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Live shopping has established a foothold in the ecommerce world in 2023, with an increasing number of brands choosing to utilise this exciting new format as part of their content strategy. Household names such as Bloomingdales and Samsung have been using the live shopping format as an engaging new way to interact with their consumers, and most importantly, sell products.
Live shopping has the ability to appeal to many groups, but carries particular strengths when considering millennials and Gen Z. Erin Schmidt, who is a beauty industry analyst at Coresight Research notes that younger consumers are more likely to be influenced by a host’s recommendation, and as such are more inclined to purchase live.
The shopping habits of these groups also contributes to their place as a key group who choose to shop live. 41% of Gen Z make an impulse purchase online every 2-3 weeks, rising to 48% amongst daily TikTok users. Live shopping lends itself to the impulse buyers, creating a sense of urgency around the products on show to encourage impulse purchases.
The benefits of live shopping for fashion brands are wide reaching. We have summarised some of the key reasons why brands should be considering the format below.
This is one of the key reasons why live shopping is beneficial for fashion brands. Live shopping events encourage a large quantity of sales from those who watch the shows. Just check out Buttonscarves, who made an 8 x ROI on their live shopping series.
Viewers can be influenced by an exciting, engaging host who raves about a brand’s clothing. Or perhaps they are keen to make an impulse purchase knowing the items are a new drop, wanting to be the first person to get their hands on the new look. Revealing exclusive discount codes during live events can help to drive these sales even further.
Live shopping is the perfect way to launch a new collection, or introduce a flash sale. By hosting the event live, fashion brands can create a hype before the event, with this excitement increasing a viewers likelihood to purchase. Having an exclusive flash sale in a live show creates a sense of urgency during the show. Viewers know they can only access the deals right at that moment. This creates the perfect atmosphere to capture those impulse purchases.
Live shopping allows brands to engage with their customers in real time. Customers can ask questions through comments, and have them answered there and then by the host. This can help to reassure them about the product they are buying, as well as to build a stronger relationship between a brand and its consumers.
Perhaps they are not convinced by an item’s material quality, a common blocker for online shoppers. By having a host discuss the fabrics and even show them up close on camera, a potential customer can be certain of the quality of what they are purchasing.
With live shopping being a relatively new format, people are interested in how the events work, and there is an overall sense of curiosity surrounding the live shows. This encourages large volumes of new customers to a brand’s events, intrigued by the format.
In SuperPharm’s recent live shopping series, 60% of the viewers of the shows were new customers to their site. This demonstrates the power of live shopping to rapidly grow a brand’s audience, helping to increase brand awareness and expand their customer base.
Shoppers are increasingly looking for brands with an outstanding digital experience, with 59% of global consumers saying that if a brand is digitally innovative, they are more likely to buy from them. Live shopping is a perfect way of displaying digital innovation, offering an exciting online format for consumers to ask questions, interact, and make purchases.
It has been constantly found that live shopping offers the benefit of lower return rates. Coresight Research found return rates fall by 40% when items are purchased through live shopping.
With consumers having the ability to see clothing in action, live, they can be confident that what they are buying is what they expect. Furthermore, the ability to have their questions about the product answered during the show ensures consumers are fully informed about what they are buying. This prevents consumers purchasing a product only to find out it is not what they expected.
A brand showcasing their products live demonstrates that they have a high amount of confidence in their items. This helps to foster a feeling of consumer trust in their products, assuring them that the brand’s products are of good quality.
When a consumer sees a product in action live, and sees that the product looks great, they can trust that it is a great product. Sale secured.
Another benefit of live shopping for fashion brands is the wealth of data collection it facilitates. A brand can see highly insightful data surrounding not only how consumers interact with the live show as a whole, but also down to the product level.
Was a particular product more popular than another? Why did several people click on the same product at the same time? Were consumers put off by the price of a certain item? These questions are all answerable through the data that can be drawn from live shopping events, providing brands with a greater understanding of their consumers interactions with their products.
The data that can be collected from live shopping events can be easily used to retarget consumers. The benefits of live shopping therefore do not end when the show ends, but many days and weeks after.
Consumers can be retargeted with products they interacted with but did not buy, helping to remind them of the products they were interested in, and potentially make that all important purchase.
A final benefit of live shopping for fashion brands is that it is the closest way to bring the in-store experience online. Whilst it is impossible to replicate the feeling of being in a store, seeing clothing in person and trying items on, live shopping certainly provides a great, and super convenient alternative.
Consumers can question the host just as they would a shop assistant, and they can still see the items in real time. By providing consumers with an in-store experience, whilst exploiting the convenience of online shopping, brands can drive further sales with this format.
In conclusion, fashion brands can exploit the several benefits of live shopping. The format helps to drive sales, attract new customers, lower return rates, and significantly enhance the customer engagement data that can be gathered by brands.
If you would like to learn more about how live shopping can benefit your brand, get in touch with Smartzer today.
