How ecommerce brands are incorporating live streaming into digital strategy
The China Internet Report predicts China’s livestreaming market will reach 613 million users in 2020. That makes live commerce big business in China, with more than 900 live-streaming sites now allowing consumers to interact and buy from brands in real-time – a market that, according to forecasts by iiMedia, will reach RMB 916bn by the end of 2020.
Touted as ‘QVC for the digital age’ – live commerce is a concept that hasn’t truly yet taken off outside of China.
However, with consumers increasingly buying online, big brands are now starting to experiment with live-streaming, and new live commerce platforms are also emerging. The question is – will consumers embrace it in the same way?
QVC and Amazon go live
Home shopping or ‘teleshopping’ channels like QVC hold a certain kind of consumer appeal, often (rather stereotypically) associated with random cleaning products.
Naturally, staying relevant has become a big challenge for QVC, particularly when it comes to competing in the two worlds of TV and retail. It’s certainly not failing; ecommerce now accounts for a large percentage of the group’s overall sales (59% of total revenue in Q1 2020).
QVC’s more recent success has been put down to greater digital investment, with the brand finding new audiences via its shoppable app, as well as live-streaming on platforms such as YouTube and Facebook. QVC launched ‘Q Anytime’ in 2019, an app that allows users to shop from on-demand video. Streaming also allows QVC to replicate the TV experience on social channels, allowing users to view what’s currently ‘on air’, as well as click to buy the products that are being shown.
Amazon has also been experimenting with the same formula, having launched Amazon Live in 2019. The platform allows users to buy products from Amazon sellers and vendors, with live-streams often hosted by influencers to drive engagement.
Amazon has been keeping its Live platform relatively quiet, but at the same time it’s also been attracting some big name influencer partnerships. A recent example saw the founder of Honest Beauty brand, Jessica Alba, participate in a live-stream for the brand. One difference which could work in its favour is that Amazon Live allows users to go back and view past live-streams, which many other platforms do not.
Covid-19 spurs on live-streaming trend
Interestingly, home shopping channels have seen a surge in viewership recently, with more Americans tuning in to QVC during the coronavirus pandemic than before it began. More specifically, viewership for networks owned by Qurate Retail Inc, which includes both Home Shopping Network and QVC, are reported to have risen 10% between March and May this year.
The coronavirus pandemic has also spurred on other brands to get more involved with live-streaming, which has also meant a shift away from Instagram Live (where there are no native shopping capabilities). Instead, brands are partnering with third party companies such as Livescale and Bambuser, which both offer live-streaming capabilities that can be integrated into brand websites (and therefore enable viewers to shop what they are seeing).
Many beauty and cosmetics brands, including those under L’Oreal Group and Estee Lauder Companies, have hosted these types of live-streaming events in the past few months. NYX Cosmetics hosted a live-stream ‘shopping experience’ in honour of Pride in May, featuring the influencer Matt Bernstein.
For consumers, the biggest draw of live-streaming is its interactive nature, which also brings together elements of both entertainment and ecommerce. For example, beauty and skincare brands tend to host tutorials during live-streaming, which means viewers are able to learn about a product as well as ask personalised questions about it or how to use it – which is not possible when it comes to standard videos on Instagram or YouTube.
Of course, viewers are also attracted to the influencer element, with the chance to interact with brands or social media personalities directly helping to increase interest. Perhaps more importantly for brands, live-streaming can also be an effective way to drive sales as well as general brand engagement. Speaking to Glossy, Livescale founder Virgile Ollivier, suggests that the conversion rate for its clients’ shopping events average around 9.5%.
New platforms emerging
Alongside big brands investing in live commerce, we are also seeing new companies emerging – those who are aiming to reinvent the concept of home shopping, as well as borrow from thte hugely successful concept of live commerce in China.
Popshop Live is one of the platforms gaining exposure, having recently secured an additional $3 million in funding, brining its total funding to $4.5 billion. Popshop Live aims to reinvent the QVC model for a digital generation, allowing both individual sellers and stores to host shows on its platform, which currently comes in the form of an invite-only app.
