Live Video Shopping trends

In this chapter, we’re diving into the reasoning behind this trend. Where did it come from and why is this trend suddenly booming?

Where this trend came from

Live Video Shopping started in China around 3 years ago but already makes up more than 10% of e-commerce sales. Consumers love this trend: the add-to-cart and sales conversion rates are incomparable to any other channel. That’s why Live Video Shopping is spreading fast to the west: across both Europe and America. 

Conferwith quoted that in 2019, “China’s live-stream shopping market was worth 451.3 billion yuan ($66 billion), and is promised to show even more growth, could more than double to almost 1.2 trillion yuan ($170 billion) this year.”

Digital media consumption is exploding as new technologies make it easier than ever to create these Live Video Shopping experiences. Also, COVID-19 has pushed millions of consumers to increasingly interact with retailers online, and many will likely continue to do this after the pandemic is over.

Why Live Video Shopping is booming right now

The E-commerce industry has been through some severe changes in the past few years. Shopping habits have shifted from brick and mortar stores, to catalog and TV shopping, then to today’s online shopping. Customers still want the ‘human’ experience they are used to from retail stores or even TV shopping. Live Video Shopping provides the perfect mix between a real store experience & online shopping and brings the offline experience online. 

Amazon states: “As compared with home shopping television channels, online retailers may lack the human component that motivates people to purchase. Sites such as YouTube that offer user-created videos have become hugely popular with the millennial generation. In fact, how-to videos have become an important driver of purchasing decisions among millennials.”

The web giant continues: “For example, a person may create a video showing others how to use a particular product. During the video, the person may express opinions regarding the products. Viewers may then be motivated to purchase the product after viewing the video.”

Because customers are more likely to make purchases, retailers see Live Video Shopping more and more as an opportunity to increase their sales. It just works! 

Results that brands are seeing 

Let’s take a look at a few examples of how our customers used our live engagement platform to connect with their customers and increased their sales through Live Video Shopping.

Telecommunications – UK Telco Brand

The challenge: The main challenge for this Telco brand was to interact with their customers digitally, now the shops are closed due to COVID-19. The omnichannel strategy of this brand is about having a seamless experience across all of their channels but appreciating that every channel has its own nuance. The core of this strategy is to build confident purchases with their customers.

The solution: Within this UK Telco brand we’ve integrated the Whisbi Broadcast solution. What it does is start to knit together the best assets of this brand and its physical channels. Only a few other brands in the UK do the same thing, which makes it quite unique. It enables customers to watch a live product broadcast – and not only watch it – interact with it as well and buy the products immediately. Customers can ask live questions to the presenters, who are able to see those questions coming through and it gives the presenters the power to customize the broadcast based on what the viewers want to see and know.

The results:

• 26% attachment rate on bundled accessories
• Over 20K questions asked
• 16% were engaged viewers
• Over 2700 hours of viewing time
• 5x increase in conversion rate

Retail – World’s biggest technology firm

The challenge: The biggest challenge for this electronics manufacturer – like many others – was how to connect with their customers online. The company didn’t want to limit themselves to offline experiences, but be there for their customers whenever they needed assistance. ‘Always stay connected to your audience’ – that was the ultimate goal and also the challenge. 

The solution: The solution to their challenge was ‘easy’: streaming, streaming, and even more streaming. This multinational company is broadcasting daily from 9 am to 8 pm – that’s how they continuously bring the in-store environment to their customers through Live Video Shopping. The audience can ask questions about the products they are interested in and the presenters will advise them, just like they would do in-store. Whisbi’s Engage solution helped to drastically improve the customer experience, engagement, and sales.

The results: 

• 4M+ viewers
• 28% engaged viewers 
• Over 127k questions asked
• 5x increase in sales for customers that watched the live stream

Automotive – Hyundai Mexico

The challenge: Hyundai Live is a service created by automotive giant Hyundai globally, that helps customers have a safer and more comfortable digital shopping experience, according to the needs of the “new normal”. Hyundai Live promotes a new way of offering and selling Hyundai car models to the public, in a totally digital environment, where anyone can learn about Hyundai’s range of models from a uniquely interactive showroom. 

Hyundai wanted to capture new car buyers’ attention online, early in their research process and be able to show their new cars on their website in an engaging and interactive way. The brand also wanted to answer all the questions that buyers might have in real-time and use their website as a lead generation tool for their dealerships.

The solution: The brand integrated Whisbi Sell into the Whisbi Engage solution, allowing them to offer personalized experiences to clients that already watched a live broadcast. Hyundai Mexico set up a small showroom space in one of their dealerships with 2 presenters broadcasting live from Monday to Friday, from 10 AM to 1 PM and from 2 PM to 6 PM, using just a tablet. This is an integral part of the marketing efforts, being a cornerstone for the two-car launches of the year: Grand i10 and Creta.

The results:

• 461% increase in leads generated from Hyundai Live compared to last year
• +11.000 questions from clients
• 8.515 leads, which is +217% more than last year
• 123.08% growth in requests for a private session during the Live Broadcast compared to last year 
• 3:1 ROI
• 115 related sales, which is +447% more than last year