More Information and Discounts are Top Benefits of Livestream Shopping

Teleshopping has made it to the 21st century, but in a new guise. The new eCommerce phenomenon is called livestream commerce and it transfers the long-known concept of live product presentations into the era of digitalization and social media. While formerly, customers had to call in by phone to interact with the presenters or buy the products, they can now chat and interact with influencers via social media and buy the products directly via a purchase button or a link to the online store. Livestream commerce is gaining in popularity on a global scale, according to Klarna’s latest Shopping Pulse report. A great share of online shoppers are at least familiar with the concept of livestream shopping and many have already participated in a streaming event. Out of Klarna’s focus countries, the U.S. is by far the leading livestream commerce country, with 35% of U.S. shoppers having already tried out the trend. But also countries like Germany, the UK, Australia or Sweden reach double-digit percentages. Livestream commerce has benefits for vendors and shoppers alike. The vendor side profits from the high reach of influencers and the entertainment factor of the immersive streaming experience, which reportedly creates very high conversion rates. And shoppers benefit from more detailed information and interactivity. Klarna has dug deeper into customers’ motivation behind attending livestream shopping events:

The top two benefits that shoppers worldwide see in livestream shopping are more informed purchase decisions and the access to exclusive discounts. With the first, shoppers for example refer to the fact that the person presenting the product assesses the quality for them. The additional information the shopper gets about the product gives them the feeling that it will be less likely that they have to return the product after purchase. Together with exclusive discounts, 35% of respondents mention this as a benefit of livestream commerce in their eyes. Several other aspects reach comparable percentages, though. About one in three shoppers states that they regard the inspiration and new ideas they get while streaming, the real-time engagement, and the interactivity aspect of livestreams as benefits over traditional eCommerce. Innovative formats like augmented or virtual reality is least frequently seen as a benefit of livestream shopping by shoppers worldwide. However, with one in five respondents still mentioning it, it is not very far off. It can thus be concluded that several different positive aspects of livestream commerce are important to shoppers. Whether the concept of livestream commerce will really take root in the western world, remains to be seen, however. In China, it is a flourishing business,  and major western eCommerce companies like Otto Group are also investing heavily into the concept. Its long-term potential in countries outside China, however, is subject to debate. Instagram, for example, has recently announced the suspension of its livestream shopping features for profitability reasons.