The rise of live-commerce and shoppertainment
I was introduced to F-commerce, which refers to conducting online business activities on a Facebook page or application, when my wife started her own F-commerce initiative in 2016. She had asked me to help design a logo, a loyalty programme and obviously boost the page and its products.
She then started her own venture, called Shopping Glowrist, in 2017. She now imports different gift items, clothes and accessories from Thailand and India which are sold through her page.
And it was through her that I first learned about online streaming and how it can be used by F-commerce merchants to show their products live. Potential customers can also ask questions about the products during a live session, which reminds me of TVC or Asian Sky Shops but with more interaction from viewer's end.
Statista, a German research firm, recently said Bangladesh's e-commerce market is currently valued at $1.6 billion, which will double to $3 billion by 2023 on the back of a digital foundation laid down by the government and a young and tech-savvy population.
According to the Statista report, the online fashion market in Bangladesh is currently worth $598 million and it has the prospect to reach up to $1.24 billion by 2023. The online sales of toys and hobby products stand at $260 million and it can almost be doubled to $442 million by 2023 as well.
Since the online fashion market included dresses, makeup and skincare, it is one of the fasted growing e-commerce sectors in Bangladesh and so, the popularity of the Live Commerce will also increase as selling these products online requires live streaming.
In Bangladesh, sellers go on Facebook Live to promote items, respond to questions and take instant orders. Some products attract larger crowds than others. On an average, there are 100-200 live-streaming sessions performed in Bangladesh daily, which increases to over 500 during festive seasons. Sometimes there are 1,000-2,000 viewers in each live session. Unfortunately, there is no reliable data on what amount of sales a merchant generates from each session.
Taobao, a Chinese online shopping website, launched a live streaming feature four years ago and is now dominating the market with $28 billion in sales in 2019. This number grew 150 per cent year-on-year between 2017 to 2019.
Despite the staggering growth, it only counts for 3 per cent of Taobao's entire GMV. Less than 30 per cent of its merchants have tried the new way of selling, according to an executive at a data company we interviewed.
The huge potential of this market attracted more players to join the race. E-commerce companies in South East Asia are taking inspiration from China's 'shoppertainment' trend to sell goods during live streams. Lazada and Shopee are among those that believe live stream e-commerce shopping can greatly help brands and sellers to connect with audiences in South East Asia.
Currently I am in Thailand to implement a couple of projects and experience the growth of overall live-commerce in Thailand.
I had the opportunity to visit Shopee and Lazada and talk to them and both organisations believe that live streaming helps bridge the omnichannel retail gap as consumers no longer need to visit a physical store to see a product or speak to a store attendant to fulfil an order.
Lazada has its own live streaming feature in the app, named LazLive TV. They also launched the LazTalent show, where they search for new livestream stars. More than 3,000 grassroots live-streamers and brand promoters were onboard LazLive during the contest period.
The customers' ever-increasing demand for easy and convenient shopping gave rise to live-commerce. The frequent change in their lifestyle and online habits have made brands and influencers take advantage of live-streaming to enhance their online presence and increase revenue.
Live streaming is a great way to build communities, tell stories and engage with others in real-time. It builds up that know, like, and trust factor at a super-accelerated rate.
Shoppers are eager to spend time on platforms that offer them easy, faster, and innovative ways to shop. With such technology penetrating the retail industry, live commerce will become the new face of shopping.
Moreover, if an e-commerce platform wants to attract more merchants, it should give more ways to present products to customers. Sellers can instantly connect with their customers through live streams that require just a mobile phone and a decent internet connection.
Sellers are able to address queries through the live chat function in real-time, eliminating the hassle of going through individual questions on item listings.
Live-commerce is a phenomenon that is grabbing the attention across the world. The technical barriers to live streaming are lower now due to increased smartphone penetration and the affordable cost of high-resolution front cameras.
Live streaming is no more a mere branding platform. It should become a vital digital property for various e-commerce platforms in Bangladesh that will allow customers to directly interact with sellers and purchase items in real-time.
There is no surprise that companies, whether big or small, are trying to integrate the live streaming platform in their e-commerce businesses.
The writer is field operations director of Next Billion PTE Limited
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