The evolution of shopping from the couch
What is old is new again. Your grandparents spent years watching QVC because it balanced the experience of speaking with an associate with the convenience of their retirement community’s T.V. room. Livestream is today’s version of “shoptainment,” where hosts showcase products dynamically, interact with their audiences and build urgency with short-term offers, giveaways, and limited-edition items.
Now, with Livestream commerce, hosts can form deeper customer connections and answer questions in real-time. It’s a new standard of communication that holds a longstanding truth: People shop to kill time and are more likely to buy when they feel connected with a salesperson.
What is Livestream Selling?
Livestream Shopping Is The Future Of eCommerce. Therefore, Livestream Selling is an essential consideration for your business.
Candidly, it’s also a far better use of the pawnbroker’s time than going Live on Facebook just to game the algorithm. If you’re one of the dozens of pawnbrokers’ dancing for dollars’ just because you’ve been told you “should be going live” every day, then read on.
Livestream selling is when a host demonstrates a product in a live online video either through a social media platform, direct video call with a customer, or another avenue. The retailer can introduce themselves, their store, and the sale before describing each item and its price while holding it up so followers can clearly see the product.
The important difference between true Livestream Shopping and the more familiar model of Live video with text-to-pay is that followers can make purchases directly without leaving the stream.
Other features of Livestream Shopping means that the audience can:
Watch the feed from wherever they want.
Interact through comments in real-time.
Ask questions that get answered right then and there.
For Square’s Future of Retail report, 35% of retail managers surveyed say they plan to implement livestream shopping in 2021. Retailers have made the online shopping experience a higher priority since the pandemic, as consumers state that an average of 43% of their monthly purchases are now made online.
Additionally, 34% of Millennial and Gen Z consumers surveyed say they are interested in livestream shopping. According to Forbes, about 30% of China’s population viewed eCommerce livestreams in 2020, which is a precursor to expected growth in the U.S.
Livestream e-commerce has taken off in China in the last few years and is expected to yield more than $60 billion this year. In 2019, 37% of online shoppers in China (an astonishing 265 million people) made purchases on livestreams — and that was well before quarantine. In 2020, it’s estimated to have reached around 560 million people.
There are plenty of lessons to be learned from China’s Livestream Shopping surge and big U.S. companies have noticed. From Wal-Mart to Instagram, they’re jumping on the bandwagon.
Investing in the right tech
As always, pawnshops have unique challenges when it comes to ecommerce. Unlike a traditional retailer with a large number of a particular SKU number item, most of the things that are sold in the pawnshops are one-off goods. Years ago, we all learned the importance of having point-of-sale software that syncs with sales on online platforms like eBay.
Now, with Livestream Shopping, there’s an added challenge of processing payment for an item in real-time as customers express interest. That’s why it’s important to work with an app that is able to process the payment in real-time and disallow multiple sales of the same item. Two of the most popular platforms in the space which offer real-time payments are CommentSold and TextMeChat.
When reviewing CommentSold, one user shared “CommentSold has many great features, an intuitive interface, and very helpful customer service. Great software when you have an online store.” A common drawback, however, is the high percentage fees that they charge as well as additional costs for PayPal payments. More information, including a free trial, is available at https://try.commentsold.com/.
TextMeChat, similar in features to CommentSold, comes with a flat monthly fee and never takes a percentage of the sale. We first learned about TextMeChat by watching the rise of one of its devoted users Tiffany Bayley, who we first met on the Jewelers Helping Jewelers Facebook Group.
We’ve previously blogged about Tiffany’s success story and her remarkable addition of $1.3 Million sales to her bottom line in the past 16 months. Her process for Livestream selling has been so successful, in fact, that she’s launching an education program to share her lessons learned with others and has written a book about the topic.
The future of Livestream Shopping
According to a Bloomberg article, tech companies are taking note of the importance of replicating the features that have made Livestream Selling so popular in China, “[In China], purchases are seamless with one click, so viewers never have to leave the show. By comparison, buying online in the U.S. can still be clunky and disjointed, with its collection of payment networks, marketplaces and lenders. But companies are waking up for the need to blend e-commerce and social media.”
A story in RetailBrew seems to concur, citing Coresight Research’s CEO and founder Deborah Weinswig, existing purchasing processes are holding things up. “Payment is the biggest problem right now,” Weinswig told Retail Brew. She mentioned that shoppable video platform Firework, which Coresight partnered with for a virtual retail event, sees 90% of sales occurring after livestreams end.
As it stands, most purchasing involves clicking out of the livestream, toggling over to a retailer’s website, adding in your contact and payment info… I’m tired just typing this. “It’s the lack of one-click,” she said.
She added: “The sales will come. I think that this will be bigger and certainly a much more profitable sales channel than e-commerce,” Weinswig added. “In two to three years, it’ll be the fastest-growing channel.”
Why Pawnshops Should Get Involved in Livestream Shopping
Live shopping in the U.S. is estimated to become a $6 billion market this year and $25 billion by 2023. Originally popularized in Asia, this method of ecommerce is like a modern QVC show meets Instagram live.
Livestream selling offers a new and potentially lucrative revenue stream for pawnbrokers. But the benefits don’t end there.
Pawnshops are, as we know, frequently misunderstood. By tapping into the power of Livestream Selling, pawnbrokers are also working to help consumers better understand the types of items that they sell and buy. When used as part of a larger branding strategy, it is a smart communications tool that helps consumers feel like they connect with the pawnbroker. Since over 90% of consumers have never done business with a pawnshop, this is a new way for an audience to interact with a pawnbroker personally.
