But what is live shopping? It is an experience used by brands and retailers where live broadcasts are created to show the different products that the company has. For example, a live makeup class, in which, in addition to knowing the products and their application first-hand, with a click you can acquire the item that is most of your interest or that best suits your needs. For the presentation of the products, they usually turn to creators, social sellers, influencers, streamers or brand experts.
This trend has been increasing and more thanks to the sanitary measures and the confinement that has been carried out since 2020 due to the pandemic. People turned to e-commerce to make purchases, which according to the Mexican Association of Online Sales (AMVO), in Mexico, electronic commerce reached a value of more than 400 billion pesos. However, it is no secret that most consumers like to know more about the product before buying it to check if it meets their needs.
That is why Live Shopping is a great tool that brands can use to accelerate their e-commerce metrics. Today, the country that leads this type of transmission is China through platforms such as Taobao Live, launched in 2016 by Alibaba. Meanwhile, on this side of the world the best known are TikTok, Instagram and the websites of companies.
The means by which people mainly visualize Live Shopping is through smartphones, where it allows us to see the session live, interact through a chat and, along with all this, a carousel of articles to carry out the purchase of them.
According to Joaquín Colino, founder and CEO of Troop, for this type of content to attract attention, it must be entertaining, immersive, as well as take into account variables such as seasonality and exclusive offers, discounts or some other benefit. With this and also by making the product known, the opportunity cost factor is generated, which creates a sense of urgency in the people who are within the transmission.
An example of this is the Live Shopping Night, which recently took place in Mexico, where various brands led by a public figure put fashion, technology and consumer items on sale with special offers and free shipping.
I like to think that this strategy is the future of shopping and the update of teleshopping, since, instead of talking on the phone, now you do it through the internet and with the opportunity of omnichannel communication. This space is relatively new, but without a doubt it is a format that we must turn to see more and more openly to achieve our sales objectives and be able to get closer to our audience, in a very curious way since it combines a rational part, but certainly also an emotional one!