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A new Forrester study commissioned by AliExpress suggests that European customers are open to experimenting with new technologies to enhance their online shopping experiences.
What is shoppertainment?
Shoppertainment, live video shopping, live streaming commerce, live stream shopping — a dear child has many names. Shoppertainment is the innovative format of combining ecommerce and entertainment. This new practice provides genuinely immersive and engaging digital experiences with a high conversion rate to drive transactions.
Forrester Consulting conducted an online survey with 14,460 adults in France, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom, and the findings suggest that shoppertainment is definitely on the rise in Europe. Although in-store shopping is still the most popular option, 70 percent of surveyed consumers expressed an interest in shoppertainment, especially in live video shopping on ecommerce platforms. The future is live — remember where you heard it first!
Trending content and customer priorities
Shoppertainment is an ideal choice for purchasing electronics, fashion, and cosmetics products. Consumers engage most with live streaming events featuring short, trustworthy, informative content and hosts they can relate to. Content is still king!
While live video shopping is trending across Europe, different countries have different priorities. Spanish consumers are more price-conscious, and they love exclusive deals and local product experts. Polish consumers appreciate the social aspects of the live shopping format, no wonder they showed the highest interest in shoppertainment. UK shoppers want trustworthy, mobile-friendly content. French customers are the most time-conscious and are slightly more impulsive: They are likely to buy a product if an influencer they like recommends it (even they don’t need it).
The study focused on four primary forms of shoppertainment:
- live streaming on e-commerce platforms
- live streaming on social media
- product content posted by influencers on social media
- interactive gaming features
The findings revealed that consumers are most interested in live streaming on ecommerce platforms.
Key takeaways
The study shares some great recommendations for retailers and sellers interested in embracing this new technology.
- Be an early adopter! Don’t wait for too long to explore and experiment with this new format. The earlier you start, the more know-how advantage you will have over your competitors.
- Plan your investments wisely. Do you have a product launch coming up or a brand anniversary that could generate some hype? Your customers would probably spend more while watching a live stream. Half of success is in the timing?
- Get started and experiment with various setups — this is essential to be able to create a live-streaming commerce strategy. Experiment with influencers, lengths, product combos, and always track the results!
- Listen to what your customers want and do your best to engage them. What makes your audience tick? Short live streaming sessions? Exclusive deals? Local hosts? Find out and make it happen!
