LIVESTREAM shopping company Shoppertainment Live, Inc. said live shopping for e-commerce brands is on the rise in the Philippines, with Filipino consumers becoming more receptive to the new form of shopping amid the pandemic crisis.
“It takes 30 days to create a habit, and it’s been over a year [since the pandemic began] and people are still watching,” Shoppertainment Live Chief Executive Officer Hiyasmin Neri-Soyao told BusinessWorld in a recent online interview. “The average watching duration is still increasing, so I think live shopping is now part of the marketing mix.”
Shoppertainment Live combines shopping and entertainment to sell products on e-commerce platforms such as Lazada and Shoppee, as well as social media platforms like Facebook.
“We use celebrities. We’ve done a lot of activations with micro and macro influencers,” Ms. Neri-Soyao said.
“Actually, we had 200% growth year on year, and we’ve seen a lot of increase in demand for livestreams,” she added.
She noted that livestream shopping has been booming in China, and she sees potential for this industry in the Philippines.
“In China, this is a multibillion-dollar industry that really helps boost e-commerce conversion rates. There, they’ve been selling like $20-million worth of products for one hour,” she said.
In the Philippines, however, livestreaming is not yet the biggest driver in terms of e-commerce sales conversion.
“The role of the livestream right now is being part of the e-commerce marketing of our brands and stores,” Ms. Neri-Soyao said. “But we’ve seen a 2% to 10% increase in conversion rate for an hour stream.”
“The biggest benefit of a livestream shopping campaign is [the ability to convert] viewers into store followers, because these store followers are the ones who would see your promos and new products right away, and they are the ones who would be notified by the platforms right away,” she added. — Arjay L. Balinbin