What Are Live Shopping Events?
Live shopping events are an emerging retail trend characterized by live-stream shopping experiences hosted by companies like Instagram, Whatnot, and TalkShopLive.
When first hearing the term live shopping event, one might think of their Saturday afternoon trip to the local supermarket or grocery store. However, that’s not at all what it means. A live shopping event is not an in-person store shopping trip, it refers to a live-streaming shopping experience.
Fret not, if you are among those who had no clue what a live shopping event was, you are not alone in your ignorance. According to a Retail Dive article that cites a Morning Consult report, “Though more retailers are diving into the Livestream commerce market, less than a third of U.S. adults have seen, heard of or read about live shopping events overall, but under half of Gen Z adults (45%) and millennials (42%) are aware of live shopping events.”
In China, this has become a very popular method of shopping, but it has not gained mass acceptance in the United States just yet. Although, companies like Whatnot are quickly gaining traction. Whatnot is an app where users can participate in live shopping event auctions for virtually any type of item they can think of – imagine eBay on steroids.
Retail Dive also reported, “Morning Consult’s report cites McKinsey & Company’s prediction that Livestream shopping could comprise as much as 20% of online sales by 2026.” Theoretically, if this method of shopping takes off in the United States, many big and small businesses will have to adapt their platforms and business strategies to accommodate these events to stay in step with their competitors for those sales revenue dollars.
Facebook is the leader on social media platforms for live shopping events across all generations except Generation Z shoppers, who utilized Instagram as their platform of choice when it came to attending these live shopping events. This is in accordance with the current age demographics that largely engage with those platforms, with Facebook increasingly skewing older.
Interestingly, however, Meta (Facebook’s parent company) has just shuttered their live stream shopping feature on Facebook back in October and is focusing more on short-form videos to stay relevant and keep up with Tik Tok. As the leading company leaves this market space, others like TalkShopLive are asserting themselves to grab the reigns and run with this potentially emerging market. Companies such as Walmart are also climbing on board and using their vast resources to get a foothold in this virtual marketplace by partnering with TalkShopLive on eight Livestream shopping events, they have enlisted some A-list celebrities like Drew Barrymore and Rachel Ray to help make these events garner more public attention.
Whether or not these live shopping events grab a foothold in our country as an alternative to online shopping or retail store shopping remains to be seen. It could have the growth potential that Mckinsey & Company is predicting because it was not too long ago when people scoffed at the idea that online shopping would become a major player in the retail sales world and corporate retailers needed to adapt. Today there is an extremely high volume of sales being produced online by companies like Amazon, so maybe in twenty years, the public will be talking about TalkShopLive in the same breath or talking about how foolish Meta’s decision was to vacate that space when it was considered the pioneer in that area.
