Shopatainment: Video Shopping as Entertainment | Andreessen Horowitz

As online video platforms seek a business model beyond advertising, and short videos start to look more and more like commercials, it turns out that commerce may be video’s killer app. And not only could video apps become ecommerce apps, but all ecommerce apps may also have to become video apps. Various platforms from China show us how this can be ... See more

It's a digital age QVC but with the added FOMO that the other thousand viewers could buy out the stock before you get there. Driven by a fear of counterfeit goods and a demand for experiential retail, viewers love the instant gratification of seeing the product in action then immediately buying it. The backdrop to the buying frenzy is a holistic e-... See more

Livestreaming as a medium is a conflation of a product as well as as a distribution channel. It exists on a spectrum of being pure entertainment on one-side and a new go-to-market strategies on the other, with different kinds of monetisation models for each side. While western startups have centred around the 'livestreaming as product' theme, China... See more

So what is it that makes live shopping special in the first place? The format, which combines video and commerce, has three important benefits: storytelling, intimacy, authenticity

For The New Optimists, livestreaming will continue to be a dominant shopping option. Why? This is a highly social, on-the-go group, and livestream allows them to interact and shop virtually anywhere. This form of conversational commerce is mainstream in China (livestream shopping generated $4.4bn in sales in 2018), Japan, Southeast Asia and South K... See more