Online shopping has become routine for many people. But what if you could purchase desired products while watching a live stream from a company you like, or even through influencers you follow? This is the proposal of live-commerce, a sales strategy that’s booming in other countries and is already being successfully explored by major brands here – with huge potential to be further invested in by national companies to expand their market reach and, thereby, boost their profits.
Adoption of this strategy has been significantly improving around the world in recent years. In China, for example, data from the High-Quality Development Report of the Live-Streaming E-Commerce Industry showed that the penetration rate of this type of e-commerce grew from 4.9% to 37.8% between 2019 and 2023, reaching about 597 million users just last year.
This popularity was quickly noticed by other nations, including Brazil. This year, many brands took the opportunity to test this strategy of combining live streams with online sales during Black Friday, generating enormous revenues that drew market attention to the possibilities and opportunities live-commerce can bring to their businesses.
After all, besides the fact that many Brazilians frequently shop online, further favored by the growth of social networks, we have also witnessed the popularity of live streams in the country in recent years – mainly due to the pandemic, where, being at home, digital operations ended up becoming the only way for many companies to remain open remotely.
Influencers have also gained prominence in this regard, forming partnerships with specific brands to promote products to their loyal follower base. By becoming spokespersons, they transfer credibility and security to their fans in promoting these items, engaging more and more people to purchase these products.
Chronologically, this live-stream sales strategy is not new to the market, as many broadcasters already did this in the past through scarcity pitches for their items, aiming to generate a sense of urgency among consumers. What’s gaining so much traction now with live-commerce is the fact that, with the support of social networks, influencers, and technological tools, it enables greater interactivity and personalization of products.
In these live streams, companies can make the relationship with their target audience more dynamic and less rigid than with traditional e-commerce. Leveraging real-time engagement with customers to interact through Q&As, offer exclusive deals for viewers, conduct polls, giveaways, and many other activities that engage, attract, and retain more people.
Many national broadcasters are also exploring this scheme in their programs, aiming to reach an audience less inclined to social media but interested in certain products. A very intelligent sales strategy, increasing reach beyond the digital space.
The live-commerce market still has much room to expand, with ample space for companies to innovate, be creative, and strengthen their name against competitors. But, like all commerce, the same service challenges remain, highlighting the importance of managing all aspects of communication with their audience before, during, and after the broadcast.
Even though social networks are a very attractive stage for this, there is still a vast backstage supporting this process – which should consist of omnichannel strategies that unite robust digital channels to complement the customer journey, allowing them to choose where and how to communicate with their brands.
With a well-structured consumer base, there are many communication channels that can be explored to promote these live streams, announce the products to be featured, and, after the broadcast, continue customer service with the same interaction and personalization, supporting them with any subsequent demands.
A major resource available in the market today, in this sense, is RCS, Google’s messaging system that enables sending texts, images, GIFs, and even full carousels in messages, secured by an authentication seal verified by the multinational itself.
Much more can be explored by companies with live-commerce, already proving to be a trend capable of significantly boosting corporate sales and audience engagement. These results, however, will only be achieved with the aforementioned care, ensuring users have all the necessary support to guide and interact in their shopping journey through preferred channels, creating memorable experiences and relationships between the parties.
