albert Chan
Livestreaming Latest, August 2021
Live shopping has taken off during the pandemic and continues to pick up steam each month. The Coresight Research Livestreaming Latest series provides regular updates on the variety of approaches that are emerging around the world, across different retail sectors.
We present recent market developments and discuss three trends we have seen in the livestreaming space recently. We also offer examples of notable livestreaming events.
Recent Market Developments
- On July 8, 2021, live-video shopping platform Talkshoplive secured $6 million in seed investment led by telecommunications, media and technology-focused venture capital firm Raine Ventures, signaling strong interest in the industry from investors. The company plans to improve its product management and technical teams.
- On July 8, 2021, Popshop Live, a livestream shopping marketplace for smaller brands, completed Series A funding of approximately $20 million led by Benchmark, valuing the company at around $100 million. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate its product and regional expansion efforts to grow its livestreaming shopping experience, “bringing authentic connection and community back to e-commerce,” according to Popshop Live.
- On July 9, 2021, Klarna Bank, one of Europe’s most valuable financial startups, acquired social shopping platform Hero. The platform connects online shoppers with retail staff via video, online chat and text messages. Klarna will introduce Hero to its 250,000 retail partners, enabling their in-store workers to become in-house influencers by offering expertise, real-time advice and informative content.
- On July 12, 2021, Performlive, a live commerce platform driven by artificial intelligence and augmented reality, filed a patent application for its Live Commerce Chat Analytics. The patent filing covers context-aware chat categorization using deep learning and machine learning techniques. On the platform, creators and livestreamers can engage with their audience through the chat while this new technology simultaneously extracts business insights from audience messages.
- On July 13, 2021, China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism expanded its regulatory authority to cover livestream shopping creators and influencers for the first time, particularly targeting the agencies that help influencers monetize their online presence. This move could shape the future of the booming livestreaming industry that big tech companies such as Alibaba, ByteDance and Tencent Holdings have been relying on for growth.
- On July 20, 2021, YouTube acquired Indian e-commerce platform Simsim, seeking to drive growth of shoppable videos in India. Simsim allows small sellers and brands to showcase and sell their products through videos in three Indian languages (Hindi, Tamil and Bengali). Being a part of the YouTube and Google ecosystem furthers the company’s mission to expand Indian shops to the online channel.
- On July 20, 2021, Carlyle, a global investment firm that specializes in partnering with technology businesses, acquired LiveU, a livestreaming business offering remote production and live broadcasts to news networks and sports content owners globally. Details of the transaction, which is subject to regulatory approvals, have not been disclosed. With the capital support, LiveU will build technology to streamline the process of capturing and delivering high-quality livestreams.
- On July 21, 2021, YouTube began testing a new livestream shopping feature that will allow viewers to shop for products directly from livestream videos. This expansion of its integrated shopping experience will be initially launched with limited numbers of creators and brands.
- On July 22, 2021, South Korean search engine and online platform Naver posted a 17-fold year-over-year revenue increase in the second quarter of fiscal 2021 for its livestream e-commerce business, Naver Shopping Live. The company said it will continue expanding its live commerce services.
- On July 23, 2021, TikTok released new interactive livestreaming features, including Q&A sessions and a new co-streaming function. TikTok has also recently added the ability to schedule livestreams, allowing users to inform their followers about important updates ahead of time. The company is making efforts to encourage users to create and watch live videos and help the social video platform better compete against its rivals.
Three Trends We’ve Seen Recently
1. Swift Emergence of New BrandsWith the advent of new media channels, including livestreaming platforms, new brands are emerging faster than used to be the norm via traditional marketing channels. Chinese tech giants including Tmall, JD.com and WeChat are facilitating the launch of domestic brands in the China market, and a growing number of livestreaming platforms in the US are seeking out niche brands and startups to cater to younger consumers.
- Adopt A Cow, a four-year-old Chinese direct-to-consumer dairy brand that enables consumers to track a cow online, has become a sensation, with 10.2 million followers on Alibaba’s Tmall platform as of July 29, 2021. The company devotes most of its marketing budget to livestreaming and works with leading influencers and agencies in China, including Qianxun, which was co-founded by popular livestreaming personality Viya. As many Chinese consumers don’t trust domestic dairy brands due to the 2008 Chinese dairy scandal, livestreaming its farm allows the brand to build consumer trust in the provenance of its products: The livestreams often show the environment where the cows live and the process of milking.
Selected livestreaming sessions by Adopt A Cow: on Tmall on July 29, 2021 (left); on WeChat, featuring popular host Viya (middle); and from its farm in March 2021 (right)Source: Adopt A Cow/Tmall/WeChat[/caption]
- On July 19, 2021, livestreaming platform Shop LIT Live announced a partnership with startup skincare brand Covey, co-founded by supermodel Emily DiDonato and Google executive Christina Uribe. Covey held its first livestream shopping event on Shop LIT Live the following day, hosted by DiDonato, who promoted the online event to her 2.2 million Instagram followers. During the livestream, DiDonato demonstrated a skincare routine and offered viewers a 20% discount. The company’s second livestream in August 2021 will feature Uribe sharing the brand’s founding story.
