The Next Frontier of Shopping Will Be Livestreamed

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

“A major trend going forward will be elevated livestream experiences,” said Alibaba Group Vice President Yu Feng, who oversees content e-commerce at Taobao. “More and more consumers have adopted livestreaming as a way to shop. It has become an irreversible trend and, at the same time, an increasingly competitive space.”

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