. They can move away from direct advertising to a more credible approach through product demonstration. In essence, being able to see the product live creates ‘what you see is what you get’ transparency.
Get started on TikTok by downloading our onboarding guides
Why choose us?
Certified TikTok Store Partner
Here at Outlandish, we’re the experts in TikTok Shopping & Marketing and a certified TikTok Store Partner (TSP).
Award-winning TikTok Agency
We’re an award-winning TikTok agency having won various phenomenal TikTok TSP and rising star awards for our TikTok Shopping services.
Experienced & Passionate team
We’ve been doing livestreaming & social commerce for over 5 years and we have an experienced team that know how to deliver results.
Global coverage with multiple offices
We offer our Creative Video Production, Livestreaming & Marketing services in the US, Europe and China with offices in Los Angeles, London and Shanghai.
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