Do you have insights or experience with Livestream Shopping? We’ll be watching this trend carefully and would love to hear from you! Write us at editor@pawnbrokernetwork.com
Livestream Shopping: Critical to Pawnshops
The evolution of shopping from the couch
What is old is new again. Your grandparents spent years watching QVC because it balanced the experience of speaking with an associate with the convenience of their retirement community’s T.V. room. Livestream is today’s version of “shoptainment,” where hosts showcase products dynamically, interact with their audiences and build urgency with short-term offers, giveaways, and limited-edition items.
Now, with Livestream commerce, hosts can form deeper customer connections and answer questions in real-time. It’s a new standard of communication that holds a longstanding truth: People shop to kill time and are more likely to buy when they feel connected with a salesperson.
What is Livestream Selling?
Livestream Shopping Is The Future Of eCommerce. Therefore, Livestream Selling is an essential consideration for your business.
Candidly, it’s also a far better use of the pawnbroker’s time than going Live on Facebook just to game the algorithm. If you’re one of the dozens of pawnbrokers’ dancing for dollars’ just because you’ve been told you “should be going live” every day, then read on.
Livestream selling is when a host demonstrates a product in a live online video either through a social media platform, direct video call with a customer, or another avenue. The retailer can introduce themselves, their store, and the sale before describing each item and its price while holding it up so followers can clearly see the product.
The important difference between true Livestream Shopping and the more familiar model of Live video with text-to-pay is that followers can make purchases directly without leaving the stream.
Other features of Livestream Shopping means that the audience can:
Watch the feed from wherever they want.
Interact through comments in real-time.
Ask questions that get answered right then and there.
For Square’s Future of Retail report, 35% of retail managers surveyed say they plan to implement livestream shopping in 2021. Retailers have made the online shopping experience a higher priority since the pandemic, as consumers state that an average of 43% of their monthly purchases are now made online.
Additionally, 34% of Millennial and Gen Z consumers surveyed say they are interested in livestream shopping. According to Forbes, about 30% of China’s population viewed eCommerce livestreams in 2020, which is a precursor to expected growth in the U.S.
Livestream e-commerce has taken off in China in the last few years and is expected to yield more than $60 billion this year. In 2019, 37% of online shoppers in China (an astonishing 265 million people) made purchases on livestreams — and that was well before quarantine. In 2020, it’s estimated to have reached around 560 million people.
There are plenty of lessons to be learned from China’s Livestream Shopping surge and big U.S. companies have noticed. From Wal-Mart to Instagram, they’re jumping on the bandwagon.
Investing in the right tech
As always, pawnshops have unique challenges when it comes to ecommerce. Unlike a traditional retailer with a large number of a particular SKU number item, most of the things that are sold in the pawnshops are one-off goods. Years ago, we all learned the importance of having point-of-sale software that syncs with sales on online platforms like eBay.
Now, with Livestream Shopping, there’s an added challenge of processing payment for an item in real-time as customers express interest. That’s why it’s important to work with an app that is able to process the payment in real-time and disallow multiple sales of the same item. Two of the most popular platforms in the space which offer real-time payments are CommentSold and TextMeChat.
When reviewing CommentSold, one user shared “CommentSold has many great features, an intuitive interface, and very helpful customer service. Great software when you have an online store.” A common drawback, however, is the high percentage fees that they charge as well as additional costs for PayPal payments. More information, including a free trial, is available at https://try.commentsold.com/.
TextMeChat, similar in features to CommentSold, comes with a flat monthly fee and never takes a percentage of the sale. We first learned about TextMeChat by watching the rise of one of its devoted users Tiffany Bayley, who we first met on the Jewelers Helping Jewelers Facebook Group.
We’ve previously blogged about Tiffany’s success story and her remarkable addition of $1.3 Million sales to her bottom line in the past 16 months. Her process for Livestream selling has been so successful, in fact, that she’s launching an education program to share her lessons learned with others and has written a book about the topic.
The future of Livestream Shopping
According to a Bloomberg article, tech companies are taking note of the importance of replicating the features that have made Livestream Selling so popular in China, “[In China], purchases are seamless with one click, so viewers never have to leave the show. By comparison, buying online in the U.S. can still be clunky and disjointed, with its collection of payment networks, marketplaces and lenders. But companies are waking up for the need to blend e-commerce and social media.”
A story in RetailBrew seems to concur, citing Coresight Research’s CEO and founder Deborah Weinswig, existing purchasing processes are holding things up. “Payment is the biggest problem right now,” Weinswig told Retail Brew. She mentioned that shoppable video platform Firework, which Coresight partnered with for a virtual retail event, sees 90% of sales occurring after livestreams end.
As it stands, most purchasing involves clicking out of the livestream, toggling over to a retailer’s website, adding in your contact and payment info… I’m tired just typing this. “It’s the lack of one-click,” she said.
She added: “The sales will come. I think that this will be bigger and certainly a much more profitable sales channel than e-commerce,” Weinswig added. “In two to three years, it’ll be the fastest-growing channel.”
Why Pawnshops Should Get Involved in Livestream Shopping
Live shopping in the U.S. is estimated to become a $6 billion market this year and $25 billion by 2023. Originally popularized in Asia, this method of ecommerce is like a modern QVC show meets Instagram live.
Livestream selling offers a new and potentially lucrative revenue stream for pawnbrokers. But the benefits don’t end there.
Pawnshops are, as we know, frequently misunderstood. By tapping into the power of Livestream Selling, pawnbrokers are also working to help consumers better understand the types of items that they sell and buy. When used as part of a larger branding strategy, it is a smart communications tool that helps consumers feel like they connect with the pawnbroker. Since over 90% of consumers have never done business with a pawnshop, this is a new way for an audience to interact with a pawnbroker personally.
Do you have insights or experience with Livestream Shopping? We’ll be watching this trend carefully and would love to hear from you! Write us at editor@pawnbrokernetwork.com
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