Live Commerce: Full Guide to Live Streaming E-Commerce

Live e-commerce is a way of selling products and services online through streaming on digital platforms. To deeply understand the world of e-commerce and its benefits, read further.

Introduction

Post covid and the world has moved its way of shopping, Live e-commerce, the new surge of selling and buying goods, products and services. And it is said to be an industry that will rule the future.

One of the prime examples of live e-commerce is in 2020, the internet world saw an incredible $7.5 billion in total transaction value during the first 30 minutes of Alibaba’s Singles’ Day pre-sales campaign on Taobao Live.

In another survey two-third of the online products were bought through live streaming in China.

With that being said, let’s move into the definition and benefits of live e-commerce.

What Is Live E-Commerce?

Live e-commerce is a process of selling products and services via live streaming on multi streaming platforms.

It helps businesses with a new outlet to sell their products, understanding their needs through live interactions with the potential customers. Purchasing from an in-app solution to multi streaming platforms is the current evolution the internet is going through.

Live e-commerce is a combination of live streaming and shopping. Forbes has recently conducted a survey and stated that consumers see fashion, jewelry and cosmetics related content creators and influencers as experts and indulge in the sales of their products.

What Are The Different Types Of E-Commerce Live Streams?

E-commerce sales can be categorized into different forms of live streams, for a streamer, the sales depend on the type of content that is publicized on the streaming platforms.

Some of the major ways where e-commerce content streams can be showcased are mentioned below:

Live auctions: Bringing in the spirit of the sales by building competition through live auctions to increase the sales value.

Product launches: Increase the attention of the audience and helps them explore and question the nuances of the product through a live demo.

Live Events: Events, shows, and workshops with the content creator to increase the viewership and potential of the video.

How live Stream Shopping Can Increase Loyal Customer Base?

If you have doubts on how live stream shopping can earn a loyal customer base, then you might need to consider these factors in live streaming.

• Live streaming showcases transparency and builds trustworthiness, thereby enhancing the customer base integrity and brand loyalty. 
• Live streaming gives an ownership feeling to customers by letting them choose from the large variety of options available in the market.

Apart from these online e-commerce enables return, refund policies with 24*7 chat and call support system to enhance the customer shopping experience.

How Live Streaming Commerce Benefits Businesses?

Social media has traversed across domains to benefit commerce in multiple ways, and live streaming is one major result bringing subject.

Some of the major benefits of it are mentioned below:

• Instant results: As a content creator, real-time streaming on digital platforms and selling products to audiences results in instant commerce, increasing the marketing chances of the product.
• Personalized shopping: When a customer opinion is heard and valued, repeated customers are inevitable and lifts the selling aspects higher.
• Engagement: Viewership doesn’t count, if audiences are not engaged in the streaming and creating a conversion out of it. Whereas live streaming on the other end creates engagement and boosts sales.
• Brand awareness: Competition is heavy when it comes to sales and marketing, and viewers recognizing your brand in the market is one of the major concerns for marketers. Live streaming helps businesses to create credibility and brand awareness with brand overlays.
• Minimal cost: Operation costs and brick-and-mortar charges are nullified when real-time streaming is put into action. Therefore live-streaming helps businesses minimize costs and is cost effective.

A recent study from E-marketer, states that live streaming content is projected to raise more than 163.4 million consumers in the US this year.

⚡️ Read Also: 9 best live shopping apps to boost your online sales 🌟

How To Increase Sales With Live Streaming For E-Commerce?

Your call to action is important. What else do you think is crucial to increase sales with live streaming? If you don’t have any clue about it then you can start right away with the following steps below,  

An internet data states about 82 % of people use live streaming for e-commerce and the numbers are expected to reach much higher in the future.  Now let’s get into the strategies,

Understanding Your Audience and Platform Is Important

To whom you target your products, what makes them your audiences, where do they usually purchase, what kind of products they mostly look for, the platform you need to sell your products, ask these questions to understand your audience. 

The Platform or a Website

The more user friendly and viewership friendly your platform is, the more you can influence the sales percentage and consumer behavior. Platforms like OnTheFly have multi streaming capabilities to increase the potential of your sales .

What Is Your Live Stream Format

Customers are more inclined to the way you present your live stream and then comes your product, work on your live streaming format, make it simplified and there are three types of live streams: tutorials style format, behind-the-scenes videos, and product demonstrations.  Work on these three and choose the one which suits the product and the market.

Engagement And Interaction Activities

These two will bring in more value and build a sense of community via chat, polls and other engagement activities . What matters most is the output and benefits they carry from the live stream, introduce discounts, gifts, and quizzes  from the live stream you have presented and appreciate your customers.

A great product with the right platform sells by itself but a great product with zero strategies and a wrong platform brings disaster. Follow the above steps and customize it according to your needs.

What Are The Best E-Commerce Live Streaming Platforms?

Creating compelling content might not be the only result driving component for a successful sales in streaming. Investing in the right live streaming platform is the solution that brings profitable end results.

And the the top three multistreaming platforms and their key benefits are mentioned below,

1. OnTheFly

Onthefly is a powerful multistreaming platform that supports live streaming e-commerce with all its professional broadcasting features.

