Brands considering a live-shopping strategy must lean on influencers

Live shopping — the seamless and simultaneous combination of online shopping, livestreaming and social media — has been taking North America by storm since October 2019. Though booming to take up over 13% of all e-commerce sales in China, the North American set is still new to this innovation, where influencers transform star power to selling power in moving millions of dollars of perfume, produce and even seats on a rocket launcher.

In Canada, cosmetics brand Urban Decay introduced a deeper meaning to “see now, buy now” through its first use of live shopping in October 2019. Since this first foray into the “phygital” wild west, live shopping is set to become an $11 billion industry in the United States by the end of this year.

While “live shopping” has been the buzzword on every brand marketer’s lips, adoption comes with a lot of questions. One of the most pressing questions we’ve seen circling around emails, webinars and routine Zoom calls is in deciding who the face of these live-shopping events should be, and how a new industry standard for selection, payment and expertise can be implemented.

As director of marketing and communications at a live-shopping startup in North America, I’ve watched the continent’s adopters soar to success — or learn big lessons.

After watching the influencer market rise to its present-day success, I want to break down how brands should be selecting, compensating and coaching their influencer hosts, as well as outline a few key terms industry players should keep note of.

Start with influencers on day one

Knix, the woman-founded Canadian intimates brand, has a model that thrives on its customer community — and ambassadors that bring it to life. The brand pierced through a $46 billion lingerie market to usher in a new era for leakproof undergarments, activewear and loungewear, designed around real feedback from real consumers.

A huge pivot came when the brand shifted entirely from retail sales to direct-to-consumer in 2016, focusing on connecting and communicating with customers online. Knix has also implemented a robust influencer affiliate strategy, seeding product and providing exclusive 10% off discount codes to communities close to their influencer affiliates.

Earlier this year, Knix also became the first intimates brand to launch with Livescale, using live shopping to add extra excitement to its buzz-worthy swimwear launch. Hosted by influencer Sarah Nicole Landry, real Knix customers and Knix founder Joanna Griffiths, the first event exceeded expectations, placing overall sales conversion well above live-shopping’s average, and certainly for a first-time event.

The live-shopping experience was the first to blend social media strategies with the expertise of the Knix brand team, showcasing online polls, gamification features and direct paths to purchase without ever leaving the brand’s social channels, website and online newsletter.

The secret? In part, the organic community culture the brand has worked for years to build — topped off with the selection of an influencer host who has known the brand for years and can speak directly to its merits without a second thought.

Expertise is more crucial than following

Yes, live-shopping events with celebrity hosts may make the news — but that doesn’t mean they always make the strongest sales.

A well-organized script with a passionate spokesperson is more important than budget-busting hosts, flashy names and buzzy PR tactics, our data show. The TL;DR? Let your host’s authentic connection to their audience shine brighter than anything else.

Lancôme has become a strong live-shopping leader in North America since the early days of the pandemic. In Canada, the brand identified a proven and effective strategy of tapping into smaller, more enthusiastic audiences hosted by their own internal staff.

One Singles’ Day event in November 2020 reached a smaller subset of Mandarin-speaking Canadians and boasted a conversion rate of 39%, setting the bar for sales records industrywide. Hosted by Lancôme’s own internal brand ambassador, return on investment was high because overhead costs were low. This event allowed Lancôme to experience lower friction in scaling its live-shopping strategy.

“When it comes to high-performing live-shopping events, we see a strong correlation between the type of host and overall sales conversion rate — and the production setup varies a lot,” Livescale VP of product and influencer expert Chanida Rayrolles said. “The top-performing host is known as the Key Opinion Seller in our industry for a reason — it’s about their level of expertise and ability to establish sales-boosting trust.”

What is the difference between a Key Opinion Leader and a Seller? When it comes down to it, the core differences are direct community size, cost and subject expertise.

“KOS” hosts are usually internal to the brand and have developed a long-term relationship with the product, which means any audience question should be answerable. Though they cannot directly bring traffic as seamlessly as a traditional influencer could, the audience they do bring is more likely to convert. According to our data from more than 1,000 live-shopping events, the average sales conversion rate for a KOS host is 10.5%. The same rate for an influencer host? Just 0.61%.

Influencers as investors: The key to live-shopping success

Data analysis around the most effective live-shopping host type is compelling — and impactful for a brand’s bottom line.

“This speaks less to the efficacy of influencers as a whole and more to the way brands are selecting who they work with,” Rayrolles explained. “Live shopping is a different beast — and customers are smart about where they reward brands with their dollars.”

