March 5, 2025
By 2026, around 20 percent of global e-commerce could take place through live shopping experiences, according to a forecast by McKinsey. But what exactly is behind this innovative sales format and how can European brands benefit? In this series, we take a behind-the-scenes look at live shopping events.
Discover with us in the third part how to bring your own home shopping shows to the livestream and successfully integrate them into your omnichannel strategy.
More and more companies in Europe are recognizing the potential of live shopping events and investing in the corresponding technology. Essentially, there are three options for implementation:
Brands achieve significant reach with live shopping events via social networks, especially through collaboration with influencers. According to a study by technology provider VTEX, more than 60 percent of U.S. consumers participated in live shopping formats via social media such as TikTok in 2024.
The rapid success of live shopping in China was due, among other things, to the availability of specialized, fully integrated platforms that combine livestreaming and e-commerce functionalities. With growing popularity among Western audiences, more startups, apps, and platforms have focused on live shopping streams and developed their own solutions. However, the disadvantage here is that brands do not have full control over the shopping experience, as they must adhere to the platforms’ privacy and communication policies. Furthermore, the presentation and marketing options are limited: Each shopping event is displayed as one among many on the platform.
When hosting live shopping events on their own digital channels, companies have complete freedom in implementation, branding and customer experience design – and unfiltered insight into all data and KPIs captured during the livestream. Information from performance analyses and direct feedback from viewers helps to improve products, marketing and future live events in a targeted manner.
There are now a series of plugins available for live shopping integration. The integration process is more or less straightforward depending on the shop system or backend technology: The key is a flexible, adaptive e-commerce platform that allows rapid, seamless integration of necessary plugins through an API-first architecture. Composability is the order of the day.
Technology provider VTEX has made a name for itself in South America as a pioneer and driver of the live shopping trend with a “Pragmatic Composability” approach. The modular platform simplifies implementation with a live shopping add-on: Up to 75 percent lower TCO compared to traditional best-of-breed solutions and up to 206 percent more orders via live shopping events are among the measurable effects of the “composable-and-complete” solution. The company has also been active in Europe since 2024.
Discover live shopping with VTEX
How does VTEX Live Shopping create captivating experiences? How does it strengthen customer loyalty and enable data-driven success in e-commerce?
Find out more on the VTEX website.
Looking at best practices in Asia, as well as in Europe, South America, and the USA, some determinants emerge that influence the success of live shopping events:
Limited editions or discounts available only during the livestream increase the sense of urgency, intensifying the impulse for quick purchases and boosting sales. This is especially true if a product is not offered through any other sales channel.
To boost viewership, it is advisable to inform the target audience about upcoming shows through various channels, e.g., social media, newsletters, and email marketing, apps, and push notifications. Countdowns and timers heighten the excitement. Additional incentives include prize draws, coupons and gift promotions that can only be redeemed during the event.
Various formats and content are possible for live shopping events, especially in the context of collaborations. For products that require explanation, interviews with experts are recommended. Tutorials with influencers are popular in the beauty sector. Behind-the-scenes livestreams that tell insider stories about product development benefit the brand image and customer relationships. Interactive elements like Q&A sessions, surveys and prize draws can increase engagement, regardless of the format.
Shows achieve maximum benefit and reach when the recorded video content is reused and distributed across different channels afterward, e.g., on product pages of the webshop, in email campaigns and via social media. Adidas and Real Madrid cleverly implemented this after a joint live event. Clickable links with purchase options can also be included in on-demand videos.
Live shopping is a collective and social experience. The more the audience can shape the show, interact and participate, the stronger the sense of community, enhancing the connection to the brand and trust in the product.
Performance and data analysis provide valuable insights for targeted product development, marketing and improvement of future live shopping events. Just as informative as measurable KPIs (e.g., conversion and engagement rates, number of viewers, livestream views) is the qualitative feedback from audience comments and questions.
Ready to use live shopping as a lever for a profitable online business? Let’s tackle it together!
Your contact
Matthias Vollmer
Manager Business Development & Strategic Partnerships
matthias.vollmer@cec.valantic.com
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