Live selling is no longer the future of e-commerce—it’s become one of the most popular and forward-thinking ways for retailers to reach their customers in the digital age. The video streaming market is on track to hit $223.98 billion by 2028, with live video expected to see the highest growth.
Retailers utilizing live video selling through the CommentSold platform have generated as much as $300 per minute. Reaching audiences in real-time helps build customer engagement and increase shopper loyalty by recreating a personal shopping experience through a screen.
Why Go Live on Your Online Store?
Approximately 60% of the top shops that integrate live video selling through CommentSold derive at least 50% of their total revenue from live sales. Part of this success comes from broadcasting these video sales across multiple platforms simultaneously.
In 2021, CommentSold rolled out Live on the Web, so online sellers could have one more platform to live sell from—their website home page.
While social selling is highly effective, considering 93% of brands locked in a new customer because of a video they posted on social media, the ability to showcase your personality on your own branded website provides a unique advantage that social media simply can’t compete with.
The Advantages of Live Selling on Websites
1. Retailers can own their own content
Broadcasting a live video sale on a shop’s e-commerce store allows them to release content in their own space. A retailer’s Webstore anchors their brand no matter where they sell, and broadcasting a live sale right on the store’s home page means they won’t have to compete for customers’ attention on cluttered social newsfeeds.
CommentSold Pro-Tip: While we recommend going live across all your channels to draw in as many eyes as possible, you can drive your social following to watch you go Live on the Web by including a link to your webstore in your social posts and bios.
2. It’s a different kind of shopping experience
Live video selling on an e-commerce website is unique from any other online shopping experience. Using real-time video is more dynamic and visually interesting than static images, and engaging hosts will draw shoppers in and keep them tuned to the sale longer.
3. Reach customers where they prefer to shop
Sell to your customers where they’re already shopping—this is one more channel to drive traffic to your webstore and continue crushing your live sales goals. Stream from the Webstore, mobile app, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok all at once.
CommentSold Pro Tip: Live on the Web is a great option for retailers who don’t yet have their own mobile app—or customers who prefer to stream sales without committing to downloading something on their phones.
4. It’s easy to do
The CommentSold Webstore is simple to set up with drag-and-drop features and no plugins required. Enabling Live on the Web doesn’t require retailers using the platform to do anything extra other than ensure they’re using the latest version of the Webstore. When retailers are ready to go live, they can enable the feature with a simple check of the box.
Get the full instructions here.
CommentSold Pro Tip: We offer flexibility to online sellers and understand there are situations when retailers may only want to broadcast live in a private Facebook group, for example. We’ve made it easy for you to decide where you want to go live!
5. Make shoppers feel included
Retailers who also have their own branded mobile app with CommentSold can view all comments in real-time while they’re simultaneously broadcasting in their app and webstore. These comments are displayed on the Webstore during the live sale so that web shoppers won’t feel left out of the app conversations.
How Live on the Web Benefits Shoppers
When customers visit a retailer’s website while a live sale is in progress, they can see the live video sale happening right on the home page. They can also shop each product highlighted without leaving the video to avoid missing a beat.
Shoppers can instantly cart items, browse products, and engage with the live sale host and other customers through the chatbox on the same screen. The chat feature is a great way to get questions about products answered or participate in games or contests the retailer may be hosting that day.
Besides real-time engagement, perhaps the most significant benefit of Live on the Web for shoppers is that they can see how each item fits and functions in the video, rather than only looking at product images.
If they’re shopping for clothing, they can see how the apparel hangs on an actual human body and listen to the host as they talk about how the garment fits, feels, and works with other clothes to make a complete outfit.
Using Live Replays
If a customer missed out on viewing and participating in a live sale during its initial broadcast, they can “Shop the Replay” on the retailer’s website. Shoppers can view the previous live stream and access it from multiple places (depending on how the seller decided to set it up) on the website, including the home page and a “Shop Live” URL.
Across nine shops and three weeks of ad testing, CommentSold found that Live Replay promotion increased reach, viewership, and high-value engagement.
Live Replays are excellent opportunities to showcase your personality to shoppers who watch a live sale after the fact. It’s also a perfect way for shoppers to see your products in motion as they’re scrolling through various items on your website.
The Takeaway: Live Selling Gets Shoppers Hooked on YOU
People want to buy from people. Broadcasting a live video right on your website’s home page sets you apart from other online stores. Going Live on the Web is all about meeting the shopper where they’re at and having another avenue to engage with them.
This feature allows retailers to bridge all of their various selling channels. Sellers on the CommentSold platform can broadcast across multiple platforms at the same time, and they can drive their shoppers to their webstore through the following methods:
- Facebook ads
- Organic social posts
- Listing their webstore URL in their Instagram bios
Introducing your webstore to your social following is one way today’s e-commerce brands are embracing multichannel retail.
Plus, this brings your online community to your “home base” online that’s completely branded to your business, vision, and story. It takes them to a place where they’re only consuming your content.
Social media is undoubtedly a powerful way to reach new audiences and build your online community, but retailers may struggle with algorithms, visibility, and changing guidelines enacted by these platforms.
Some sellers may use Live on the Web as a “backup” option if they run into challenges hosting a live sale on social media—and there’s nothing wrong with that! It gives sellers more options, control, and a safety net when needed.
The CommentSold Webstore also looks professional, polished, and unique to each brand, making it a fun place for customers to shop.
Above all, Live on the Web helps retailers build relationships with shoppers by getting them hooked as quickly as possible, rather than browsing photos of products as they could anywhere else.
“Live commerce is relational, not transactional.”
Brandon Kruse, CEO of CommentSold
Bonus! Free Graphics for CommentSold Retailers
Ready to go Live on the Web? Build hype among your online following! Download these graphics to share with your shoppers to promote your next live sale.
Get the Graphics Here
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