Livestream e-commerce deep dive

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Key points:

1. Livestreaming is the future of e-commerce
2. Viya is the queen of live shopping
3. The West is five years behind of China

Prediction:

Live shopping will explode in 2021, with TikTok leading the way.

1. Livestreaming is the future of e-commerce

Livestream shopping is at the intersection of several mega trends: streaming, social, mobile, influencers and commerce. It's teleshopping re-imagined for the mobile age! And this mix of entertainment and impulse-shopping is extremely popular with millennials and gen Z.

In some ways, it's quite similar to old-school home shopping that you know from QVC. The key differences are: the audience is much younger, the streams are interactive (users can like, comment and even give virtual gifts) and buying with a few taps on your phone is almost frictionless.

2. Viya is the queen of live shopping

Let's look at the crazy numbers of 34-year old Viya (picture), the live shopping queen of TaoBao Live (part of Alibaba).

She is a so-called KOL (Key Opinion Leader), comparable to an influencer in the West.

-Up to 37m people are watching her daily livestreams, during which she sells clothes, cosmetics, food and even cars and houses!

-On Singles Day, the biggest online shopping event, she sold products worth >$400m.

-Livestream hosts earn a commission of 10-30% of all sales.

And Viya has much bigger plans for the future. She is building a live shopping incubator named Qianxun that is a mix between an e-commerce company, a live video production firm and an influencer marketing agency. Qianxun already has 500 employees and plans to represent up to 100 livestreaming hosts. They are building an infrastructure to mass-produce live shopping stars.

3. The West is five years behind of China

Livestreaming e-commerce in China is a $60bn industry, and it's exploding on TaoBao, Weibo, Kuaishou and Douyin. In the west, it's practically non-existent. Amazon has launched a live initiative in 2019, but has not gained any traction so far. Instagram is pushing Instagram Checkout, shops and is also working on a live shopping functionality. TikTok is rolling out shopping buttons to brands and influencers.

One key thing is missing in the west though: easy and frictionless payment. In China, the integration of WeChat Pay or Alipay makes online shopping extremely easy. Hopefully there will be a similar integration with Apple Pay or PayPal.

4. Conclusion

Live mobile shopping will be the next big wave of e-commerce. The combination of streaming, social and influencers almost makes this a no-brainer. This will give rise to entirely new e-commerce players that are live-first. Established brands and retailers may be disrupted by this new trend if they don't adopt it in time.

5. My prediction

Live shopping will explode in 2021, with TikTok leading the way.

In the west, we will see the introduction of live mobile shopping in 2020 with TikTok and Instagram being the first movers. The whole sector will explode in 2021, after people have gotten used to it and major brands and influencers are on board. I believe that TikTok will grow the fastest in this area, thanks to their young user base and their track record of designing great mobile-first user experiences.

6. What you should do now?

1. If you are a brand: develop a live shopping strategy right now

2. If you are a retailer: integrate social media content into your offering

3. If you are a content creator: think about how you can sell products to your audience

I hope you enjoyed the article. Have a great day!

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