A marketing strategy that combines live broadcasting with e-commerce to create an interactive and focused shopping experience. This method allows brands, influencers, and small businesses to showcase products in real-time, with the ability for immediate purchase and direct audience interaction.
How Does It Work?
Live Broadcast: Hosts (influencers, cultural personalities, or brand owners) go live on social media platforms or dedicated e-commerce sites to demonstrate products, answer questions, and interact with viewers in real-time.
Product Demonstration: Products are displayed with detailed descriptions, prices, and purchase links. Viewers can see products in action, ask questions, and receive answers from the hosts.
Interactive Chat: Viewers can interact through live chat or comments, request product demonstrations, and provide feedback. On some platforms, viewers can make purchase requests or orders directly through the chat.
Real-Time Sales Promotion: Hosts often offer exclusive discounts and promotions to encourage immediate purchases. The format works very well on immediate gratification through a trigger program.
Integrated E-commerce: Platforms integrate e-commerce functionality, allowing viewers to add products to their shopping cart and complete transactions without leaving the live broadcast.
Advantages for Sellers:
Market Reach Expansion — Live commerce allows sellers to reach a broader audience, including followers across multiple social media platforms.
Sales Increase — A trigger program for immediate purchases based on real-time interaction can significantly increase sales and conversion rates.
Building Authentic Relationships — Sellers can interact directly with customers, build trust, and position themselves as domain experts. The sense of community creates a more comfortable and secure buying atmosphere.
Personalized Shopping Experiences — Data collected from user interactions can be used to offer personalized product recommendations, improving customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Empowering Small Businesses and Creators – Live commerce provides opportunities for small businesses and creators — for example, TikTok Shop allows product sales even if the business has no followers. This happens through appearing in the For You Page content category — an excellent opportunity for free advertising.
Advantages for Buyers
Interactive and Focused — Experience Buyers can interact in real-time with hosts, ask questions, and receive immediate feedback, making the shopping experience more interesting and enriching.
Personalized Recommendations — Buyers receive personalized product recommendations based on their preferences and interactions during the live broadcast.
Community Feeling — The live format creates a community-driven atmosphere where buyers can share thoughts, seek recommendations from other viewers, and feel connected to the brand.
Exclusive Deals — Buyers can enjoy exclusive discounts and promotions that can trigger impulse purchases.
Convenience — Buyers can purchase products directly from the live broadcast without needing to navigate to another site, making the buying process faster and more convenient.
Where Can You Conduct Live Sales?
Facebook: Allows live commerce through the platform — real-time interaction and sales.
Instagram: Offers live commerce features, integrating e-commerce functionality within the app.
YouTube: Supports live commerce through live broadcasts that can be embedded on websites or viewed directly on the platform.
TikTok: Introduced live commerce features, especially popular in Southeast Asia.
Shopee: A leading e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia, Shopee Live integrates purchasing features seamlessly.
Amazon Live: Allows influencers and brands to host live shopping events directly on the Amazon platform.
whatnot.com — live auctions