Live shopping isn’t coming—it’s already here

alibaba also worked to make live commerce a key highlight of singles' day. sellers were incentivized to participate: livestreaming merchants reaped traffic. alibaba also invested in a spate of promo events, like livestreaming the annual gala and eight-hour fashion show.

While this motivation may be latent—even subconscious, for most—in the U.S., it’s an economic driver that’s well understood in China, fueling a thriving video ecommerce market. In Asia, the powerful force of video entertainment shopping has spawned a livestream ecommerce industry akin to professional movie production. It’s more than a place where a... See more