The Opportunity in Livestream Shopping

I can sense social media’s influence on me as I outfit my first ever solo apartment. My style is undoubtedly influenced by the earthy textures of marble and stone coffee tables and accents, boucle throw pillows and ottomans, and amateur design influencers I’ve seen when scrolling through Instagram and TikTok.

It turns out that before I know it, I’ll most likely be shopping my preferred influencer’s live feeds of home decor inspo and Sunday morning vibe videos, adding to my instant shopping cart candles I’ve never smelled and plant species I’ve never heard of.

Livestream shopping is already a $480BN industry in China while still only an $11BN industry in the U.S. But small and large companies are investing heavily into the tech and infrastructure to support bored shoppers scrolling on their phones. According to the same article, “Amazon is investing big in Amazon Live. Google has live shopping on YouTube. Pinterest, seemingly a great fit for this kind of venture, announced a livestream shopping project late last year. Twitter, which has put innovation around creators and monetization in overdrive lately, is working on livestream shopping. Facebook is investing, particularly on Instagram. TikTok, with roots in China, is a particularly interesting player to watch here.”

Many private companies are also gaining traction with their offerings, combining niche product lines (like NTWRK and Whatnot’s limited edition toys and collectibles) or lovable sellers (like Garth Brooks or Reba McIntire) on platforms like TalkShopLive, with livestream shopping events.

Expect to see this industry grow in size and to the scale of the e-commerce industry, rising to an anticipated $25BN in 2023. For now, I’m going to limit the amount of time I spend bored, scrolling in a half-empty apartment. My bank account will thank me.