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Why live streaming is taking over e-commerce

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Live Streaming taking over Ecommerce

E-commerce live streams used to just be different marketing strategies that big brands implemented to increase their brand awareness or their social media followers. But after the continuous growth we see in Asia – things in the U.S. are starting to change very quickly

Most big brands already know that live streaming e-commerce is a huge hit in China, and it is just starting to grow in other parts of the world. But as things are starting to really take shape and form, the question asked is: Why?

How did it come to be that one young man behind a camera, without a fancy studio or prior ‘home shopping network’ experience, is able to generate staggering numbers? A few days ago one Chinese live-streamer generated over 2 billion dollars in product sales during his live stream. Just to put this into perspective, we know Amazon generated a little over $1 billion per day in 2020, so seeing one individual generate double their entire daily revenue is something marketers can no longer ignore.

Live streaming e-commerce in China will generate $300 billion dollars in 2021

To understand why live-streaming is taking over e-commerce by storm, let’s first understand how this all started.

Live-streaming e-commerce is the act of performing live in front of a camera and streaming it to an audience, in real-time. This means that when you are broadcasted on a Livestream platform – shoppers can directly interact with you by asking questions or commenting on what’s going on. Unlike old-fashioned pre-recorded videos that were used to promote products and were a stand-alone asset, when you live-stream about a product it’s as if you’re right there with your buyer. You can answer their burning questions and provide an ‘on location’ test to the products you highlight as the shopper can’t physically try it out.

During Covid, we no longer shopped in stores. Covid completely changed the way people buy, and instead of walking into a shop, we are now virtually walking into an e-commerce platform. Those platforms used to be a great opportunity to place orders for specific items you knew you needed or to shop around while reading reviews and checking out ratings…But it lacked that special interaction we used to have.

And this is the answer to the question, “why live streaming is taking over e-commerce?” In fact, live streaming e-commerce came along and completely disrupted everything. First, we shopped in real stores where there was a salesperson guiding us, then we were pushed to buying online where there was no one around, and now a live streamer allows us to interact with them in real-time.

It is as if you’re there – right next to them watching them talk about products you’re interested in… And when they show off one special product that sparks your interest you can immediately react and ask questions about it! These talented live streamers have an opportunity to demonstrate products from different angles, highlight specific features and benefits and add so much value to the old and boring online shopping experience we used to have.

When you live-stream about a product you’re talking directly to your audience – who can ask questions and comment in real-time. This means that shoppers don’t have to wait for someone else’s answer or knowledge of the products they are interested in because now they get an ‘on location’ explanation right away through live product demonstrations and chats.

Live shopping will change the way people shop online

Another highlight live streaming offers shoppers is the ability to ask specific questions about things that cannot be performed before they receive the final product, for example, the ability to ask a streamer to actually try a shirt on. This makes livestreams highly effective at driving conversion rates higher than brands’ traditional marketing strategies so far.

What do people prefer? Shopping completely alone on a boring online platform, which in the best scenario allows for limited communication through live chat or Q&A style comment sections under each product? Or do they prefer a community of other like-minded shoppers who all come to watch their favorite live-streamer together, discussing each product, and sharing their own opinions and thoughts… The answer is obvious.

For quite some time, e-commerce live-streams were just different marketing strategies that big brands implemented to increase their brand awareness or their social media followers. But after the continuous growth we see in Asia – things in the U.S. are starting to change very quickly. During the first day of Alibaba Group’s annual shopping festival, two Chinese star streamers Li Jiaqi and Viya sold 18,905,825,280 yuan of goods in less than a day ($2.96B). Brands, e-commerce platforms, and US-based live-streamers can no longer ignore this number. Despite the fact that many predictions said livestreaming e-commerce is nothing but a passing hype, it is now clear that this ‘hype’ is definitely not going away soon.

What we expect to see happen is that in the U.S., where social shopping is still a very new phenomenon, live streaming e-commerce will be adopted even faster as giant brands will not want to miss out on such an opportunity.

The live streaming industry in the U.S. is exponentially growing. It’s enough to look at Facebook Live, Amazon Live, or even Twitch for example this trend towards live streaming sales and product offers isn’t going away any time soon, and the reason for this is obvious. Not only is live streaming extremely popular with shoppers, but is also a great way to reach them directly as they already gotten used to watching live streams on social media platforms. Utilizing this new approach doesn’t involve paid advertisements that typically take up much of a brand’s marketing budget.

