Facebook’s recent announcement that it was shutting down its live shopping feature on October 1 doesn’t mean that live shopping is dead, but proves how difficult it is to make the experience pleasant for both brand and consumer. Live shopping is an amazing new channel that reflects the personal relationship consumers want to have with brands today. It is the closest comparison to bringing the retail experience online.
Who knows the actual reason for Facebook’s decision? Was it a lack of creators/brands using it? Was its streaming technology difficult to enable? Perhaps it is the fact that at the end of the day, Facebook is a social platform where people go to distribute, view,and engage with content. It's not where consumers go to shop.
Whatever the reason, Facebook Live Shopping is gone, but live shopping continues to grow. It is a $480 billion market in China and an $11 billion market in the United States. Verticals like beauty, fashion and home decor are accelerating its utility into their strategy, and there is ample opportunity for technology companies to build an easy-to-use application for ecommerce companies everywhere. The reason for the growth is many, but here are a few reasons for it:
1) It does not require the capital investment paid social needs to scale
According to Wordstream, average CTR hovers around 1%. That means ecommerce companies have to really focus on their skills as a performance marketer and have a higher-cost product to not rely on volume to significantly increase revenue.
2) Gen Z shoppers prefer unique experiences
This generation has only lived in the world of the internet, so it takes more to earn their loyalty and trust. Giving them something engaging and unique is a strong move towards catching their eye and gaining their trust
3) Social followers don't equal customers
Having significant follower counts for your ecommerce brand is an achievement. That doesn't necessarily translate into customers. It is a component of your brand, but it is far more difficult to turn into a revenue channel. Live shopping technology is software designed to earn revenue.
Reactive was built to help create the future of ecommerce. When your business uses Reactive, you bring live stream technology natively to your website, decreasing your advertising costs and delivering experiences that consumers demand today.
If you are interested in bringing a live selling experience to your website, check out Reactive. Start your free trial now, or contact sales@reactive.live to request a live demo.
