Livestream Shopping: Brands, Get Started

In Part 1 we discussed the motives and innovation behind livestream success. Now, let’s take a look at why brands should engage, what platforms to utilize, who to partner with, and ultimately how to run a successful event.

REASONS FOR U.S. RETAILERS TO INNOVATE AND TEST OUT LIVESTREAMING

• Generating a new channel of E-Commerce Revenue
• New Customer Acquisition 
• Deepening relationships with Current Customers
• Creating more brand engagement

WHICH PLATFORMS TO USE FOR LIVESTREAMING

There’s an accelerated race afoot right now to become the destination for future U.S. livestreamed shopping. Examples:

INSTAGRAM & FACEBOOK 

Instagram Live within Instagram Stories enables users to livestream. It’s currently testing a new checkout feature to allow start to finish shopping without leaving the Instagram app. Within its Marketplace Community, Facebook has begun testing a new feature that will enable merchants to sell items more efficiently on a livestream. It includes a screenshot button that will allow retailers to take photos of items being demonstrated by a seller and message the seller directly. Merchants can send their payment requests through Facebook Messenger. Facebook and Instagram Shops will further facilitate livestream shopping functionality.

AMAZON LIVESTREAMING

Amazon sellers can host livestream sessions on their store pages or product pages. The online platform provides a dedicated landing page where shoppers discover and watch streams live or that have previously streamed. Amazon also offers an ad buy designed to boost traffic to a livestream. Amazon Live Creator will enable brands to stream video content directly to the platform. Despite launching in 2019, this feature has developed little traction and has low tune-in numbers, much along the same lines as Amazon’s influencer program. One key reason: Amazon’s not a place where influencers have built followings or where consumer audiences congregate for trending content. Moreover, within the Amazon online sprawl, it’s tough to find these events. During Prime Day in mid-October, Shop on Amazon Live: Throughout Prime Day, spotlighted exciting deals curated from small businesses across Amazon. Viewers also had the opportunity to hear directly from business owners, learn more about their products, and shop their Prime Day deals during a reoccurring segment called Small Business Showcase.

TWITCH

Currently the darling of livestreaming gamers, there’s likely a development of retail centric offerings on this fast-rising social platform. Twitch has just partnered with their first luxury fashion brand, Burberry, to livestream its 2021 collection on the streaming platform. 

ETSY

Etsy has enabled livestreaming by its small business creators and sellers.

LIVESTREAMING RETAIL CHANNELS BEING DEVELOPED ON THE HORIZON

BuyWith has developed a software that enables users to screen-share and chat online so that they can co-browse with their friends, bringing the socialization aspect of in-store shopping to e-commerce. Mobile shopping start-up, Dote, launched Shopping Party, a 15-minute event during which an influencer – or ‘Dote Creator’ – shares live video with followers and interacts with them while browsing products. They’ve been seeing success with female Gen-Z shoppers. CommentSold integrates shoppable livestreaming into existing social media platforms, enabling consumers to purchase, track, and interact. On a more one to one level, Glamhive offers consumers the services of a stylist via live-streamed virtual styling sessions. Livescale is one of several livestream tech companies that have seen an increase in new clients, with a reported conversion rate for its shopping events averaging 9.5%.

RUNNING A SUCCESSFUL LIVESTREAMING EVENT

USE INFLUENCERS TO CONVERT THEIR LOYAL AUDIENCES TO E-COMMERCE SALES

Engage influencers with strong video followings or live video experiences on Instagram, Facebook or YouTube whose audience maps to your target customer acquisition demographics. Influencers excel at creating engaging, powerful content that resonates with their audience, and leverages that audience’s trust in their curation of recommendations. Their passion can drive both brand interest and e-commerce conversions, thus unlocking their audience to you. Many of these influencers have already dabbled in livestreaming – from unboxing videos to in-depth product demos – all overlaid with their first-person perspective. They can deliver a high production value at a time when creative and video studios have been closed down.

Increasingly, influencers have been developing their own merchandise lines in partnership with retailers, which then often quickly sell out. As an example of a celebrity level collaboration, On brand turned to livestreaming for its collaboration with tennis superstar Roger Federer on “The Roger,” a new high performance, expensive sneaker.

USE A-B TESTING TO FIGURE OUT THE RIGHT LEVEL OF INFLUENCER AND HOW TO STRUCTURE THE DEAL

Influencers range from social media celebrities to the power middle. The celebs drive the high audience reach, but the power middle often prove more successful in converting their audience in shopper marketing campaigns. Some influencers will want straight-out paid compensation upfront, while many others will be willing to mix this with a percentage of sales – the latter of which provides an incentive for them to go all out in grabbing their audience’s attention and getting them to tune-in live. Craft a part of the deal to have the live-streaming recorded - this could then be offered up later on your brand channels, minus the limited time offer available within the live-streaming time frame itself. Negotiate rights to amplify the influencer content across your brand social channels and website, as well as the ability to run targeted social media ads featuring the influencer to augment tune-in.

OFFER UP A UNIQUE, COMPELLING LIMITED TIME OFFER, PRODUCT OR COLLECTION 

This will drive tune-in immediacy and creates a sense of both excitement and urgency around the offering. The offer should be unique: and better than other promotions currently in your marketing mix - whether a unique product sku or lower price point. The offer should also be upped for multiple purchases of the same item, encouraging gifting. Limited availability creates “FOMO” (fear of missing out) that drives both sales and extended viewing.

COME UP WITH A POWERFUL STORY BOARD

Blend the talking points and visuals that your selected influencer thinks would resonate most with their audience with the key content you’d like to see covered, as well as any content you’d prefer not get discussed. Use this as a springboard for story-telling collaboration, blending the influencers’ perspective with your brand mission. Come up with a clear list of things that cannot be said by the influencer to prevent any product claim inaccuracies, to avoid subjects you don’t want brought up, and have a clear contractual delineation of non-discriminatory or offensive language or action compliance as part of the live event. As most live-streaming tune-in will come from mobile, make sure to use a vertical video format that’s maximized for these small screens. 

STRUCTURING THE LIVE EVENT

Create a short teaser or sneak-peak livestream revealing a bit about the products that will be featured. 

Have the influencer post or broadcast this across their social channels to build consumer interest and anticipation. Do the same on your brand channels and websites. Send out reminders of the livestreaming event - a week ahead of time, 24 hours before the event, 15 minutes before going live, and then as the event goes live. As the audience starts tuning in, have the host tease a preview of products, but stall the live purchasing to build audience anticipation. Have your live-streaming host refer to customers by name, welcoming them into the event as they appear in chat or comments or when answering questions as it personalizes the event. Consider adding some form of gamification to the event - such as rewarding users who screenshot and send in their comments to the livestream for random prize drawings. 

PRE-PLAN FOR SNAFUS

Inherent in any livestreaming event are unforeseen happenings, such as brand critiques or complaints coming up in the live-streaming comments. For many retailers, and their legal departments, starting with a non-live video can be a compelling test for the risk averse - it gives you the experience of working with a particular influencer, the ability to re-take or edit the video, and the opportunity to see the types of comments and questions flowing in.