According to TechCrunch, Popshop live has been hugely effective for the brands that have used it so far. Japan LA, for example, reportedly generated $17,000 in sales from a single livestream show – more than its average offline and online sales from an average Saturday. TechCrunch also suggests that Popshop’s success could stem from the fact that it creates a sense of community among both sellers and buyers, similar to that found on marketplaces like Depop and Etsy.
Another platform that is fostering its own unique community (or niche communities) is TikTok, which has also been increasingly focusing on live-streaming since the coronavirus pandemic. There are no real commerce features included yet; as it stands, users can only buy virtual ‘gifts’ for live-streamers. However, featured influencers often signpost where users can buy their merchandise elsewhere.
Furthermore, with TikTok integrating social commerce features in the past year – such as “Shop Now” buttons to allow users to make purchases through links posted to TikTok – we could see further commerce features transfer into live-streams.
Is influencer interest the key?
There’s no doubt that the concept of live commerce presents a big opportunity for retail brands. However, it’s important to recognise that its explosion in China largely stems from the popularity of influencers, whose involvement helps to generate huge interest (and sales). Chinese influencer, Viya, for example, sold out 15,000 bottles of Kim Kardashian’s KKW fragrance in under a minute during a livestream in November 2019. Success stories like this drive brand investment in live-streaming, with influencers now in the position to demand huge fees.
While there is of course fervent interest in influencers in the West, audience engagement tends to be much more niche, with micro influencers now proven to drive more beneficial types of consumer engagement than mega or macro influencers, due to higher levels of perceived authenticity and trust. There tends to also be more cynicism about influencer marketing in general here, particularly since certain influencers have been exposed for failing to properly expose brand involvement in social content.
That being said, with the growing popularity of social content platforms like TikTok – combined with the recent spike in demand for ecommerce – now seems like the right time for brands to consider investing in what could be a new and exciting opportunity within ecommerce. This is particularly the case for fashion and beauty brands, where influencer involvement is still generating big success.
How to Increase Your ROI Through scientific SEM?
Want to know the one thing that every successful digital marketer does first to ensure they get the biggest return on their marketing budget? It’s simple: goal-setting. This is an absolutely essential practice for any digital marketer who knows how to execute their campaigns in a productive, cost-effective way. With a few. With a few simple tips, you can be doing the same in no time! In this blog, we’ll walk you through the first steps every savvy digital marketer takes to ensure that they’re on target to hit all their marketing objectives. Get ready for revenue!
Remember: even if the channel you’re considering is all the rage right now, it might not fit your brand. Always make informed decisions that directly relate to your company. Otherwise, your message won’t be delivered to its intended audience and you’ll have wasted time, effort and money.
Know Your Digital Goals
The first step is clearly identifying which goals you want to achieve. Get specific. Do you want to increase brand awareness? Are you all about locking in leads? Do you want to establish a strong network of influencers that can help you be discovered? How about pushing engagement on social media?
Get Specific
A useful tool for narrowing down your goals to ensure they’re viable is the SMART mnemonic. It’s important to get specific to understand exactly what you’re working towards, and help you break down the process of hitting your targets. This is exactly what this mnemonic helps you to achieve.
- Does the channel reach my intended audience?
- Is the channel sustainable and affordable within my company’s marketing budget?
- Will I be able to measure the success of the channel?
- Does the channel allow me to express my brand’s intended message?
- Do the channels I’m considering work together to convey my message?
Always Remember Your Goals!
Establishing a solid vision for your business is the first step to planning your digital marketing budget. Always keep your final goals in sight when organising anything for your company. When deciding which steps to take next in your business, ask yourself how they will help you achieve the goals you outlined in Step #1. This will ensure that you stay on track and prevent you from spending your budget on anything that won’t help you achieve.
Cum et essent similique. Inani propriae menandri sed in. Pericula expetendis has no,
quo populo forensibus contentiones et, nibh error in per.Denis Robinson
As your budget progresses and evolves, continue referring to your SMART objectives. Stay focused and remember your goals – they will always inform what your next step will be!