What does this new phenomenon mean for the future of live streaming e-commerce? Simply put, it means that soon enough live streamers will realize their true potential and will be able to influence platforms much more than brands or big companies could ever dream about doing. It is something that all brands should think about very seriously right now – because live streaming will be creating huge disruptions in every industry on earth.

Amazon spent millions because of this tiny Chinese village

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Amazon Spent millions on a tiny Chinese village

There’s a small village, three kilometers away from the Yiwu International Trade City in East China’s Zhejiang province, called Beixiazhu.

You don’t have to know how to pronounce the name, Beixiazhu, but you need to know something incredible about it. In Chinese terms, it is considered a tiny village… And you barely won’t even be able to see it when looking at the map. A ridiculous amount of only 1,300 people actually live there (in a country where a city like Los Angeles would have been considered a small town). But 13,000 people work there daily in one very particular job.

And their job is the reason why I share this village with you today: in this tiny village, believe it or not, 13,000 people live-stream every single day.

There are over 40 offices of companies that deliver products to all the major Chinese cities. 

And in fact, this tiny village is responsible for the shipments of almost ONE MILLION express packages every single day.

All these packages that are being shipped from this tiny village are sold thanks to Live Streaming.

Many of you were asking me why I dedicated the last year to building my new live-streaming eCommerce startup. I wanted to share this video today so you’ll understand how powerful live-streaming is in China. Last year alone livestreaming eCommerce in China generated 125 billion dollars in sales. Stop for a second, and think about this number: 125,000,000,000 dollars.

Not too long ago, Walmart was the leading candidate for the acquisition of Tiktok. Stop for a moment and think: why would Walmart, a giant retailer, among all the companies out there, consider acquiring a social media platform?

It’s easy. The giant retailer sees the numbers and realizes what makes their shoppers tick. What makes people take action and place an order.

Live streaming e-commerce has been booming in China for several years now allowing companies like Douyin (the Chinese version of Tiktok which has 600 million daily active users), and the like, to enter the realm of online shopping by enabling impulsive buying of items displayed in a single click video.

I keep encouraging my influencer friends to join this fascinating trend in the USA by joining the new Amazon Influencer program and streaming on Amazon Live. If until today, we were able to share some ‘associate links’ on our youtube video (yeah yeah, this annoying line we kept saying on youtube: “check the link in the description below this video to get this item on Amazon”), we no longer need to shift our ‘viewers’ attention from watching a video on youtube and divert them into the ‘buying mode’ of adding a product to cart on Amazon.

They are already in that mindset.

Amazon Live made the influencer job a lot easier.

With these enormous numbers – it’s extremely hard to argue – this is literally the fastest-growing field in e-commerce in China and it is expected to reach the US faster than you think.

When Amazon keeps advertising Amazon Live on their own platform, pushing so much traffic into live streams, highlighting these influencers on thousand of product pages as they go live, and compensating creators for every single product sold – the sky is the limit.

Perhaps more relevant to influencers here on LinkedIn is that this field is an opportunity for every influencer, no matter what social platforms they currently use, to enter the field of online commerce. To monetize their “influence” or their sales abilities – on a huge scale. 

Amazon Live solves a huge problem for influencers. It used to be the ‘associate program’ where you had to have a website and use links generated by Amazon to be able to get compensated. You had to send traffic using these links and get what is referred to as “off-site traffic”.

But now everything’s changed. Amazon came up with their “on-site traffic” opportunity where you no longer have to create a website, promote it with digital campaigns, try to push traffic to it and create demand, analyze your data, do SEO, check ROI, and all these obstacles that prevented influencers from jumping on the eCommerce bandwagon.

What we have, is a top-of-the-line platform, through which our live streaming takes place, which takes care of the entire distribution system: from showing our content to their hundreds of millions of shoppers, to delivering their orders with free 2nd-day shipping! And all it takes is one iPhone with the Creators App, and of course to be accepted into the influencers program…

Beixiazhu might be an example of an extreme situation – the small livestreaming village is an entire ecosystem – home to over 1000 online trading companies, offices of all courier companies, and a magnet for thousands of young Chinese men and women seeking to get rich or at least make a living from livestreaming. It’s very easy for them: the merchandise is already there, and on every hot new item that is being released to the market, there are a bunch of creators livestreaming about it.

It is important to note that here too – more than half of the people are not really able to make a living from it. But of those who do – there are ones who report sales of over 10,000 items for a successful stream and in extreme cases – even over 100,000 units.

