You have definitely come across terms like live streaming, live chat, and live commerce, haven’t you?
Even if you haven’t, let us tell you that “live” is a hot topic these days. Businesses have already adopted live solutions to take their sales to the next level and raise their voice amidst the digital noise.
Analysts say that sales from live commerce could account for 20% of all e-commerce by 2026, and the live-stream commerce market is expected to reach $35 billion by 2024.
What is Live Commerce?
Live commerce is a technique that takes e-commerce a few steps ahead. In simple words, live commerce is an act of selling products online via live channels. In such a rendezvous, customers can interact with the brand in real-time.
To make live commerce successful, both parties need certain tools for live chat, video streaming, and shopping cart integration for an ultimate user experience. With such a facility, consumers can watch, communicate, and shop from their favorite brands in real-time from the comfort of their homes.
Benefits of Live Commerce
Chinese retail giant Alibaba was the pioneer in discovering live streaming. It was the one to successfully launched the first live stream shopping event. The Chinese e-commerce giant marked a huge success of $7.5 billion in sales in the first 30 minutes. And from there, it has been spreading as a forest fire all over the world.
Businesses have eagerly adopted this trend as they can avail of the following benefits:
- Live commerce opens doors to sales acceleration. It boosts client conversation ratio and keeps them engrossed all the time.
- It triggers impulse buying. Live commerce adds a personal touch by adding a lively atmosphere during the stream where the brand comes up with a warm sales approach.
- It promotes better engagement. It creates more traffic as the seller can put impromptu deals for the audience.
Businesses adopting live commerce are experiencing accelerated sales and revenues, studies suggest this trend is here to stay.
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Recent Developments in Live Commerce
1. One-to-one Shopping Experiences
Live commerce is usually done by streaming content to unlimited audiences, and we will soon experience one-to-one live commerce that will take place directly between a customer and a product specialist.
A notable advantage of this technique is that a customer receives a personalization consultation and gets dedicated attention from the in-store specialist.
2. Omnichannel Live Streaming
Omnichannel marketing practices have always ensured a better and frictionless buying process. It delivers a fully integrated customer experience across all channels and devices. Livestreaming naturally flows into an omnichannel strategy and boosts transparency and consistency.
3. Influencer Marketing
To engage an audience more, marketers must blend live commerce with influencer marketing. It acts as a great way to attract customers.
For example, look at how the shoe and accessories brand ALDO increased their page views to 17,000 within five days after they hosted a live stream along with a TikTok celebrity.
4. Active Live Chat Discussions
Live chat has already taken the internet by storm, and it plays a key role during a live stream event. A one-sided conversation becomes monotonous, and some customers might check the saved video of the live stream later. If you want to cut through the noise and add a unique experience for your customers, you must engage in live chat where the customers can present their queries and share their experiences about the brand on this platform.
The technique is conversational marketing, which adds a sense of connection between the brand and customers.
5. Adapting to the Surge in AR and VR Shopping
AR and VR technologies are making a splash that makes experts believe their market will cross $450 billion by 2030. Giant retail chains such as Macy’s, Sephora, and Nike have already adopted AR/VR into their retail strategy. VR is seen at many other retail stores, but AR is one step ahead.
AR offers users with a physical, real-world environment where they can experience real and virtual objects. For example, how IKEA does it when a customer opens its app and wants to view how a sofa looks when placed in his/her home.
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How can you prepare for live commerce in 2023, and beyond?
Unquestionably, live commerce has revolutionized online shopping, and the trend is here to stay. Live commerce has made the life of sellers and buyers easy. Experts believe that most of the e-commerce stores will jump on the live commerce within the next few years.
If you are an e-commerce marketer or an online business owner, make sure that you follow the trend in the industry and keep an eye on all the recent development.