Subject areaChannels and tools
Also known aslive shoppinglivestream shopping
Live commerce (or live shopping) is selling during a live video: the host shows products, answers questions in the chat and the audience buys without leaving the screen.
It was born in China, where Alibaba launched Taobao Live in 2016, the same year Jack Ma announced New Retail; from there it spread with TikTok Shop and live streams on social networks.
It is an onlife form of the old TV shopping: the experience is that of a store with a sales assistant, but it happens online and leaves measurable data on who watches, who asks and who buys.
An example
A cookware manufacturer runs a live stream every Thursday in which a chef cooks with products from the catalogue. During the stream a purchase link appears, and the products used in the recipe sell within the following half hour.
Enrico Giubertoni. Licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0: you may quote, translate and adapt this entry with the author’s name and a link, stating any changes. For commercial use, write to info@enricogiubertoni.com
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