How much do they make? Each sale earns on average one yuan (less than a quarter). You can imagine that for some of these Chinese influencers, their income makes the annual salary that some people would have earned in previous jobs in factories or physical stores.

The reality is that Amazon Live is still in its infancy which means that although the numbers are still not like Beixiazhu, we at least know that this road will not only produce a new style of influence stardom but will eventually provide brands as well as content creators a new type of platform to drive billions of dollars in product sales.

Just remember what the Shopping Network and QVC did for retail back in the 80s and 90s on “old school” television. This is how eCommerce livestreaming will disrupt the retail industry for the next 10 years.

Why are brands finding it so hard to find creators to promote their products online?

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Why brands find it hard to find creators

Brands understand that the world of e-commerce is shifting as more and more shoppers rely on their favorite content creators to introduce them to new and exciting products. However, when it comes to finding the right creator to promote their product, they often fall short.

There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to finding content creators. Just like with any marketing campaign, the first step is to identify your target audience. Once you know who your ideal customer is, you can start to narrow down the type of creator that would be the best fit to reach them.

The first step in narrowing down your list of potential creators is to consider their platforms. Do they have a large following on YouTube? Do they have an engaged blog audience? Are they active on social media? Are they an Amazon Influencer and if they are, what type of content do they generate on Amazon? Is it shoppable videos? Is it livestreams? Once you know where your target audience is spending their time online, you can start to look for creators who have a presence in those same places.

Another important factor to consider is the type of content the creator produces. If you’re looking to promote a new beauty product, for example, you’ll want to find a creator who produces content related to beauty and fashion. Similarly, if you’re looking to promote a new piece of tech, you’ll want to find a creator who produces content related to tech and gadgets. It’s important to find a creator who produces content that is relevant to your product so that their audience will be interested in what you have to offer. In Logie, we call these ‘Influential Circles’ where we are trying to track which circles coincide perfectly with your brand or product.

It isn’t enough to track the right creator. You’ll also want to consider the creator’s relationship with their audience. Do they have a close, personal relationship with their followers? Do they regularly interact with them? Do their followers trust and respect them? These are all important factors to consider because you want to make sure that the creator you choose is someone who their audience will listen to and take recommendations from.

The world of online content is vast and ever-changing. It can be hard to keep up with the latest trends, let alone find the right creator who is already creating content that resonates with your target audience. However, by taking the time to consider your target audience and the type of content they consume, you can start to narrow down your options and find the perfect creator to promote your product.

Many of the brands we work with in Logie don’t have the internal resources to dedicate to finding creators. With so many other marketing initiatives to focus on, identifying and vetting creators can fall by the wayside. The reason why many brands find it difficult to find creators is that they have to rely on their marketing team to find the creators, but their marketing team is already stretched thin. There are millions of creators out there, and the brand has very few team members who can get the job done. This is when the main focus should be on data and influencer marketing platforms to make the process easier.

The process of finding creators can be time-consuming and difficult. It requires a lot of research and outreach, and even then it can be hard to gauge whether or not a creator is a good fit for your brand. One of the greatest tips we give brands when it comes to finding a good fit with creators is to look at the creators that are already promoting similar products. For example, if you’re looking to promote a new skincare line, you can look at the creators who are promoting other skincare lines and see if their content and audience are a good match for your brand. Finding creators to promote your product is no easy feat. However, by taking the time to consider your target audience and the type of content they consume, you can start to narrow down your options and find the perfect creator to promote your product.

There is no guarantee that a creator you do manage to find will be interested in working with you. Even if you find the perfect creator for your brand, they may not be interested in promoting your product. In this case, the best thing you can do is reach out to them and try to start a conversation. Many creators are open to working with brands, but they want to make sure that it is a good fit for their audience. If you can show them that your product is a good fit for their audience, they may be more willing to work with you.

Another option is to offer them something in return for promoting your product. This could be monetary compensation, or for beginning creators, it could be something as simple as a free product. Many creators are more likely to promote a product if they are compensated in some way. However, you should always make sure that any compensation you offer is fair and in line with the creator’s normal rates or you’ll find yourself on their blacklist and sometimes even have them posting something bad about you or your brand.

Creators talk with each other and share the same communities, so you want to be sure you’re always polite and have the creator’s best interest in mind when working with them. Although the process of finding and working with creators can be time-consuming and difficult, taking the time to consider your target audience and the type of content they consume, can help to narrow down your options and find the perfect creator to promote your product.

