This week, we take a look at the future of live stream shopping in the US following news that Facebook is removing the feature.
Earlier this month, Meta announced in a blog post that Facebook would be shutting down its Live Shopping feature in October and “shifting focus to reels on Facebook and Instagram.” But on Instagram, the live stream shopping situation is a different story. In mid-June, the platform hosted Hailey Her Bieber in her office and hosted a purchasable livestream that launched her new brand, Lord Her Beauty, with merchandise sold out throughout the event.
In North America, live stream shopping has not become a social media staple like short videos during the pandemic. Since the pandemic-induced shutdown in March 2020, social platforms have gradually stepped up live streaming, with video streaming in hopes of emulating the success of the feature in China, where live streaming shopping is worthwhile. made available for purchase. $171 billion But short videos are growing much faster. Some brands are scaling back their live-streaming strategies in the US market, while others are still betting on it.
“We still rely on Instagram Live Shopping.” Said Kristie Dash, Head of Beauty Partnerships at Meta, said: Despite Facebook shutting down the feature, she said, “Facebook and Instagram have very different audiences,” and on Instagram, “it works really well.” is particularly important for the feature, ranking in the top three highest performing categories for this feature.
The platform is also focusing on live stream shopping success stories, especially for influencer-driven brands. In her one case study, featured on her Instagram business site, a livestream hosted by Elaluz founder Camila Coelho, celebrating the launch of her new bronzer, followed her on Instagram in October. It represents the source of 72% of new buyers.
Instagram has a “younger, more excited Discovery audience, Facebook has [users] U Beauty founder Tina Craig says she was one of the first brands to use Instagram’s livestream shopping feature, along with Dragun Beauty. Having a background in introducing infomercials to the Asian market in the 90s, Craig still uses the feature regularly and sees potential in North America.
“Very strategic [U Beauty] We’re livestreaming now,” Craig said, noting that the brand hosted livestreams much more often early in the pandemic when people were at home. He said that featuring a Q&A that answers the questions of consumers is effective in promoting sales.
“Instagram livestreaming is great,” said Tyler Moore, social media manager at Truly Beauty. We host weekly game shows where viewers can take turns appearing live to win prizes.
“The revenue was good enough to do that and continue this strategy. So if we were there and made $0 or failed or didn’t get a lot of viewers We don’t,” Moore said, and Truly is the most successful host of live streams on TikTok. The Financial Times reported in July that TikTok was pulling out of its live stream shopping efforts in Europe and the US. TikTok countered.
While brands increasingly allocate their marketing budgets to TikTok, livestream shopping is “still an experimental budget,” said Ryan Detert, CEO of influencer marketing technology platform Influential.
TikTok also promotes live-streaming feature in US and commissions investigation into results state “Half of TikTok users buy something after watching a live show.”
“Livestream commerce is getting a lot of attention on TikTok. The platform’s algorithms, short-form video format, and young audience make livestream shopping a success,” says market research firm Sprout Social. said Rachael Samuels, senior manager of social media at . Sprout has found live video to be his third most engaging form of social content in 2022.
It’s clear that Instagram is putting a lot of effort into reels. According to Meta’s Q1 2021 data, the platform revealed that his Reels are the fastest growing content format, accounting for 20% of his time people spend on Instagram. did. But Dash stressed that Instagram encourages brands to use both reels and livestreaming, focusing on reels for brand discovery and livestreaming to engage with existing followers. is guessing.
Beyond Facebook and Instagram, other social platforms are going in different directions when it comes to live stream shopping. Earlier this month, live-streaming shopping platform Popshop Live laid off 18% of staff. YouTube, on the other hand, is just beginning to focus on feature-rich live stream shopping. exhibited I attended a recent beauty festival with brands like Glossier and Rhode.
One of the things brands need to do is learn how the market differs from China, experts and founders say.
In China, “it’s a completely different mentality,” said Craig. “Most of the population does not live in Tier 1 or Tier 2 cities like Shanghai, Nanjing and Beijing. “The hottest influencers, celebrities and brands are just a click away through these live streams from Wi-Fi,” she said.
Many experts argue that the US should use live stream shopping for specific events and product launches instead of the 24-hour-a-day QVC-style format.
“It’s not an everyday activity. It’s a big marketing event,” said Rachel Tipograph, founder and CEO of SaaS platform MikMak. “If Kim Kardashian launches a new product, on the day [of its release], she could have a live shopping moment. People are trying to ignore her. ”
Dash said Instagram encourages brands to use live streaming “High heat drop moment”. According to her, ” [livestreams] What feels like an event is what really resonates. They have a FOMO-inducing vibe. ”
But for smaller brands that have sales numbers in mind, “ROI usually isn’t a one-time thing. [livestreams]said Detert. Instead, brands that livestream weekly livestreams “with less production but more desire and drop” “actually make better money,” he said.
Some brands are choosing to pursue new forms of livestreaming that experts say are better suited to the North American market. I’m featuring a “shop with me” live stream on my branded site.
“potential [for livestreaming] Buywith founder and CEO Adi Ronen argued that the “shop with me” model is better suited for the US market. “The U.S. is a different culture, so we have to tailor our solutions to the U.S. culture.” It creates an experience that She’s more of a shopping party than “someone’s trying to sell me something.”
Regarding the future of live streaming as part of her brand’s social shopping strategy, Craig said:The jury is really out yet because America’s shopping behavior is so different from China [behavior]”
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