Knix, in its first experiment with live shopping, tapped Landry, a longtime influencer and collaborator using the handle @TheBirdsPapaya, to host the event — and saw compelling results.

“It’s a mix of authenticity and finding the right influencer that also knows what they’re talking about,” said activist Kenzie Brenna, who also has worked with Knix for social media and advertising campaigns. “Our community doesn’t want to be shocked into buying something they’ve never heard us talk about before, and so for brands, building long-term, trusting relationships is important. We really care about our communities, and if we recommend something, that has to have weight.”

And the communities themselves? When it comes to e-commerce impact, experts advise to think small and scale. When it comes to conversion and consistent sales, it’s not a large following that brands should be looking for. Instead, keep an eye out for a higher-than-normal engagement rate, experience with live video and, most importantly, a longstanding relationship with the brand in question.

Most likely, Knix’s direct success with Landry was not due solely to her large following, topping 2 million on Instagram alone. Crucially, the duo has engaged in partnerships since 2017, with Griffiths bringing Landry on initially as a brand consultant.

“I remember being so blown away by her authenticity, her openness and her talent as a writer,” Griffiths said in a recent interview. “She was so refreshingly different. My goal was to help empower her to focus on building her business, and we are so happy to have been a part of this journey.”

Our recommendation, especially for social brands with strong influencer relations? Invest in the “best of both worlds” model for your next live-shopping event, which blends the star power of loyal influencers alongside an internal KOS.

To date, this combination has been tapped by brands like Dermalogica, Vans, Tatcha and L’Oréal globally, and hits a sweet spot for consistent sales and traffic. If you don’t have a strong influencer relationship, consult the book of organic growth to gain word-of-mouth community and organic traction.

“We see a lot of brands creating their own internal Key Opinion Sellers,” Rayrolles said. “Brands like Skinceuticals in the U.S. have crafted their own internal influencer, who generates some of the highest conversion rates and most consistent sales. It’s a question of consistency and of listening to your audience. That’s what brands need to remember at the end of the day.”

Invest in influencers and they’ll invest in you

“We’ve seen brands advise influencers to communicate about their live-shopping event one hour before launching, and one week before, and the results are staggering,” Annick McLellan, co-founder of Canadian live-shopping agency MXL Media, said about the role strong influencer relationships can play. “You don’t want a one-off collaboration; you want to work with a partner who feels like they have skin in the game, too. We see brands achieve this by focusing less on following and more on authentic potential, as well as offering some sort of incentive for sales.”

Oftentimes, strong communication around the offering of a live-shopping event can be deployed wherever your customers are: granting access through newsletters, paid ads, exclusive invites, SMS or social media, in addition to strong website advertising.

Influencers with a strong Instagram following, for instance, should be able to maximize this channel for promotion well ahead of their live-shopping launch date — and having some sort of a commission structure bodes well for extra promotion.

“With brands, and especially how we like to utilize live shopping, the onus is on them to build and develop that customer relationship,” McLellan said, noting that some of the most successful live-shopping users are DTC. Brands love this DTC approach because they have full ownership over their data and can provide customers with a clear path to purchase without ever having to leave the event.

No apps are needed either – with Livescale, for example, brands can share a live-shopping event link anywhere, even embedding on their websites or social media accounts. Other live-shopping platforms operate as marketplaces, acting like the true digital pivot of a channel like QVC — requiring audiences to download an app and scroll through daily for access to new shopping events hosted by influencers.

“The DTC approach just makes it easier for the influencers and the brands,” McLellan said. “This way, too, offering influencers a percentage of sales is actually doable — you can invest in them in a way that feels long term, and platforms aren’t skimming anything off the top in most cases.”

Though most digitally native brands are used to tapping one influencer per week for a social media livestream, live shopping may require a different approach.

“As influencers, being looped in over a long period of time with brands is the most rewarding,” Brenna said. “Each collaboration is built upon a rich and vibrant history, and [hosting] becomes effortless and authentic with the communities who give them their trust.”

Surprises are great, but give your audiences a heads-up

How much lead time should you give your brand before starting a live-shopping strategy?

“In our experience, one month is plenty of time to prepare,” McLellan said. “For influencers, give them two weeks to learn about this new way of talking to their communities. They can share their excitement online too, which is a plus.”

Ahead of a volatile retail season, one theme is clear: It’s a now-or-never moment for brands to adopt live shopping, expand their audience ownership and build a new community of influencers.