According to the Washington Post, "live commerce" allows users to buy products in real time, "typically advertised by hosts during live video events on platforms such as TikTok Shop and Instagram Live." And it's booming!
Global sales on these platforms hit $918.9 million last year, according to a Verified Market Research study, and are projected to more than triple by 2031, to about $3.1 billion. And TikTok Shop is among those quickly gaining ground....
Hmmm. Global retail sales amount to about $30 trillion, with a t. So $918 million, with an m, is 0.003% of the total unless I've dropped a digit somewhere. By 2031, that will be up to 0.007%. Approximately. Mostly in China.
Let me put this a different way. Live commerce sales are so small I had trouble finding another product category for comparison. It turns out it's about the size of the rutabaga market. It's one quarter the size of the nail clipper market. But it's bigger than either the frankincense market or the myrrh market.
In other words, you might want to hold off on being too impressed by the hype.
I've heard the live commerce market is China where an astounding 30 to 50% of online purchases are made from this "live commerce." Is this true? Hard to say, but Tik Tok would love that to happen here.
Isn’t this the same as QVC or something just that it is online instead of on TV? How large is the market for tacky jewelry?
I agree this is nothing new, just a different platform.
I was about to say the same thing. QVC by another name. BFD.