Even if you do find a creator who is interested in promoting your product, there is no guarantee that they will be able to deliver results. There are a lot of factors that go into whether or not a creator’s content will be successful, and even the best creators can’t guarantee results. Expecting a creator to guarantee results is unrealistic and will only lead to frustration on both sides. The best thing you can do is to set realistic expectations and hope for the best. Realistic expectations range from a 0.5% to 2% engagement rate depending on the platform, following size, and industry. Do not get aggravated if you don’t get the results you wanted. Rather, ask yourself if your strategy is good and if you’re following the best guidelines for a content-based campaign.

Another good thing you can do if you’re not getting the results you want from a creator is to reach out to them and see if there is anything you can do to improve the situation. It’s important to remember that creators are people too, and they want to deliver results for their audience just as much as you want results for your brand. If you can work together to figure out what’s not working and come up with a plan to fix it, you’ll be much more likely to see success. There is always the possibility that a creator will produce content that reflects poorly on your brand. Even if you vet a creator carefully, there is no guarantee that they won’t produce content that you deem to be inappropriate or offensive. In these cases, it’s important to take swift and decisive action. You should remove any content that reflects poorly on your brand, and you should also reach out to the creator to let them know that their content is not up to your standards. It’s important to be clear and concise in your communication so that the creator understands why their content is not acceptable and what they need to do to remedy the situation.

Don’t be afraid to end a relationship with a creator if it’s not working out. If a creator is consistently producing content that is not up to your standards, it’s okay to cut ties and move on. There are plenty of other creators out there who would love to work with you, and it’s better to end a relationship that isn’t working rather than continue to invest time and energy into something that isn’t going to be successful.

It’s important to remember that finding and working with creators is a partnership. As with any partnership, it takes time, effort, and communication to make it work. However, if you take the time to consider your target audience and the type of content they consume, you can start to narrow down your options and find the perfect creator to promote your product.

We also discovered that the fee that creators charge for promoting products can sometimes be expensive and because there is no guarantee of a return on investment many brands give up before they even start. Unless you have a large budget, you may not be able to afford to work with the best creators but you can still find creators with a smaller following who can generate good results.

Doesn’t matter if you chose to work with an A-list creator or a smaller one, you must keep in mind that you may not have control over the content that a creator produces. Once you give a creator your product to promote, they will have creative control over the content they produce. This can be a risk if you’re not comfortable with giving up control. Think of it as an investment, you’re investing in someone to help you reach a larger audience.

In order to be successful when working with creators, it’s important to be clear about your objectives from the start. What are you trying to accomplish? What kind of results are you hoping to see? Once you have a good understanding of your goals, you can start to look for creators who can help you achieve them.

You see, working with a content creator is not only about the creator themselves; it’s important to consider their audience. Make sure that their audience is aligned with your target market. Look at the type of content they produce. If you’re looking to promote a new product, you’ll want to find creators who produce content that is relevant to similar products that were launched in the past. If you take the time to find the right creator and build a good relationship with them, you can create content that will resonate with your target audience and help you achieve your marketing goals.

You also want to make sure you build a long-lasting relationship. Unfortunately these days the relationship between a brand and a creator is often short-lived. Once a creator has promoted your product, they will likely move on to promoting other products for other brands. This can make it hard to build a long-term relationship but it can easily be solved by ensuring you work with creators who align with your values, love your product (and hopefully love you too as a person), and get compensated what they deserve.

While there are many reasons why brands may find it difficult to find creators to promote their products online, the most important thing is to identify your target audience and find a creator who is a good fit for your brand. With careful research and outreach, you can find a creator who is interested in promoting your product and who has the ability to produce quality content that resonates with your target audience.

There are a number of reasons why brands have trouble finding content creators. However, the most common reason is that they don’t know where to look. Additionally, brands can’t afford to work with the best creators, and they may not have a clear idea of what they want their content to achieve. In the past year, as we were building Logie, we were able to discover some amazing insights about the industry by understanding the pain both brands and creators experience when trying to connect. This is why we built Logie, to make it easy for both brands and creators to connect and create content together flawlessly. If you’re a brand or a content creator who wants to be a part of our revolution, please reach out to us!

About Logie

Logie streamlines influencer discovery, product distribution, and content performance to drive measurable sales for eCommerce brands. We also equip content creators with the smart tools, brand partnerships, and commission opportunities they need to turn content into income.

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