Live streaming has emerged as a new trend in the world of ecommerce and retail businesses. Days are fading when customers have to do a lot of online research by reading customer reviews and watching plenty of unboxing videos.
With the emergence of live streaming, things are changing dramatically in online shopping. Today, businesses now showcase their products or services in an interactive and more engaging manner.
From viewing products in real-time and asking questions, this interactive technology trend is reshaping the future of eCommerce and retail industry. According to Retail Drive’s latest report, the live stream ecommerce market is expected to reach $67.8 Billion by 2026.
So whether you are a shopper, retailer, or ecommerce app development company, you should know how live streaming is transforming online shopping practices and why you should care about it.
What is live streaming?
Live streaming is the real-time transmission of audio and video content over the Internet. It allows users to broadcast, share, or receive live content as it happens. It enables instantaneous communication and interaction.
This interactive streaming offers numerous benefits to both business owners and customers. Through live streaming, users can interact in real-time and ask questions directly related to their desired products.
As compared to traditional product listings and customer reviews, live streaming serves as a more reliable and effective method to showcase products authentically. Therefore, it has become increasingly popular across various platforms and industries, including social media, gaming, entertainment, education, and business.
Key features of live streaming:
- Real-Time Interaction
- Dynamic Content
- Accessibility
- Broadcaster Variety
- Platform Diversity
- Monetization Opportunities
How is Live Streaming Shaping The Future of eCommerce and Retail Industry?
If you have ever used Facebook Live or Instagram Live streaming you must have realized how engaging user experience it gives. So, the same effect it has in online shopping. Let us explore in what ways live streaming is changing the current practices and why it is set to change the future of ecommerce and retail sector.
1. Real-Time Customer Interaction
Every customer likes to interact with brands. While it is possible offline but in online it has some limitations. However, live streaming breaks these traditional barriers by offering more engaging and interactive shopping features. It transforms customer engagement by offering real-time interaction between brands and consumers.
This personalized approach allows businesses to address customer queries, showcase product features, and build a sense of community. Brands can create a more authentic and memorable shopping experience. Thus, it helps them foster trust and loyalty among consumers.
2. Virtual Try-Ons and Demonstrations
In the traditional ecommerce and online shopping platforms, it is not possible to try products online. You can only view product images or videos. This restriction often leads to wrong buying decisions and higher return rates.
But live streaming empowers ecommerce and retail businesses to leverage augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). These immersive features allow businesses to offer virtual-try features and real-time product demonstrations.
By using AR/VR in live streaming consumers can virtually experience products in real-time and eliminate uncertainties related to online shopping. Hence, it enhances the decision-making process thus reduces return rates, and also provides customers with a more accurate product exploration.
3. Instant Purchases and Shoppertainment
Ever thought online shopping could be fun and full of entertainment like watching Netflix or Amazon Prime Video? Live streaming brings the concept of ‘shoppertainment’ that combines the entertainment value of live content with seamless purchasing options. It allows viewers to make purchases directly during a live broadcast.
As viewers engage with the content, they can effortlessly transition from watching a product presentation and make quick purchase decisions. So, this shoppertainment feature enables ecommerce and retail businesses to influence customer decisions by offering an enjoyable shopping experience and thus generate more instant sales.
4. Influencer Marketing Evolution
Behind your online purchase, aren’t some famous or influential personalities guided about your favorite product? Seeking expert advice before making a buying decision is a common practice for all of us.
That’s the power of influencer marketing. And live streaming takes influencer marketing to the next level by offering a more authentic and transparent way for influencers to connect with their audience.
Through live streaming, influencers and marketers can influencers can showcase products, answer questions, and provide genuine reviews in real-time and face-to-face online. As a result, it works as a powerful tool for driving consumer behavior and influencing purchasing decisions.
5. Global Reach and Accessibility
Live streaming breaks down geographical barriers. If you run cross-border ecommerce or retail businesses it allows you to expand your market reach and increase brand visibility more effectively.
With this technology, it becomes an easier and more reliable way to connect and engage with global audience. You can tap into new markets and demographics and directly interact with overseas people who might be interested in your products.
6. Data-Driven Insights
Data is a very important digital asset for any e-commerce or retail business. It gives them useful insights to accurately understand customer preferences and thus craft business strategies accordingly. By integrating live streaming feature, brands get access to real-time and accurate data analytics.
The integration of data analytics into ecommerce platforms provides businesses with valuable insights into customer behavior and preferences. As a result, this data-driven approach not only enhances the efficiency of e-commerce operations but also enables businesses to stay agile in responding to market trends.
7. Integration with Social Media Platforms
If you want to take better advantage of social media to drive more sales, live streaming can help you achieve this nicely. Popular social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and others offer built-in live shopping features to allow businesses to seamlessly connect with their existing social media audience.
This integration helps your ecommerce brands and retail businesses expand reach on social media. And thus, you increase the likelihood of audience engagement and conversions.
Top eCommerce and Retail Brands That Embraced Live Streaming
There are many ecommerce and retail brands that have embraced live streaming successfully. These examples demonstrate how live streaming helps companies connect with consumers, showcase products, and enhance the overall shopping experience. This indicates its adoption will increase more and it will leave a great impact.
Alibaba (Taobao Live)
Alibaba’s Taobao Live has played a pivotal role in popularizing live streaming for ecommerce. Taobao Live allows sellers to showcase products through live broadcasts. It enables real-time interactions with consumers. This feature has helped them improve customer engagement and sales.
Amazon Live
Amazon Live is trending a lot these days. This live streaming arm of the global e-commerce giant. It enables brands to showcase products through live video broadcasts directly on the Amazon platform.
Viewers can engage with hosts, ask questions, and make purchases while watching the live stream. Many retailers have reported considerable improvements in their product promotion after using the Amazon Live feature.
Nike
The leading sports brand has also embraced live streaming to connect with its audience and provide an immersive shopping experience. The brand has utilized live streams in various amazing ways.
From product launches to behind-the-scenes looks and design processes to exclusive live athlete interviews, Nike has leveraged live streaming in a creative and result-driven way.
Sephora
If you love beauty cosmetics, you must be familiar with Sephora. A well-known cosmetics retailer that has innovatively incorporated live streaming into its digital strategy. The brand uses live sessions to offer makeup tutorials, product demonstrations, and sneak peeks of new releases.
This interactive approach has helped their customers make informed purchasing decisions. And this has assisted them obtain significant growth in increasing their customer base.
Future of Live Streaming in e-Commerce and Retail Industry
The future of live streaming in e-commerce revolves around dynamic content creation and storytelling. Effective and engaging storytelling plays an impactful role in influencing the customer’s buying decision. And that’s where live streaming comes in.
It empowers brands to focus on creating compelling narratives during live streams and go beyond simple product presentations. By weaving stories around their products, brands will evoke emotions, capture the audience’s attention, and create impactful shopping experience in real-time.
This emphasis on dynamic content and storytelling enhances the entertainment value of live streams. Therefore, we see how big and even small ecommerce and retail brands are adopting this technology in their strategies. And they are witnessing impressive outcomes as well.
Concluding Thoughts
In essence, live streaming has great future scope in the e-commerce and retail industry. This interactive technology enables brands to effectively showcase their products and drive better customer engagement.
Today, when customer’s interest in real-time content is increasing, the adoption of live streaming features in online shopping will reach new heights. Therefore, eCommerce and retail industry will leverage this evolving trend to offer an enhanced shopping experience and drive more sales.
However, integrating the live streaming feature requires expertise and planning. So, if you have an e-commerce app and want to add it to your existing feature, I recommend you to seek assistance from a professional mobile app development company that specializes in building such features.
