Livestream Video Shopping Has Been Called “The Next Big Thing In Retail”
In today’s busy world, every customer can’t go to each outlet for making essential purchases. A good proportion of people still favor shopping from the comfort of their homes, and this number is keeping on increasing. In fact, from much popular research, it is evident that by 2023, nearly a quarter of almost all sales will be made digitally.
That is because it is extremely imperative than ever to bestow the in-store experience online.
What is Live Video Shopping?
From the term itself, we can comprehend that it is the use of digital video technology to coordinate customers and e-commerce stores on a common platform. This enthralling shopping mode enables customers to see and purchase products during a live, real-time interaction. However, there are many alternatives available for video shopping.
In some video shopping solutions, the trader can speak to many, which is like a ‘one-to-many’ live stream broadcast.
Some only allow you to speak to customers over social media apps too. But there are options that allow customers to video chat with customer service representatives in direct, face-to-face interaction. This provides a shopping experience that is a more connected, personal, and convenient virtual shopping experience.
Video shopping is when marketers use video content to promote and sell their products and services, and for customers, they can directly interact with the customers online and make the purchases in real-time.
For the viewers, they are getting a real image of what their products look like and how they work, as if shopping from a physical store. These are the two main factors to make shopping enjoyable. Live video commerce imitates these in-store experiences that were previously not present in online shopping.
By going “live” sellers can exhibit their product through a live stream platform, clear all the queries of the customers in real-time, and convince buyers to buy the products. It aids in delivering the brand experience and giving customers assurances about fit, quality, and authenticity.
Live selling, also known as live video commerce, combines the features of live broadcasting and online selling. A Facebook live sale viewer doesn’t need to leave the social media network in order to make a direct purchase of the items being shown. When you stop to think about it, it is actually fairly similar to those late-night infomercials where you watch the thing being displayed and then make a phone call to buy it. The logical digital successor to it is live commerce.
Reasons Why Live Shopping is the Next Big Trend
- Live shopping transforms e-Commerce
For brands that lead with community or lifestyle, there needs to be a story behind what they sell, which consumers can emotionally connect with. This is especially critical online. Physical stores are taking a backseat to retailers’ strategies, so it is essential to make sure that the e-commerce experience that is replacing brick and mortar has an honest and real human element to it. It cannot all just be formulaic checkout flows and image galleries.
- Live Shopping Taps into the Influencer Economy
Based on hosts, live shopping events are an organic way for brands to tap into the influencer megatrend. It is well known how those consumers often research a product before buying it, seeking information and assurance from some third party beyond the brand itself. Thus, word of mouth matters, and so make influencer recommendations.
- Live shopping is addictive
The selection in online stores often feels overwhelming. Besides, there is not much in e-commerce beyond static pictures to engage the five senses. And while receiving the actual item is always fun, the road to getting there can be always cumbersome and flat-out exhausting. Through live shopping, consumers get to know the story of how a product came to be. They get to see it all in real-life situations and experience all the emotions that come with watching a live show: surprise, excitement, anticipation. This focus by hosts on building and maintaining a real narrative means that consumers want to stick around to see what happens next. Ultimately, a brand’s success online is rooted in the lifetime value of its customers. Unfortunately, acquiring customers is expensive, so increasing order size and driving repeat purchases is critical. In addition, creating a loyal fan base is essential for survival.
Conclusion:
From a customer’s perspective, live shopping is something much more than mere shopping. It is a sort of entertainment that can engross, delight, inform, and obviously convenient. Consumers can tune in and out at their leisure, tap into the influencer and storylines that matter to them, and then, with a few clicks, have the product shipped to their door in a matter of days.
