eCommerce took a massive leap in 2016. It was the year when Taobao Live by the Alibaba group first hit the internet, and years later, it has altered the status quo, especially in the present COVID-19 defining era. As eCommerce merchants look for creative ways to engage their audience, the innovation of live stream commerce has come into the spotlight. 

Live stream commerce is an activity where eCommerce developers, influencers, or celebrities bring products to life through real-time advertisement by either testing the product in a live broadcast or talking about it. It allows customers, viewers, and potential customers to meet an actual product user, ask questions, and even make live purchases, all in real-time. 

This article discusses live stream commerce and how it is transforming online shopping.

Impact of Live Streaming on eCommerce 

The basic idea behind live stream commerce is to stimulate and engage the client base by adding a personal touch to the products on display. But live streaming is becoming so much more. Live streaming is definitely causing a paradigm shift in eCommerce, creating a new dimension of utilizing social commerce to drive sales and influence purchase decisions. 

Clearly, live streaming is impacting the eCommerce ecosystem so much that several eCommerce and social media stakeholders are rushing to implement its features on their platforms. But perhaps, the best way to gauge the impact of live streaming on eCommerce is in terms of sales, and the Singles day event of 2021 is the perfect example. Popular livestreamer Li Jiaqi, was able to generate over $1.7 billion in sales during the live stream event, which had millions of views and sales volume.

Live streaming is creating a win-win scenario in eCommerce, affording eCommerce brands the avenue to engage more users and make sales while consumers have the opportunity to have some of their pain points addressed in real-time.

Benefits of Live Commerce 

Live streaming helps foster consumer engagement and conversion, but it also achieves a lot more. And we can view some of these benefits from the following perspectives.

• Cost Reduction

eCommerce brands expend a huge chunk of their budget trying to market and promote their products or services, whether through traditional or digital channels, which takes a toll on their finances. With live streaming, brands can still reach a broad audience and pass relevant information at practically no cost. 

• Brand Loyalty

Live streams are often hosted by influencers, celebrities, or public figures. These are people who would make regular social media or internet shoppers stop in their tracks and listen to what they have and take their words for it. Associating products with these public figures builds brand awareness, making customers loyal to your brand and new users confident in trying your products.

• Enhance the Customer Shopping Experience

Enhancing customer experience is one of the key drivers that inspired the creation of live stream commerce. Users get to experience a personal touch on the product, and they also get to participate in a live chat with the host. This form of engagement creates a reality-like shopping experience, which would keep consumers coming back for more.

• Generates Massive Sales Quickly

Live streams are usually furnished with a link to purchase a product. But it is also common to find discounts and other bonuses in live streams that prompt consumers to take action, generating sales conversion for eCommerce brands. A top fashion brand was able to garner over 1200 merchandise sales in two minutes through live streaming, and the potential for more sales exists if live streaming is well-executed.

How to Get the Best Out of Live Commerce?

Just hopping on a social media platform and going live is not enough to create the right engagement that leads to other relevant conversions. Live streaming needs to be methodical, and the following activities can help eCommerce brands get the best out of livestream commerce.

• Promote in Advance

When planning to host a live stream, it is crucial to building up excitement and viewer interest. And the reason behind this is to get the maximum number of viewers during the live stream. Sending teasers, notifications, and short takes on social media and other platforms helps build anticipation and interest before the live stream event. Social media is all about hype, and eCommerce brands can take advantage of it to amass lots of views. 

• Developing the Proper Content Format

Today, content is everything on the internet. With the right content, anything can be sold. Creating the suitable script, interludes, time-sensitive discounts, and giveaways in your stream makes it entertaining, adrenaline-activating, and overall enticing. People will look forward to the next broadcast, and absentees will wish they had attended, and it will drive traffic to your eCommerce website. 

• Using the Best Broadcasting Tool

While there are different tools for live eCommerce streams, not all make it easy to display, advertise and link each product to your potential consumers. This makes it crucial to choose the right tools. You need a tool like AllValue that comes with ready-to-use mobile-friendly website templates and other functions that make the eCommerce experience easy and straightforward.

Conclusion

Live streaming is clearly on an uptrend as more entities adopt this strategy to boost engagement and sales. Therefore, eCommerce brands would only be on the losing side if they fail to jump on this emerging trend. But it is not enough to start live streaming to your followers. The process needs to be well-thought-out and executed to achieve the best outcomes. And with AllValue, live streaming becomes as easy as ABC.

AllValue is an eCommerce platform that offers the best services when it comes to multichannel marketing and hence increases your chances of making a profit from your business. AllValue is a SaaS platform that delivers the best eCommerce website builder solutions for individuals and companies at a reasonable cost. AllValue’s wide array of services means that brands can easily exploit the potentials of eCommerce and get their products or services to market in no time.

For more information, visit AllValue at: https://www.allvalue.com/en/.