Livestream shopping finds its footing in the collectables market 

A phenomenon in China, livestream shopping has so far received a poor reception in the West. Is this starting to change? 

Helped by a restless and largely furloughed population during the pandemic, livestream shopping made its way over to the UK in 2020. It is set to account for 20 per cent of all global e-commerce by 2026, mainly due to demand from China.

It occupies a space sandwiched between late-night telesales channels of the 1980s and TikTok, tapping into “shopping as entertainment”: hosts present products to the camera, and viewers purchase the products (and interact with the host) in real-time.

It’s a relatively new idea despite its older roots: it began in 2016 when Alibaba launched a live service in China. Nearly half of all internet users in China now use eCommerce.

Up till now, it has struggled to find a space in the UK retail market. Attempts by Facebook and TikTok to create a livestream shopping experience have been met with a lukewarm reception: both trials ended with the companies packing in and removing the feature. 

However, the live stream platform Whatnot seems to have found a way into collectable pop-culture items. 

According to Whatnot, more than half of Brits seek out “high-value collectable items” on livestream shopping Platforms. The company started out as a way for its founders to trade Pokemon cards. Now, it is valued at $3.7bn (£2.93bn).

Rare coins, vinyl records, and vintage clothes are the most popular collectables consumers are investing in. Trainers, handbags, and books are also popular on the site. 

“On average we currently sell between 600-800 items a month, making around £12-15k. We love how livestream shopping inspires you to be creative with selling methods, and ultimately, just have fun,” Bethany Slack, who runs the vintage clothing account @theluxurypickers, said.

“[Livestream shopping] naturally makes a great space for buying items where communities share a passion e.g. collectibles or fashion,” managing director of Whatnot, Daniel Fisher, said.

Globally, 2m hours of live streams are watched every week on Whatnot. A company report found that over two-thirds of Londoners use livestream shopping services. It added that those who watch spend an average of 80 minutes per day shopping. 

Like other live streaming platforms, Whatnot has carved out an e-commerce space by operating as a peer-to-peer platform, inviting users to interact with hosts. 

This approach is particularly popular with Gen Z: “Young millennials and Gen Z especially expect to consume and engage with brands digitally… [but] the attraction of livestream shopping is that it combines this digital connection with a human element,” retail expert Andrew Busby said.

“[Livestreaming] is the new content meeting Gen Z consumers’ expectations from brands regarding personalization, authenticity, and transparency,” according to livestreaming platform Smartzer. 

“Naturally the Gen Z generation are more digitally-native and curious to discover new social commerce platforms… The pandemic certainly created the opportunity for livestream shopping to take off, with shoppers stuck at home looking for ways to engage with friends and increasing their online shopping purchases,” Fisher said. 

“Despite a fifth of UK shoppers saying they miss the social interaction of shopping with friends, we don’t predict this will cause a return to physical retail as it was pre-Covid. Instead consumers will look for ways to merge commerce and community in the digital age,” Fisher added. 

One potential problem for sellers (and maybe buyers, depending on which side of the digital fence you sit on) is the ease by which sellers can be replaced by Artificial Intelligence.

China provides an indication of where the market might go: “As more and more competitors join the fray, not everyone has the audience to generate the millions of yuan that was common for hosts when the trend first took off… As a result, host incomes are shrinking, consumers are being more frugal due to the economic recession and changing shopping habits, and AI influencers are doing the same jobs for less money,” an ECDB report on livestream shopping said. 

However, AI sellers might be a way in the future: AI models in China, whilst in the works, haven’t yet taken off.