Tis the season to shop, and this year the holidays are delivering a swell of shoppable live programming in the US that will serve as a test bed for content that’s immersed in fandom and blends entertainment with instantaneous commerce.
Last month, NBCU introduced shoppable streams featuring cast members from some of its Bravo franchises. Twitter rolled out its first shoppable livestream, emceed by Jason Derulo, in conjunction with Walmart. And YouTube debuted seven days of commerce-centric content starring some of the platform’s influencers.
“Livestream shopping is a trend that’s been growing in other areas of the world, in South Korea and China, and just in the last six months it’s all of a sudden started to make inroads into every major audience platform in the United States as well,” says Evan Moore, VP of commerce partnerships at NBCU.
The data, particularly out of China, is wallet-worthy. According to an eMarketer report from June 2021, livestreaming commerce is estimated to generate nearly $300 billion in China this year, a surge of 85 percent from a year prior, which will account for 11.7 percent of total retail ecommerce sales in the country.
“Although the US is just beginning to move into the space, the early growth is promising as the industry is projected to grow from $5.5 billion in ’20 to $11 billion in ’21,” says John Petrocelli, founder and CEO of Bulldog Digital Media, which powered the recent YouTube commerce experience.
Given the long-term potential for brands and e-commerce platforms alike, a recent McKinsey analysis indicates live-commerce-initiated sales could account for as much as 10 percent to 20 percent of all e-commerce by 2026.
“The recent iOS 14 changes that remove tracking, cookies, and pixels is going to create $10 billion in ad spends that need to be redeployed,” Petrocelli says. “This creates a major opportunity for brands to invest in ecommerce livestreaming… and as we move to a Web 3.0 world, brands of all sizes can offer ecommerce livestreaming from their own websites and simulcast on social for a best of both worlds approach.”
A number of other factors are converging to propel the live shoppable universe. Technology and business models are ratcheting up as the pandemic has accelerated consumer adoption of livestreaming. Content creators are flocking to livestreaming as a way to connect with their audiences, and every major social media platform is rolling out robust ecommerce livestreaming capabilities.
Instagram expanded its shoppable stream offerings in March with the advent of Live Rooms that enable users to add up to three co-hosts to their livestreams. In May, Facebook introduced Live Shopping Fridays, during which brands can showcase products and customers can tap featured products to learn more about them and/or purchase. Pinterest hosted its first in-app livestreaming event in May with an initial test group of 21 creators as hosts. Social giant TikTok has been ramping up live shopping all year, including two Walmart activations and the addition of Kohl’s live shopping experiences for the holidays.
“Based off of those insights, we’ve definitely increased our investment in the space. We’ve widened the scope of where we think we can apply shoppable executions and we’re thinking bigger,” NBCU’s Moore tells XLIVE. “Instead of, How can we layer on commerce on top of content we’re already creating, we’re now asking the question, Can commerce become an intrinsic part of the entertainment itself? How can we use commerce as another tool to entertain our audience and give them value?”
YouTube teased its new livestream shopping initiatives around Advertising Week in late October, with Tara Walpert Levy, YouTube VP, Americas, noting, “Shopping is a key area for YouTube. What people want are moments where they are leaned in in discovery mode, to be able to connect with creators that they trust… and to be able to act on their recommendations live.”
Just before Thanksgiving, it went live with a string of shoppable streams hosted by The Merrell Twins, featuring guest hosts like Simply Nailogical, Donut Media, Gordon Ramsay, Patrick Starrr and Addison Rae, and sponsored by Verizon, Samsung, Walmart and other retailers. The streams featured exclusive access to new products, giveaways and discounts, and enabled fans to interact live with creators. In aggregate, the shows had registered 1.1 million views at press time, according to a YouTube spokesperson.
The holiday rollout followed tests of integrated shopping experiences on the platform earlier in the year by both talent and retailers. Activations included Simply Nailogical launching a nail polish collection to 2.8 million fans, Hyram dropping a skincare line to 4.5 million fans, Sephora beauty directors hosting a live Q&A about makeup foundations and Target performing a live autumn style haul.
Up next, YouTube will expand both geographically—it is currently testing shopping in the US, India and Brazil, a rep tells XLIVE—and in terms of the shoppable content it offers, stretching beyond the beauty and tech categories.
Among early learnings, “The experience needs to tell a story vs. simply sell a product. The more successful ecommerce livestreams feature engaging hosts, personalities, brand ambassadors and influencers who are both knowledgeable and passionate about the product,” says Petrocelli.
High-quality video and audio make for a more successful experience, as does a high level of interactivity such as curated chat, quizzes and polling, adds Petrocelli, who advises those embracing shoppable content to “make the purchase seamless and happen in the stream” and “reduce clicks and remove having to exit the user experience to travel to commerce pages.”
NBCU for two years has been building an internal commerce engine it calls NBC Universal Checkout, which Moore says gives it the ability to drive commerce on any piece of its brands’ content across the Internet. The company partnered with Instagram and Facebook in early 2021 and integrated directly with their back-end platforms, so it was ready to roll out shoppable content by the fourth quarter on those platforms as well as on its owned and operated distribution avenues.
During Thanksgiving weekend the company debuted “Impulse Try with Remi Bader”—whom Moore describes as “a Bravo superfan”—on Instagram, Facebook and its parent Comcast’s Xfinity platform. The shoppable show featured the social influencer along with guests from Bravo series including “Shahs of Sunset,” “The Real Housewives” franchise and “Family Karma.” The content became available on-demand the following day on Peacock and the NBC App.
Across every retail category—glam, style, home décor and more—talent was key in driving viewership and engagement, Moore says
“The talent were incredible at both promoting the livestream and driving viewership during the livestream. We had a set of expectations around the amount of social promotion we were hoping to get from talent, and we saw 5X that amount,” which drove thousands of audience engagements during the live, he says. “That’s the power of working with the right talent. They care about this so much, and it’s something they’re so passionate about they’re willing to go above and beyond.”
“Perhaps the most important component is the talent,” agrees Bulldog’s Petrocelli. “Influencers and subject matter experts with loyal followings are typically trusted by their fans. The audience wants authenticity and if they are part of an authentic ecommerce livestream that is interactive there is a high probability of success.”
“Consumers want the convenience of researching and reviewing products online at home, but with the trusted guidance of an in-store experience,” a YouTube rep tells XLIVE, noting creators on the platform have “committed considerable time and effort into building authentic connections with fans, and as a result, deliver trusted brand and product recommendations to their audience.”