How Streaming Is Transforming Shopping?

The Evolving Retail Business

Even before the world grinded to a halt, retail shops have been closing their doors. The convenience of online shopping meant that most people were choosing to shop from the comfort of their own homes, instead of venturing to the local high street or by going to the city. It’s a growing trend that we’ve been seeing since online shopping skyrocketed almost a decade ago.
The pandemic and lockdowns led to an increase in store closures. In 2020, a lot of retail stores closed indefinitely, showing that keeping business as usual is no longer a possibility. For businesses to grow and continue to strive, they have to adapt to the revolving retail business.
How is online shopping changing? Chatbots and smartphone applications already render online customer service more fun. You can get an instant response for almost any question you have around a product, especially from brands that have a human at the end of their chat windows.
We now have come to receive tailored advice and advertisements from machine learning algorithms. Have you ever glanced at a product online then seen dozens of advertisements for it in the days afterwards? That’s the algorithm starting to get to know more about you.
And same-day delivery seems to be usual. If it isn’t a standard option, it’s something we’re all willingly to pay a little extra for if we need the item in a rush. Online tracking means we can see exactly where the item is and stalk it under it’s arrival.
E-commerce has already impacted people's lives.  When shopping online, however, certain elements of the in-store atmosphere are lost. We don’t get the joy of being able to ‘window shop’ the same way that we once did. How often did you go into a store and find something that catches your eye across the room?
Shopping has long been regarded as a sensory activity. Sight, touch, vibration, odor, and taste are all important when deciding whether or not to buy items. Any time you walk through a department store, you’re always met by at least one brand ambassador handing you a perfume sample or a candle to smell.
While COVID-19 will no doubt have changed this, it’s an experience we all associate with in-store shopping.
Retailers are struggling to recreate these physical elements of shopping now that the internet has become the primary way for customers to explore products and services. But it's no news that ordering items digitally is now more convenient. How about the interaction factors?  Would buying online be as much exciting as in-store shopping?
What can brands do to recreate the in-store experience online so that customers can have the best of both worlds? Customers still want to have a unique experience when they shop with you, just like they would have when they come in to visit your store.
Cue in real-time shopping. To quote Hannah Montana – it’s the best of both worlds.
Today's businesses are seeking to bring people closer to the in-person experience by combining shopping online and live streaming. It’s a hybrid that brings you the personal touches of in-store shopping with real-time information and a two-way connection, while allowing for the convenience of online shopping.

Live Commerce Types

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Live streaming has the potential to transform e-commerce in much the same manner as online shopping did twenty years earlier. This fusion of video stream and shopping, called "live commerce," increases interaction, reduces the distance between consumer and brand, drives sales.
Unlike at-home shopping channels, livestreaming has the advantage of creating a more streamlined channel of communication between the host and audience. While most home shopping channels offer a mixture of live and pre-recorded shows, livestreaming is by its nature current and in real-time. Along with livestreaming, you have online marketplaces that act as a facilitator for those shows and brands.

Let's look at a couple of the most popular live shoppable media formats.

Online Marketplaces

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Marketplaces allow customers to find out more about brands, ask questions and eventually buy items straight from the Livestream. The addition of livestreaming has played a vital role in increasing buyer attention. What is the explanation for this? The opportunity to buy products and services over the internet is no longer an innovation. Online marketplaces would become redundant unless additional dimensions of engagement are introduced.
Live streaming can provide the closest experience to "being there" for all those customers tuning in from their home by bringing live streaming interaction.  Real-time accessibility gives the excitement of a real market, engaging in immediate action and  increase community participation. Jumble platform helps brands to get closer to their customers and build this real time connection with them.

Influencer Streaming

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Celebrities of today aren't really seen on TV. Reality shows helped put media personalities like Kim Kardashian on the map, and an increasing number of celebrities are gaining fame through social media every day.
Some of the biggest celebrities today have gotten their starts on platforms like YouTube and Instagram. Beauty brands have become billion-dollar companies after being launched by influencers or by collaborating with influencers who have millions of followers. Within a few years, ‘influencer marketing’ went from a vague concept with no rules to the main form of digital marketing for any contemporary brand.
As a result, new revenue opportunities have arisen. These influencers are now able to make a comfortable living – rivalling that of mainstream celebrities – by using their communities as a sales tool.
Influencers can use their personal brand and the power of live streaming to endorse their preferred brands in an interactive format, as they already have a large audience. Influencer streaming started on social media, but it has since expanded to e-commerce platforms like Jumble. The format has the highest user engagement among younger demographics. Tapping into the potential of livestreaming can help you grow your business and expand your customer base.

Live Shows

There's a lot of similarity between live events and the above-mentioned categories. Even so, newsworthy events like product launches, limited-edition drops, and retail holidays like Singles Day, Black Friday lend themselves exceptionally well to shoppable live broadcasts on Jumble.
You can base your live shows around a specific event, whether it’s one of the holidays we’ve just mentioned, or something fun like a new product release. Live shows work the same way as influencer streaming. You can choose to facilitate it with members of your own team or tap into influencers to incorporate their audience into your marketing.
Viewers can also buy any of the items seen on the product launch via Jumble platform.  Fans now can buy directly in real-time thanks to live streaming.

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