Emily DiDonato introduces Covey’s skincare products on Shop LIT LiveSource: Covey’s Instagram account[/caption] 2. Diverse Product Catalogs To Widen Appeal
Many Western brands, retailers and marketplaces in the livestreaming space initially found success in the beauty and fashion sectors. As Western livestreaming matures, many retailers are now broadening their offering with a more diverse product mix.
- On July 9, 2021, French retailer Auchan scheduled a series of themed live-shopping programs ranging across the categories of garden products, kitchenware and electronics on its proprietary e-commerce platform.
Auchan’s in-house staff live sells garden tools in a livestream sessionSource: Auchan[/caption]
- On July 6, 2021, French advertising firm Altice Media Ads & Connect launched four themed sessions across the tech, sportswear, DIY and automotive categories, each presented by a specialist influencer and Jordan Caucino, the company’s Social Media Manager. Each livestream session was broadcast on the brand’s website and via partner media.
An Altice Media Ads & Connect livestream session focused on electronicsSource: YouTube[/caption] 3. Connecting with Communities
To drive further growth on social media platforms and marketplaces, brands and retailers have been experimenting with a new approach. Instead of partnering with specific influencers and gaining access only to their followers, brands are increasingly seeking platforms that offer a way of connecting to a broader community of consumers.
- On July 23, 2021, Ulta Beauty partnered with livestream shopping app Supergreat, where consumers can tune in for daily livestreams and product reviews from the platform’s community of real shoppers. The beauty retailer plans to continue the program for 14 weeks, with multiple livestreams each day. While all the live shopping sessions are currently hosted by Supergreat’s hosts, Ulta Beauty will onboard its own influencers to curate more livestreams in the future, featuring exclusive product drops. Although the collaboration is in an experimental phase, the retailer’s programs on Supergreat are receiving 700–1,000 viewers and 2,500 comments per 30 minutes of livestream, according to the company.
A Supergreat host promotes a beauty product available on Ulta Beauty’s websiteSource: Supergreat/Ulta Beauty[/caption]
- On July 19, 2021, Hearst-owned brand Elle announced a series of four livestreams hosted by Elle.com Beauty Director Chloe Hall on Verishop, a live shopping platform with a curated beauty collection. The livestreams will be held between July 27 and August 5, 2021.
Source: Verishop[/caption]
Other Notable Livestreaming Events
- On July 4, 2021, Tmall brought together sports nutrition retailer GNC, department store chain Macy’s, children’s vitamins brand ChildLife and supplement companies Puritan’s Pride and Nature’s Bounty to host a live shopping event targeting Chinese consumers.
- Canadian home décor and lifestyle retailer Showcase continues to hold livestream shopping events on Facebook and TikTok every 48 hours. Hosted by the company’s Head of Live Shopping, influencer Danny Boome, the livestreams have generated 1.9 million views since May 1, 2021, on the website and have seen 18 million uses of its hashtag #ShowcaseMadeMeBuyIt on TikTok as of July 6, 2021.
Host Danny Boome presents home products on a Showcase livestreaming sessionSource: Showcase[/caption]
- On July 9, 2021, Swedish beauty brand Foreo rolled out its first live shopping show on its own website and announced its schedule for four new series launches in the coming weeks.
Foreo’s first live shopping sessionSource: Foreo[/caption]
- On July 15, 2021, Kylie Jenner kicked off the first live shopping event on KylieCosmetics.com to mark the launch of the revamped Kylie Cosmetics range. For the brand’s first foray into livestream shopping, Jenner tested the products while links to purchase the items appeared on viewers’ screens, allowing a purchase process without interrupting the livestream. Several products sold out within two hours of being promoted on the livestream.
Kylie Jenner showcased Kyle Cosmetics products in her brand’s first livestream sessionSource: Kylie Cosmetics[/caption]
- On July 30, 2021, Walmart hosted a live shopping event for beauty brand UOMA on its e-commerce website, featuring Sharon Chuter and makeup artist Sir John.
Source: Walmart[/caption]
What We Think
Livestream shopping is steadily gaining momentum in the US, and changes to the ways marketers work with brands and creators are emerging. Influencer campaigns and platform partnerships are now vital parts of any brand’s marketing strategy.
Implications for Brands and Retailers
- The diversifying livestreaming landscape and the success of various different strategies demonstrates that marketers should not rely on any one tactic or solution to guarantee success in the widening live commerce space.
- The speed at which new brands can come to market and the proliferation of new platforms and features mean that even successful brands and retailers cannot rest on their laurels but instead must maintain a thoughtful and attentive approach to their livestreaming strategies.