Key Features Of Onthefly

• Guest invite- Connect experts from the showcasing content and increase the sales potential.
• Simulcasting- Stream video content in multiple social media platforms and enjoy higher sales margin.
• Branding- Let the world know your brand with brand building overlays in your own style.
• Recording- Step out and save your live streaming videos in high quality.
• Chat services- Interact with the viewers and create auctions and understand the demands of your customers.

To create your e-commerce live stream in OnTheFly click here.

Pros of OnTheFly

• Multistreaming
• Invite multiple guests to live stream
• Studio-grade recording
• Cloud storage
• Pro-editing tools
• Host podcasts and webinars
• Web-based browser

Cons of OnTheFly

• No mobile application available

2. Restream

Restream is a productive streaming platform that fosters e-commerce for businesses with multi streaming capabilities.

Restream Multistreaming Functionalities

• Stream scheduler– Drive a flowing stream without abrupting the flow using a stream scheduler.
• Chat feature- Interact within the stream window and create productive engagements.
• Analytics- Drive insights for each stream with the analytics tool.

Pros of Restream

• Simulcasting and live broadcasting
• In-built chat
• Gaming support with mobile streaming
• Customisable live stream Studio

Cons of Restream

• No branding options

3. Streamyard

Streamyard is an online streaming channel focusing on multi-streaming and live broadcasting on multiple social platforms.

Streamyard Broadcasting Features

• Multistreaming– Live stream to all multiple social media platforms with ease
• Brand show– Showcase the brand identity with overlays and logos.
• Video repurposing- Reuse the existing videos into exciting reels and shorts using the edit tool

Pros of Streamyard

• Multistreaming
• Branded Streams
• Save live streams 
• Invite Guest for Interviews
• Podcasting
• On-Air Webinars
• Video Repurposing

Cons of Streamyard

• Enterprise based plans, not for beginners

4. OneStream Live

Are you in search of a robust live streaming solution for simulcasting in the dynamic world of Ecommerce? Look no further – OneStream Live is here to simplify your live streaming experience. OneStream Live stands out as a cloud-based live streaming solution that empowers you to seamlessly go live directly from your browser with OneStream Live Studio.

This versatile platform allows you to live stream through various third-party applications like Zoom, OBS, XSplit, Ecamm, and more. Moreover, you can broadcast pre-recorded videos in real-time across 45+ social media platforms and the web simultaneously.

For those without a dedicated website but eager to explore live streaming on one, OneStream Live offers Hosted Live Pages. This feature enables you to craft a personalized webpage tailored for your live streaming endeavors, providing a seamless experience for both you and your audience.

Key Features Of OneStream Live

• Multistreaming
• Embed Player
• Unified Live Chat
• Playlist Streaming
• Recording
• Team Management

Ongoing Live Streaming Trends 2024

In china the live commerce market is booming crazily with the whopping expected reach of $423 billion by 2022.

The live commerce sales from 2019 to 2022 is categorized as,

• Apparel and fashion: 35.6%
• Beauty- 7.6%
• Food- 7.4%
• Electronics goods- 4.6%
• Home decor- 3.4%
• Automobile to local ticket sales- 0.2%

Source-everbright securities.

With the share of streaming buyers percentage across the globe, live streaming is creating an inevitable space in the sales market.

With that being said, catch up with these following trends to excel in e-commerce.

• One-On-One With Product Experts

An interactive space with experts creates a zone to shop from the advice a viewer carries from the streaming. This is one of the best ways to increase the sales numbers for the products

Industries that can benefit from this: Apparel, beauty and skincare, food, travel, home decor.

• Influencer Marketing

Influential marketing is taking its stand in all aspects of shopping in today’s world. Content creators are a great tool to influence the selling of products and services.

Industries that can benefit from this: Apparel, beauty and skincare, food, travel, home decor, Online products, the educational industry, clothing, offline shops and brands looking for business promotions.

• Ar And Vr Marketing

Infusing augmented reality( AR) and virtual reality (VR) in shopping while streaming it through a performing QR code or links to showcase the viewers an experience to own the product in virtual reality will enhance the sales of the product.

Industries that can benefit from this: Home decor, electronic gadgets, optical and home appliances.

• Influencer Marketing

To reach a million customers you don’t have to buy premium membership any more, the easy way out is to multistream. Multistreaming brings in all social platforms at one space and broadcasts your live stream into multiple platforms at the same time in real-time.

This enhances your viewership, brings in new customers and results in more sales .

• Blockchain and NFTs

Blockchain, cryptocurrency and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are the new world order where shoppers are using bitcoins and NFT tokens for purchasing. Celebrity avatars, art works, movies are using NFT tokens. Fashion & sports brands like Nike and Gucci are selling virtual shoes with NFT tokens.

Conclusion

Before making your mark in live streaming e-commerce, get into the basics and clearly understand the customer’s mindset and needs. Live streaming platforms are the backbone of any e-commerce sales and OnTheFly is proven and amplifies sales with the right tools present in it. Make sure you go through the platform features here and make use of it.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)