With the anticipated click-and-collect sales of the UK ecommerce market surpassing EUR 50 billion by 2026, the live commerce industry is a good bet to go big for retail.
The live commerce ecosystem took a massive turn after the launch of Alibaba’s Taobao in 2016, making China its mainstream market. It also made its entry into the European market, capturing 57% of frequent live commerce users.
Today, live commerce is constantly booming across the European market, with social media platforms taking centre stage. A study revealed that around 73% of brands across the UK use social media platforms, such as Instagram and TikTok as the most used channels for live commerce. Besides that, around 58% of the brands leverage video streaming platforms like YouTube or Twitch for their live commerce strategy.
But many UK brands are still struggling with the task of creating interactive live commerce sessions, which are crucial for decreasing customer churn rates and boosting revenue. The challenge lies in effectively engaging audiences in real-time, fostering meaningful interactions, and seamlessly integrating commerce elements into the live experience.
Despite the potential benefits, including increased customer engagement and conversion rates, brands often face obstacles such as technical limitations, content production challenges, and the need for robust moderation and customer support.
Previously, in 2022, Amazon-owned streaming platform, Twitch revived its Pog Picks livestream shopping event during the holiday season that was activated in the US, Canada, UK and Germany. Hosted by Twitch streamers, the event showcased products from both editorial picks and brand sponsorships, encouraging viewers to compete in a series of gaming challenges and polls to win featured products.
Also Read: Is Live Commerce Changing the Role of the Influencer?
How are brands adopting innovation in their live commerce strategy?
Global brands utilising emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR) in their live commerce strategy isn’t a new concept. However, creating interactive live commerce sessions with high speed is still an ongoing challenge, leading to churn rates and lost revenue.
Some global technology organisations are already taking initiatives to overcome the latency issue associated with live commerce.
For instance, ZEGOCLOUD, a global cloud communication service provider, introduced its TTFF (Time to First Frame) optimisation solutions to minimise churn rates that occurred due to poor video interactions during live streaming. The platform enables businesses to enhance user connections with a success rate of over 95% for TTFF within 2 seconds in critical regions, including Europe, America and Southeast Asia.
Purposefully built for industries from social entertainment to interactive live commerce, ZEGOCLOUD offers a full suite of real-time video engagement capabilities, including animated virtual gifts, in-app mini games, in-app chat, content moderation, beauty filters, cloud recording, etc.
Adding his vision to the latest integration, Kuk Jiang, co-founder of ZEGOCLOUD, emphasised, “By integrating ZEGOCLOUD, businesses can concentrate on their core operations and deliver high-quality live video to global audiences, streamlining the user experience and cutting down on costs and complexities associated with multiple third-party service integrations.”
Meanwhile, brands are also looking at event-based collaboration with influencers for a scalable future. With live streaming becoming a new normal for influencers to build their personal brand, ecommerce companies will continue to team up with them to reach their fans, who are potential target audiences.
Alibaba had launched Aliexpress, its livestream shopping technology in the UK market, stating that livestream shopping is “one of the most effective ways of engaging with consumers directly” and is predicted to account for up to 20% of all ecommerce sales in the UK by 2026.
Through the debut of Aliexpress, the company is targeting UK influencers to promote their brands through a live streaming ecommerce platform.
Video commerce platform TalkShopLive, teamed up with Grammy-nominated artist Benny Blanco for a livestream to expand its Shoppable Simulcast product to Instagram. Initiated through the partnership with Billboard magazine, this integration is revolutionising the budding social commerce space.
Commenting on the integration, TalkShopLive CEO and Co-Founder, Bryan Moore, said, “Scalability, distribution, and friction-free are the future of live shopping, and we are excited to work with Blanco and our partners at Billboard magazine on this world premiere event!”
Summing it up,
Despite the potential benefits, including increased customer engagement and conversion rates, brands often face obstacles in their live commerce strategies such as technical limitations, content production challenges, and the need for robust moderation and customer support.
Nevertheless, with the anticipated click-and-collect sales of the UK ecommerce market surpassing EUR 50 billion by 2026, the live commerce industry will continue to evolve. The brands across various industries are beginning to incorporate innovative approaches to deliver exceptional customer experiences, reduce churn rates and increase revenue.
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