Why Live Video Shopping is the future of Retail

In this chapter, we’ll break down the importance of Live Video Shopping in the retail industry. Discover why Live Video Shopping is everything customers want and need from you right now and how you can create an in-store experience online.

How Live Video Shopping affects the retail industry

E-commerce is the status quo right now. If you don’t offer an e-commerce service in addition to your physical store, you’re far behind. Nowadays, retailers go online to sell their products instead of opening new stores. The rapid development of e-commerce combined with Live Video Shopping has repetitively shown that in-person retail can be replicated without leaving the house. This new trend allows the authenticity that online shopping didn’t provide prior to live stream shopping. Live shopping platforms are more efficient and effective than in-person retail could ever – or have ever – been.

There has been a surge in online sales since COVID-19 – brands and companies were forced to either move online and accelerate their online presence. Statista report says that ‘’In the United Kingdom, weekly online retail transactions made in-home and leisure categories saw a 200% increase since the start of the year.’’ Continuing, ‘’weekly growth rate for home and leisure retail went up by 200% compared to the same period of the previous year.’’ In short: having a strong online presence is a necessity for all retailers that want to meet modern consumers’ trends & expectations.

This is what customers expect from brands

Customers want a seamless experience online. They want to get great advice the moment they enter your website, ready to make a purchase decision and buy the products they want without a hassle. The way brands can live up to these expectations, is to provide smart and human-like experiences to their online customers, such as Live Video Shopping. 

Retailers must change and adapt to the shift in consumer behavior if they want to continue to connect with their customers – according to Spectrio. They want experiences, and retailers need to give them that. “That means that retailers are going to have to step up their game. Stores are going to really have to enhance the experience and do a better job of bringing the excitement of the product to the consumer.”

How to create an in-store experience online

Get personal with your customers. That’s the first step you need to take as a retailer. If they can’t visit your brick-and-mortar stores (and even if they might be able to in the future, there is still a shift happening towards online shopping) you should be able to deliver that same experience online. The way to do that is to look at what the customers’ expectations are – as addressed above – and how you would want to engage with them. With Live Video Shopping, you will be able to create an in-store experience online. How? There are a few things you’ll need:

Make sure you stay true to your brand. You know best what vision and mission represent your company and it’s important to keep those values in mind when you’re starting with Live Video Shopping – so your customers see the authenticity of your brand. For more tips about starting with this new trend and how to go live, check out our infographic. 

The shift towards Live Video Shopping

We can’t deny there’s a huge shift happening in the online shopping world. Retailers have made different business priorities since the beginning of last year. Here’s what has changed: 

While all of this is going on, retailers are looking for new ways to engage with their audience. Live streaming or Live Broadcasting is a trend that is around for longer, but Live Video Shopping is relatively new. Of course, we all know the QVC TV shopping and live video shopping is the ‘natural evolution’ of that. Consumer trends and habits change, and Live Video Shopping is growing with the needs of customers. 

According to our Retail Research paper, 48% of consumers stated that it’s extremely convenient for them to be able to ask questions about the products in real-time with Live Video Shopping. Furthermore, consumers would find the online buying process more enjoyable if they could speak with a sales advisor digitally. Equally, 35% say the main benefit of Live Video Shopping is that it brings the in-store experience online and due to COVID-19 they want to minimize visiting physical shops. 32% of consumers stated that Live Video Shopping would save them time, 20% say they could buy the product immediately, and 26% of customers stated they would see the product in real-time.