Maximising the fashion ecommerce experience as consumers move from bricks to clicks
An exceptional ecommerce experience will be essential for fashion brands as they emerge from lockdown – but what can they do to engage new customers online?
As we move into the summer months and lockdown restrictions ease, the need for buying new clothes has returned. After a spike in sales for loungewear over the last three months, demand for summer clothing and formal outfits is expected to surge as people start to make plans for their summer holidays and prepare for their return to the office.
But although brick-and-mortar stores are now back open for business, the high street shopping experience is very different. There are many new, strict guidelines that retailers must adhere to – including enforcing a one-way system and observing social distancing. This means only a limited number of people are allowed into a store at any one time and customers are unable to make a beeline for items that take their fancy. Also, they are no longer able to try items on in store – which removes one of the biggest USPs of buying apparel offline.
In a nutshell, there is little about this new shopping experience that caters to convenience. With 17.2m Brits planning to switch to online shopping permanently, offering an exceptional ecommerce experience will be essential for omnichannel and pureplay fashion brands as they leap from lockdown.
Engaging the novice online shopper
Undoubtedly, the pandemic has changed the perceptions of many consumers with regards to online shopping. With lockdown removing the choice between online and offline for non-essential purchases for months, reluctant online shoppers have been introduced to a new way of purchasing clothes, and the benefits of trying things on in the comfort of their home.
To help these novice shoppers grow more used to purchasing apparel without seeing it in the flesh, replicating key benefits of high street shopping will be key. This can be achieved by implementing social proof features such as customer reviews, user-generated content and crowdsourced guidance. This allows shoppers to feel more confident in making a purchase without being able to physically touch the product or speak to salespeople.
For example, In The Style uses selfies taken and posted on social media by its customers on the product detail pages to show the products in real life and on a variety of body shapes and sizes.
In a similar vein, Asos’ “See My Fit” uses AR to show how a style can look on models of different sizes and body shapes.
Another tactic for building confidence in shoppers that are new to online buying is to deploy a social proof widget revealing how often an item has been browsed and purchased within a certain time frame. This can give the customer an idea of what’s popular and likely to be a successful purchase.
Converting the new customer
Covid-19 not only introduced more consumers to online shoppers, it also had a detrimental impact on customer loyalty. Forty three percent of online purchases in April were made by first-time buyers, so shoppers who bought from this particular store for the first time. To re-engage these shoppers and turn them into repeat customers, it’s important to use the data collected about the customer to tailor website content to individual preferences. This helps returning customers find the things they like on the site more quickly and easily, for example by personalising the homepage by gender based on the previously viewed product categories.
Personalisation can go as far as making recommendations based on the shopper’s individual budget or suggesting items that have been previously viewed by the shopper that are now on sale.
US app-based shopping platform The Yes highlights some exciting further use cases for real-time personalisation. The platform offers a product catalogue of items from a range of fashion companies, and when a shopper designates a “yes” to a style they like, then similar products will appear higher in their personalised feed. By asking those who sign up to answer a range of questions, the algorithm quickly learns about the customer and updates content based on their direct interaction with the catalogue.
Fashion ecommerce is receiving investment
The pandemic accelerated the trend to ecommerce and queuing and hyper-awareness of potential health risks will not contribute to a quick recovery of the high street. Even though fashion brands and retailers will be expected to do more with less budget and resource over the coming months, there’s real opportunity for online businesses. Now is the time to perfect the online experience for shoppers to ensure sustained growth in the long term.
21 Best FREE SEO Tools for On-Page Optimization
Google’s official position on webmaster best practices really hasn’t changed much over the years. What has changed is the search engine’s ability to enforce these guidelines through improved algorithms. The implementation of Panda, Penguin, and Hummingbird has had a profound impact on the SEO landscape.
Google’s Matt Cutts has remarked that no one should be surprised when a website that hasn’t followed the guidelines is penalized. What Cutts overlooks or chooses to ignore is something that I have dubbed the “Google Paradox“. I suspect the Google paradox is the root cause for one black hat forum member expressing his desire to “punch Matt Cutts in the face” (per Cutts’ Pubcon 2013 keynote).
