Competition in the US live streaming e-commerce market intensifies, and amateur anchors become a new growth force

Although the live e-commerce market in the United States is relatively small, more and more startups and large technology companies are eyeing this piece of cake. They believe that American consumers are increasingly likely to accept this emerging form of shopping. Therefore, the competition in the live e-commerce market in the United States is intensifying.

The U.S. live-streaming e-commerce market is expected to generate $32 billion in sales this year, according to estimates by retail consulting firm Coresight Research. Although much smaller than China's $647 billion in live-streaming shopping, U.S. live-streaming e-commerce is still growing.

The current situation of the live e-commerce market: some people withdraw, while others double down on their bets

For platforms, live-streaming e-commerce will bring more user engagement, with consumers sometimes spending hours watching hosts sell goods. For retailers, it is another channel to sell goods amid intensifying competition.

For some American users, live shopping has replaced shopping malls and morning TV shows. For example, AJ Johnson, a lifestyle blogger from the United States, watches live broadcasts on ShopShops almost every day.

For years, many American companies have been pouring money into live-streaming e-commerce, hoping to replicate the boom in China. Even as consumers return to offline physical stores after the pandemic, retailers and big tech companies are still betting on the live-streaming e-commerce market.

However, American consumers are much less receptive to livestream shopping than Chinese ones. According to a survey by MorningConsult, 78% of American adults said last year that they had never participated in a livestream shopping event. In addition, linear TV, streaming channels and social media are also competing for consumers’ attention and money.

Some large technology companies have already exited the live e-commerce space. Meta, which developed Zhibodianshan at the start of the pandemic, shut down Instagram’s live shopping feature in March this year and Facebook’s live shopping feature in October last year.

Other companies have been slower to make progress in the live e-commerce space. TikTok has been testing its live shopping tool TikTokShop in the U.S. since November last year, but has yet to announce a full launch. However, TikTok is optimistic about its prospects for live e-commerce in the U.S.

TikTok is facing intense criticism from lawmakers and regulators in the United States. More than two dozen states have banned the app from government devices. In April, Montana lawmakers approved a bill to ban the use of TikTok in the state, the first such ban.

Amateur anchors are pouring in, driving the growth of live e-commerce

The anchor plays a key role in determining the effectiveness of live streaming. In the United States, different platforms have different thresholds for anchors. For example, on Poshmark, anyone with an account can sell their second-hand clothing, while other platforms such as Amazon mainly sell various products through cooperation with celebrities and bloggers.

In China, live streaming is already very mature, with a large number of experienced anchors who are very good at live streaming procedures, controlling the scene, and speaking skills. In the United States, however, there are fewer experienced anchors, and most of them start live streaming directly without any previous experience to learn from. They also broadcast live at random times.

Iva Lazovic is a live streamer on Poshmark’s new live streaming platform, PoshShows, which was the first major business strategy announced by South Korean giant Naver since it acquired Poshmark last year.

Iva Lazovic's latest live broadcast was launched at a party. The live broadcast background was simple artificial green plants, and the live broadcast equipment was a ring light directly added to the iPhone. In the live broadcast, Iva Lazovic introduced: "This is a Lululemon sweater, very cute, now only $67, this price will never be bought in the store."

36-year-old Johnso is a user of the American live shopping platform ShopShops. She believes that a celebrity or internet celebrity blogger is not necessarily a good live streaming host, but many people have the misunderstanding that live streaming sales are limited to celebrities or internet celebrity bloggers. This may be the main reason why the live streaming sales industry in the United States is difficult to grow.

In fact, many people in the United States are using live streaming as a side job. For example, Alex Mahl, who works at a law firm, broadcasts live on PoshShows for several hours every day after get off work. She is not only responsible for the live broadcast, but also for uploading the products to the live broadcast room. So far, her sales have exceeded $50,000.

But according to Alex Mahl, more and more people are selling goods through live streaming on the PoshShows platform, and the competition is becoming increasingly fierce. In any case, although the prospects of the live streaming e-commerce market in the United States are full of uncertainty, many companies are still betting on this track. As more and more amateur anchors and users join in, the market size is expected to continue to grow.

Editor✎ Ashley/

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