Shopping Via Livestream May Just Be the Future of Retail
With brick-and-mortar stores around the country closed for a good portion of 2020, retailers have had to get creative in terms of customer reach. As a result they’re finding new ways—namely virtually—to provide clientele with the intimate shopping experience many have so desperately missed. However, with China’s beloved ShopShops livestream app expanding its offering to U.S. sellers (in beta), it’s worth noting that the expansion was well underway before the pandemic; waves of lockdowns around the country only sped things up.
Founded back in 2016 by Liyia Wu, ShopShops started as a “directory of U.S brands” for Chinese visitors whose trips to the States were primarily shopping focused. The platform has since evolved into a full-fledged network with a fleet of retail-experienced hosts, who Wu calls “megastars” in China, selling everything from fashion and accessories to beauty and home decor at a wide range of price points. Proving to be a great success in East Asia, the QVC-like platform inevitably made its way to the United States.
In 2017, the Parsons graduate set up shop in what was once Opening Ceremony’s cool downtown New York location to preview the debut U.S. collection. This was one of many events Wu and the ShopShops team held in the States, with Miami, Los Angeles, and San Francisco also on the schedule. Nearly four years later, the app is available to download for citizens all around the country, and household designer names like Rebecca Minkoff, Marni, and Anna Sui, have ventured into the livestreaming territory, giving customers an opportunity to buy their new-season items right there on the spot.
The livestream shopping market as a whole, according to Wu, is estimated to be a $100 billion industry and growing. Allowing these business owners to sell their products from wherever they are to basically anyone who wants them, and then turning those same shoppers into sellers themselves, gives a new meaning to the three-sided-market—or an instance when all parties involved get a piece of the pie. But aside from broadening the seller’s reach, shopping via a live, virtual event gives the customer everything they need in order to make an informed purchase.
“[It] virtually brings shoppers to retailers across the globe, providing them with an interactive shopping experience through expertly curated livestream events,” the brand explained to Business Wire. “Viewers can ask questions in real-time about product fit, material, color, and more. They can ask a host to try on a shirt to see the fit, turn it around to see the back, hold it up close to see the embroidering and more.”
But the ShopShops team can’t help but notice that they’ve created a new type of customer. With livestreaming events happening 24 hours a day, every day in the Chinese market, customers are racking up some serious time spent shopping on the platform. According to Wu, the average customer spends up to 44 hours a year on the app, while their VIP shoppers can easily exceed 550 hours. But what’s most interesting is that there are no limits on how long a stream can last or as to how many people are able to watch at a time. The founder cites the most attended event having more than 2,500 people, while her longest stream to date took place over the span of 14.5 hours in South Korea, quite literally from sunup to sundown.
“Livestream shopping has become increasingly addictive,” she tells BAZAAR.com. “Ultimately, the app is built for entertainment and discovery as the hosts are able to curate their own experiences and events.”
Between random emoji giveaways and games, where viewers have to guess the prices of items to win, ShopShops has found more than one way to ensure its streamers stay tuned in. Now a global presence seller in Dubai, Italy, and, of course, China, to name a few locations, the company is keeping it interesting by hosting a nationwide search for the best salesperson in the United States. In order to be considered, one must create a video selling a $10,000 T-shirt in a creative way using TikTok videos, Instagram reels, or IGTV. The winner will get a cash prize and their own show on the platform.
As ShopShops continues to grow in the U.S market, the team is simultaneously setting the bar for retailers who are struggling to find ways to not only gain but keep the attention of consumers—something that in the midst of a global pandemic is no easy feat.
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