Live commerce: The new digital customer experience

Including the likes of TikTok (Douyin in China) video technologies are increasingly at the service of e-commerce, and greatly influence the live commerce craze. In 2021*, 81% of internet traffic will be accounted for in the format of video. 11% of this figure is accounted for by live. This format is naturally favored by major e-commerce players such as Alibaba and Amazon. An emerging trend in Asia 2 years ago, it is considered today as the new force of e-commerce generating +200B$ sales in the Chinese market in 2020.

The tool is well-tested and super-efficient. Based on the teleshopping of yesteryear and enhanced with a touch of modernism and spontaneity inherited from social networks, influencers or ‘hosts’ broadcast a live video from their smartphone to promote products available for purchase directly in the video. The community interacts via chat and asks questions.

An icon in the industry is Li Jiaqi. The 27-year-old man known as China’s ‘King of Lipstick’ sold 15,000 lipsticks in just 5 minutes, totaling $145M of sales during Singles’ Day.

*Source: Cisco Visual Networking Index Predicts Global Annual IP Traffic to Exceed Three Zettabytes by 2021

In recent years, retail chains have been turning to digital solutions. These so-called “omnichannel” solutions are flourishing. From a consumer point of view, they used to allow you to pre-reserve a product or pick up packages purchased online in-store. Live videos allow retailers to go further by presenting new products and answering live questions from their community.

Today, the internet is the world’s largest store. But the digital experience is still relatively cold, and brand messaging doesn’t beat the in-store experience.

Here is the challenge: how do brands and retailers unite the online and physical shopping experience? Although consumers are increasingly online, they are still constantly looking for new experiences and a connection to the brands they love.

The authenticity of communication on social networks and from influencers has completely changed the tone of commercial messages expected by consumers. According to a study by Gartner, 64% of consumers put experience before price. Spending an average of 5 hours a week shopping online, 80% of visitors would make more purchases if they received advice or information from a real salesperson. Spockee humanizes the digital relationship, makes it more dynamic and most importantly more ‘real’, allowing retailers to connect their salespeople to their brand’s e-commerce site.

With Spockee, in-store salespeople can directly respond to a video call from an online customer and accompany them during their shopping experience much like a personal shopper, helping them discover all the brand’s products. The Spockee application also makes it possible to create video Shopping Parties to present a selection of products to an array of spectators connected to the brand’s e-commerce site and social networks.

The French brand Nocibé recently deployed the One-to-One beauty consultation service and live product demonstrations (Shopping Party) on its online store.

As a recognized cosmetic distributor, Nocibé distinguishes itself by training in-store staff to expertly assist their customers. Driven by its growing digital business, Nocibé must ensure that the online experience and level of service is as close as possible to the in-store customer experience. Thanks to the Spockee One-to-One tool, Nocibé’s beauty consultants can now bring their expertise to customers online as if they were in-store.

Nocibé’s main objectives are:

• Provide the expertise of in-store advisors when shopping online
• Bring the privileged and personalized relationship from in-store online

Grain de Malice uses Spockee’s Shopping Party service to host a fashion event every two weeks on its e-commerce website. The women’s fashion brand that cares about its community wants to build connections with its customers and strengthen the brand by showing new collections from a different angle.

During the event, product specialists are invited to help the audience discover their work by talking about the materials and the story behind each product in a distinctly modern and community-oriented tone!

Grain de Malice’s objectives are:

• Boost the launch of new collections
• Create a customer experience around the brand’s message and connections
• Discover the inner workings of the brand by presenting jobs such as product manager, designer, etc.

Click here to learn more about the solutions offered by our partner Spockee!

Photo by Ashim D’Silva – Unsplash