Retail is changing fast – both e-commerce and brick-and-mortar retailers need to prepare to adapt to keep up. Customers increasingly turn to online sources for recommendations: they seek reviews, TikTok videos, or blog advice as often (and in the younger generations, more often) than they seek advice from the people they know in real life. They also like convenience – being able to immediately act on these recommendations with a reliable online purchase.
Live shopping is an incredible opportunity to make the most of this phenomenon – giving live recommendations from a shoppable video using trusted sources as your host. And it’s a formula that works. Here’s what to expect from live shopping channels in 2024.
Why Live Shopping Works Today
As it stands today, live shopping events are an incredibly lucrative channel, with a 10X conversion rate compared to e-commerce alone. Here’s a brief overview of why it works:
- It boosts engagement. Why post static content viewers may or may not like when you can let them in on the action to steer the content in a direction they love? By using interactivity in a livestream, you’re sure to create
- It creates FOMO. A livestreamed event is live. There’s no rewind or do-over. This naturally creates a sense of exclusivity and scarcity, contributing to a fear of missing out (FOMO) on exclusive drops, limited-time offers, or in-event experiences.That sense of “don’t miss it or it’s gone forever” can trigger an audience into action, making it easier to move them from passive viewers to active customers.
- It triggers impulse shopping. This same sense of FOMO not only directly contributes to a higher conversion rate, but can also increase the average ticket sale. As customers see limited-time shopping triggers pop up on their screens, they are more likely to impulse buy something they may not have otherwise tried.
Trend 1: Live Shopping Events Become Mainstream
Right now, as of writing, you still have time to be an early adopter of this technology. But we predict this will become a norm – it’s not a trend that’s going away.
Live shopping is something that consumers appreciate as it makes them feel as though they’re making better, more informed shopping decisions, and it’s something retailers see true value in with conversion rates up to 10X higher than what they see from their social media, e-commerce, and other marketing initiatives alone.
So you can wait to adopt it and be one of many, or take the reins now and be a trend shaper. Either way, live shopping events are here to stay. Experts predict live commerce could account for 10-20% of all online sales in just a few years.
Trend 2: Live Commerce Technology Improves
At Livery HQ, we’re consistently finding new ways to improve the streaming experience and reach our goal of making interactive livestreaming accessible to everyone. To meet that goal, we launch tech improvements for live shopping channels all the time. And we’re just one company with one perspective.
As attention turns toward live shopping events, we foresee tech improvements from different angles depending on the company’s respective place in the industry, including everything from incremental innovations that improve existing streaming infrastructure, (making it easier, faster, better quality, etc.) to wild innovations leveraging things like AI or augmented reality. Watch this space; it has room to grow and change your business forever.
Trend 3: Brand Building with Live Commerce
Some of the most impressive use cases for live commerce are the ways it can boost your brand-building efforts with ease. Let’s take a peek:
Accelerated conversion
Live commerce is both amusing and immersive. If you produce content of any kind, you already know that your main objective is to grab attention – even if just for a second or two.
The beauty of interactive live commerce is that it grabs and holds viewer attention longer. That’s because, with normal content, your audience is a viewer. They stumble across your content in an infinite feed. It takes effort to pause that scroll and get them to watch. With interactivity, you’re not only grabbing their attention, you’re also getting them into the action.
This action-first approach to content makes it a lot easier to bridge the gap from passive viewers to paying customers, especially because they can shop right within the stream as they play along with your content. According to McKinsey, companies report conversion rates of almost 30% which is, as we mentioned, up to 10X higher than traditional e-commerce.
Improving brand attraction and differentiation from competitors.
Hosting a high-quality on-brand interactive live shopping stream helps to solidify your positioning in the eyes of your audience. To do this, you can:
- Bring on guest hosts that have direct alignments with your brand to help viewers associate you together (people like thought leaders or influencers)
- Customize the look and feel of the stream to touch on the notes you’d like to convey (for example: luxury, eclectic, fun, professional, etc.)
- Show, don’t tell – showcase your product or service and let it shine by showcasing unique features, use cases, or product/market fit.
- And so much more.
The possibilities are endless for those willing to give it a go.
Trend 4: AI Integrations
If most of the things you’ve heard about AI center on ChatGPT – prepare to have your mind blown. AI is one of the fastest-growing and most disruptive innovations on the planet today.
73% of U.S. companies alone already use it for at least one aspect of their business. (Source: PWC). Millions of AI tools already exist for various purposes, and thousands of new ones pop up each week.
Here’s how we see it affecting livestreams in 2024 and beyond using actual Livery Video product examples:
- Real-time notifications. Have you ever missed a game-winning touchdown or momentum-shifting goal? We see AI predicting and alerting viewers of updates they won’t want to miss, using the few-second latency window to its advantage.
- Personalized smart ads. From in-stream product recognition and recommendations to custom promotions shown across the stream, AI offers the power to personalize ads like never before.
- Filters and facial recognition. Filters and facial recognition are where AI and AR meet – offering fun stream customization options that take an ordinary event to the next level.
- Event prep. AI can also be used outside of the direct streaming environment to help you prepare for and optimize your livestream event. It can help you write engaging scripts, craft irresistible CTAs, perfect your on-screen content, and draft trivia questions.
- And so much more.
Watch this space, as we think it’s set to spark the biggest changes in livestreaming in 2024 and beyond – especially in industries like sports, e-sports, and e-learning.
Live Shopping Trend 5: AR (Augmented Reality)
Another trend we’ll see coming to fruition in the next year and beyond is the addition of augmented reality (AR).
As livestreaming gets “smarter” there will be hundreds of applications for AR in live shopping that include things like virtual product try-ons, allowing you to do things like:
- Test a new makeup product on your face before you buy it
- Take an immersive virtual walkthrough of a home, concert, or theme park to feel the experience before you buy
- Or place a piece of furniture in your room in real time to test space compatibility
- And more
Closing Thoughts: Live Shopping Events in 2024
The possibilities for live shopping and live shopping events only get more exciting with each passing year. In 2024, you can expect to see more and more competitors offering these events to their customers. It’s not too late to be a memorable early adopter of live shopping technology. Click here to learn more about how to get started today.