In order to reach the top of the SERPs and stay there in 2013 and beyond, your website must deserve to be there. It needs to be the best in class. It must offer the best user experience in that niche. Fortunately, there are a number of free tools that can help you achieve that goal.
Keyword Research
Developing the right list of keywords remains a staple of SEO, even in 2013. Because the keyword selection has such a profound impact on the overall performance of a website, the keyword selection process shouldn’t rely on a single tool.
1. Wordstream
The Wordstream Free Keyword Tool offers thousands of keyword ideas from a huge database of more than a trillion unique searches. This tool outperforms some of the paid alternatives in the market.
2. Keyword Eye Basic
Keyword Eye Basic is a visual keyword suggestion tool, that works particularly well for brainstorming sessions.
3. YouTube Keyword Tool
Julie Joyce recently described in detail just how great the YouTube Keyword Tool is for keyword research for all kinds of content, not just video.
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4. Übersuggest
Übersuggest utilizes the “Suggest” data from Google and others. A terrific tool for developing long-tail phrases.
Content Tools
Everyone knows by now that Panda ushered in a new era for content quality. No longer will cheap, spun, or duplicate content frequently find its way to the top of the SERPs. These tools will help you with your content development
5. Anchor Text Over Optimization Tool
The Anchor Text Over Optimization Tool outputs anchor text diversity. Words or phrases that are potentially over-optimized are highlighted for manual review.
6. Convert Word Documents to Clean HTML
Convert Word Documents to Clean HTML is a free converter tool for documents created in Microsoft Word, Writer, and other word processing software.
7. Copyscape
Copyscape is a free plagiarism checker. The software lets you enter a URL to detect duplicate content and to verify that your content is original.
Technical Tools
Don’t let the title scare you away. These are technical tools designed to be used by the non-technical among us.
8. Xenu’s Link Sleuth
Xenu’s Link Sleuth is a PC based spidering software that checks websites for broken links. It performs validation of text links, frames, images, local image maps, and backgrounds.
9. Robots.txt Generator
Robots.txt Generator is a freeware utility that makes the creation of robots.txt files a breeze.
10. Robots.txt Checker
Robots.txt Checker is a “validator” that will analyze the syntax of a robots.txt file to verify the format is valid.
11. URI Valet
Use the URI Valet Header Checker to view total number of objects (http requests), time to download, object details, document internal links, and external links along with verifying server headers for each.
12. Title and Description Optimization Tool
This title and description optimization tool gives insight as to what the top ranking competitors are using for titles and descriptions. The best competitor intelligence tool of its type.
13. Image SEO Tool
With Image SEO Tool, simply input a URL and this tool checks image name, alt attribute, and dimensions. Alerts are given if a potential problem is discovered.
14. Schema Creator
The Schema Creator tool is the easiest way to get started creating HTML with schema.org microdata.
15. Google Snippet Preview
The snippet that appears in Google Search is usually taken from these meta tags. The Google Snippet Preview tool helps visualize and optimize what is displayed to searchers.
16. Structured Data Testing Tool
The Structured Data Testing Tool verifies Schema.org or any other structured data type markup.
17. XML Sitemap Generators
XML Sitemap Generators create “web-type” XML sitemap and URL-list files (some may also support other formats).
18. XML Sitemap Inspector
XML Sitemap Inspector validates your sitemap (XML or gunzip), repairs errors, and pings all search engines.
19. Pingdom Website Speed Tool
Pingdom’s Website Speed Tool tests the load time of a page, analyzes it, and finds bottlenecks.
20. Fiddler
Fiddler is a web debugging tool which logs all HTTP(S) traffic between your computer and the Internet.
21. Microsoft Free SEO Toolkit
Now that you have run each of these tools over your website, it’s time to run a full blown SEO audit, complete with detailed reports. Fortunately, Microsoft has created a Free SEO Toolkit which does just that.
