Live shopping on TikTok refers to the ability for brands and influencers to broadcast live videos where they promote and sell products directly to viewers. It offers a unique and engaging shopping experience that is more interactive than simply viewing photos or videos. Live shopping allows sellers to showcase products, demonstrate features, answer questions, and facilitate purchases in real-time [1].
With over 1 billion monthly active users, TikTok presents a massive opportunity for brands to connect with consumers and drive sales through live shopping. The platform’s shoppable video features and integration with ecommerce partners makes it easy for viewers to quickly purchase featured items without ever leaving the app. This convenience and entertainment of live shopping results in higher conversion rates compared to traditional social media marketing.
History of Live Shopping
Live shopping originated in China with the launch of Taobao Live in 2016. Taobao Live is a prominent feature of Alibaba’s e-commerce platform Taobao and is considered the pioneer of livestreaming e-commerce. According to A brief history of Live Shopping, China was the first market to widely adopt live shopping. This innovation allowed sellers to demonstrate products and directly interact with customers in real-time through live video streams.
Live shopping gained immense popularity in China due to its interactive format and ability to mimic an in-person shopping experience. Chinese consumers embraced the engaging nature of livestreams and the chance to ask sellers questions before purchasing. As reported by On The Radar: The rise of ‘live shopping’, Alibaba’s Taobao Live is the largest platform for livestream e-commerce sales in China. However, other Chinese tech giants like JD.com, Pinduoduo, Kuaishou, and Douyin also operate successful live shopping services.
How Live Shopping Works on TikTok
Live shopping on TikTok allows sellers to broadcast live videos where they showcase and promote products to viewers. During the livestream, viewers can browse featured products, ask questions, and place orders directly within the video.
To enable live shopping, brands need to have a TikTok business account and TikTok Shop store set up. They can then schedule and promote a live shopping stream through the TikTok app. When the stream goes live, the videos appear on the seller’s profile and the viewer’s For You feed if they follow the account.
In the live video, the host presents and describes products, highlighting features and benefits. Viewers interact by liking, commenting, and asking questions. At the bottom of the video is a shopping shelf showing the products featured, prices, and a “Shop Now” button.
Viewers can tap on products to view details, select options like size and color, and add items to their cart without leaving the video. After the broadcast, the shopping shelf remains active for 24 hours so customers can return and complete purchases. Brands can also save live videos as VODs (video on demand) that continue enabling product sales.
According to TikTok, live shopping results in 3-5x more comments and 6x more likes compared to regular video views. The interactive format keeps viewers more engaged. For sellers, real-time interaction with customers can lead to higher conversion rates and sales.
Sources:
https://influencermarketinghub.com/live-shopping-tiktok/
https://ads.tiktok.com/help/article/getting-started-live-shopping-ads?lang=en
Benefits for Brands
Live shopping on TikTok offers several key benefits for brands looking to engage with users and drive sales on the platform:
Real-time engagement is a major advantage of TikTok live shopping. Brands can interact with viewers in real-time through the live comments and have a two-way conversation. This creates a personal connection and allows brands to respond to questions, give style advice, and tailor the presentation based on viewer feedback.
TikTok live shopping also enables promotions and limited-time offers. Brands can showcase deals and drive urgency by making discounts only available during the livestream. This incentivizes viewers to purchase during the broadcast before the promotion ends. According to Influencer Marketing Hub, time-limited offers help increase conversion rates.
Additionally, livestreams allow brands to demonstrate products and how to use them. Giving a product demo and tutorial in real-time makes the shopping experience more engaging and interactive. Viewers get to see the products in action before purchasing. This builds trust and confidence in the products.
Overall, the interactivity, promotions, and demos of TikTok live shopping provide a highly engaging experience that helps brands make connections, showcase offerings, and drive sales.
Benefits for Viewers
Live shopping on TikTok offers several benefits for viewers who tune into livestreams. One of the biggest draws is entertainment and interactivity. Live shopping often features influencers or other engaging hosts who showcase products in an entertaining, performance-like way. Viewers can chat with the host and other viewers in real-time, making it a fun and interactive experience 1.
Additionally, live shopping allows viewers to discover new products and take advantage of exclusive deals and discounts offered just during the livestream. For example, brands may offer limited-time promo codes or flash sales only available to live viewers. This creates a sense of urgency and excitement around shopping 2. Ultimately, the mix of entertainment, interactivity, exclusivity, and FOMO makes live shopping a compelling experience for TikTok users.
Notable Success Stories
Many top brands have found great success with TikTok Live Shopping. For example, in 2021, MAC Cosmetics generated over $50 million in sales from just 6 TikTok livestream events, with their largest event driving $15 million in sales in one day (Source). Another major beauty brand, NYX Cosmetics, saw their first TikTok live shopping event result in a 500% increase in daily sales revenue.
