Live session is an interactive and fun version of TV shopping. It has become a powerful driver to engage customers, enhance the shopping experience and boost online sales. It is expected to account for 10 to 20% of e-commerce sales by 2026 (McKinsey, 2021). More and more fashion brands, such as IKKS, Printemps, Monoprix or...
Live session is an interactive and fun version of TV shopping. It has become a powerful driver to engage customers, enhance the shopping experience and boost online sales. It is expected to account for 10 to 20% of e-commerce sales by 2026 (McKinsey, 2021).
More and more fashion brands, such as IKKS, Printemps, Monoprix or La Redoute, are using this new tool.
If you’ve not given it a try yet, now’s the time! You’ll need a dedicated platform to create your live session events. What criteria should you consider when choosing a platform? Let’s find out.
Choose a Platform that Supports Mobile Devices
Your live shopping platform should be suited to your audience. What does that mean? Let’s start with the first criteria: your live shopping platform should support mobile devices.
For one simple reason: most people use mobile devices, which is an ever-growing trend.
Monoprix implemented a live shopping strategy in 2021. The brand soon ran into a problem with the first solution it tried out: its live sessions could only be displayed in a landscape format. Yet 80% of its viewers were connecting to the sessions with a phone.
Monoprix therefore switched to our Live Shopping platform, which supports mobile devices on both the business and customer side. Participants can watch the sessions on their phones, and brands can film the events using a smartphone or tablet that is connect to the platform.
Choose an Easy-to-Use Platform
A live shopping platform should be easy and quick to configure, for each live session. Live shopping is, by very definition, an ROI-boosting mechanism. It would be counterproductive to spend a lot of time setting up the tool.
You don’t need a high-end TV studio to film your live shopping sessions either. You can create effective live shopping events with a limited setup: a mini studio, 1 or 2 hosts, 1 or 2 social media managers to moderate the chat, a tripod, an iPhone, a few spotlights and an easy-to-use live shopping platform. Which is exactly what IKKS does.
You can use top-of-the-range cameras to film if you like, but you won’t necessarily gain more viewers. Customers want something authentic, natural and simple.
Discover our good and bad practices for a good live shopping.
Choose a Platform with Live Giveaway and Promo Code Features
Offering giveaways, lucky draws or promo codes during a live session is a great way to encourage live shoppers to make a purchase. These gamification mechanisms encourage viewers to join the session, stay, interact and buy. They foster retention as well as conversion.
Let’s take an example. Monoprix uses giveaways or promo codes in all of its live sessions. Viewers can take enter competitions throughout the live session and win 2 or 3 prizes depending on the theme: fashion, beauty, food, etc. Promo codes are also handed out at the beginning of the live, and are valid for a limited period of time, to encourage viewers to make a purchase.
We recommend choosing a platform that enables you to deploy game or promotional mechanisms during your live sessions. Which takes us to the next criteria…
Opt for a Platform with an Integrated Chat Feature
You can provide your promo codes and giveaway details in the chat section. Which is why we recommend opting for a live shopping platform with advanced chat features.
Live session also has a strong community aspect. It is an opportunity for brands to interact with customers, but also for customers to interact with each other. The interactive nature of live session is one of its strengths. For example, during a Monoprix live, 30% of viewers interact with the brand, either with likes or messages in the chat section.
Choose a live shopping platform that enables viewers to send messages in the chat section and share their reactions (emojis, hearts, etc.).
Select a Live Shopping Platform that Supports Replays
Make sure that replay videos of your live shopping events are available. Replays enable you to reach a wider audience and prolong your sessions. In fact, replay videos generate the most views and transactions. At La Redoute, for example, live sessions account for 9% of viewers vs. 91% for replays.
You can reuse your live session content by adding replay videos to the product pages featured in your live session, for example.
We recommend choosing a direct shopping platform that allows you to use replays without any technical difficulties: saving videos, export functions, etc.
Opt for a Platform with Product Catalog Integration
Viewers can buy the products featured in your live shopping videos without leaving the live session. Which is another of this format’s strengths. The products being discussed need to be displayed, so that viewers can click on them and add them to their cart.
From a technical standpoint, this involves connecting your e-commerce CMS product catalog with the live sessions platform. Our Live Shopping platform supports this integration.
Choose a Platform that Enables to Measure Performance via KPIs
Now for our final criteria: your live shopping platform should provide you with access to complete performance dashboards and reports. Analyzing your live sessions performance is the best way to identify areas for improvement and measure your sessions’ ROI.
With our Live Shopping platform, you can monitor the 3 main KPI families in real time, to measure your live event’s performance:
- Audience KPIs:
- Number of people who attended the live event
- Maximum number of users (viewer peak)
- Number of logins / IP addresses
- Number of participants who watched the live for more than X minutes
- Number of viewers on mobile devices
- Number of people who signed up to the event
- …/…
- Engagement KPIs:
- Number of likes
- Number of comments
- …/…
- Conversion KPIs:
- Number of products added to cart during the live event
- Number of products added to cart during replay videos
- Average cart value
- …/…
There you have it! Now you know all the main criteria to consider when choosing a live session platform. Our easy-to-use Live Shopping platform, with its rich features, ticks all the boxes. Feel free to reach out for more information about our solution or to ask for a demo.