Fashion brands have also seen stellar results. Levi’s hosted a live shopping event in late 2021 that drove a 20X increase in daily sales. The event had over 4 million views and 200,000 items added to carts. Tommy Hilfiger’s first live shopping campaign garnered over 5.1 million video views and a 10X increase in sales (Source).
Beyond fashion and beauty, brands like Ulta Beauty, Fabletics, Marc Jacobs, Sephora, and Ralph Lauren have all hosted successful TikTok Live Shopping events resulting in millions of views and substantial spikes in sales.
Tips for Brands
Brands looking to leverage live shopping on TikTok should follow some best practices when setting up their campaigns. Here are some tips for success:
Prepare thoroughly. Have a plan for your live stream, including showcasing products, special promotions, giveaways etc. Make sure your products are in stock and ready to ship. Review TikTok’s live streaming features and test them out in advance.
Be authentic and engaging. TikTok is about fun, entertaining content. Bring your brand personality into the live stream with an enthusiastic host who interacts with viewers.
Promote ahead of time. Let your followers know when you’ll be live streaming and what you’ll be featuring. Create excitement and drive participation in the chat.
Offer exclusives. Give viewers special deals, discounts, sneak peeks etc. that they can only get during your live stream. This creates urgency and incentivizes purchases.
Make it interactive. Take questions from viewers, offer giveaways and promotions during the stream, and leverage features like adding links or hashtags.
Track results. Analyze performance after the live stream – sales, viewership, engagement etc. Refine future live streams based on what worked well.
According to the article on DataFeedWatch.com, the key is creating an engaging experience that captures audience attention1.
Future Outlook
Live shopping on TikTok is still in the early growth phase, but is projected to continue rapid expansion in the coming years. According to Insider Intelligence, the number of US TikTok users engaging in social commerce is expected to grow 34.8% in 2023, signaling strong momentum for live shopping growth (source).
TikTok is actively developing new features to enhance the live shopping experience. In 2022, TikTok introduced Live Shopping profiles, shopping tabs, product links in captions, and integrated payments. Further improvements like better product display, mobile checkout, and enhanced analytics are likely on the horizon.
As live shopping matures, TikTok could potentially integrate the format into short-form videos beyond just live streams. Shoppable video ads, shop tabs on regular TikTok videos, and in-video shopping integrations will create more touchpoints between viewers and brands.
Industry analysts predict TikTok’s massive user base, video-first interface, and youthful demographics will drive live shopping to become a multi-billion dollar opportunity for brands in the years ahead. It is an exciting new frontier for ecommerce.
Key Takeaways
TikTok’s live shopping feature allows brands to host real-time video streams showcasing products and enabling viewers to purchase directly within the app.
Live shopping offers several benefits for both brands and viewers – it provides an engaging shopping experience and enables seamless purchasing without leaving TikTok.
Several brands like Sephora, Walmart and Levi’s have experienced major success with TikTok live shopping, driving high engagement and sales.
Brands should leverage features like pinned comments to help viewers shop and team up with influencers to attract existing fan bases to live shopping events.
Live shopping’s popularity is expected to continue growing, as younger consumers become increasingly interested in interactive social commerce experiences.
Overall, TikTok’s live shopping capability provides brands an innovative way to authentically connect with target audiences and drive product discovery, engagement and sales.
FAQs
Here are answers to some frequently asked questions about live shopping on TikTok:
What is live shopping on TikTok?
Live shopping on TikTok allows influencers and brands to broadcast live videos where they promote and sell products to viewers. Viewers can tap on products during the livestream to learn more and make purchases directly within the app.
How does shopping on live TikTok work?
During a TikTok livestream, the host will showcase and demonstrate products, provide links to purchase, and interact with viewers. Viewers can tap on product links in the live video to browse, add items to cart, and check out. Purchases happen directly within the TikTok app via integrated ecommerce partners.
What are the benefits of live shopping for brands?
Live shopping allows brands to showcase products in an engaging, interactive format and convert viewers into customers in real-time. It provides a more personalized shopping experience that helps brands make direct connections with consumers.
What do viewers get out of TikTok live shopping?
For viewers, TikTok live shopping provides entertainment along with opportunities to discover new products and ask questions before buying. The interactive format makes viewers feel more connected to hosts and influencers.
How successful has TikTok live shopping been so far?
Major brands like Walmart, Levi’s, and Sephora have hosted live shopping events on TikTok that have driven large sales volumes. One Walmart livestream reportedly generated over $10 million in sales in just five hours.
