ARTICLES
8
min read time
August 10, 2023

Live Selling – The Best Way to Sell Products Online

Boost your business with live selling! discover the power of real-time engagement and sales conversion in live selling events here!

Live Selling – The Best Way to Sell Products Online
Table of Contents

In today’s digital age, selling products online has become an essential aspect of modern commerce. From e-commerce websites to social media platforms, businesses have numerous channels to promote and sell their products online.

However, with so much competition, it’s becoming increasingly challenging to stand out from the crowd and capture the attention of potential customers.

That’s where live selling comes in – a dynamic and interactive approach that allows online retailers to engage with their audience in real-time and showcase their products in a compelling and entertaining way.

In this article, we’ll explore the benefits of live selling and why it’s quickly becoming the best way to sell products online.

What is live selling?

Live selling, also known as live streaming commerce or live commerce, is a method of promoting and selling products online in real-time using video streaming technology.

Live sales allow businesses to showcase their products in a dynamic and interactive way, engaging with potential new customers and answering their questions in real-time.

Live selling through social media

Live selling typically takes place on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or on a company website, where businesses can stream live videos of their products being demonstrated, explained, or reviewed.

The audience can interact with the seller through live chat to give feedback, ask questions, and make purchases directly from the video stream.

Why selling live works

There are plenty of reasons why live selling has become one of the most effective ways of selling products online. Selling live is both fun and effective, and it’s much easier for customers to buy the exact products they want while also having a more entertaining online shopping and buying experience because of the host’s charismatic and energetic personality.

Live selling 2 min | ELISA.io

From a technical standpoint, selling live on Facebook and Instagram works amazingly because of the algorithm. When your customers are commenting and liking your post, social media platforms will push your content further to other users making your live stream even more popular.

This increases your reach, your overall conversions, and the likelihood of people forming or joining your community. It’s a really powerful tool that gives a lot of rewards for fairly low efforts compared to other marketing or sales disciplines.

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Advantages of live selling for businesses

There are plenty of reasons to start selling live which is why so many businesses are dipping their toes into the water of live selling. Just the number of social users is amazing for a bigger reach. Some of the other key advantages are:

  • Builds trust and credibility: Selling live allows businesses to connect with their target audience in a more personal and authentic way. With live sales, customers can see the product in action, ask questions, and get immediate feedback from the seller. This creates a sense of trust and credibility that can be difficult to achieve through traditional e-commerce sales channels.

  • Creates a sense of urgency: Live selling events are typically time-limited, creating a sense of urgency for customers to make a purchase. This can be a powerful motivator for customers who may have been on the fence about buying a product. The FOMO effect is extremely powerful when it comes to live sales.

  • Increases engagement and interactivity: Live selling events are highly interactive, with customers able to feel a part of the live stream by interacting with the host. This creates a more engaging and immersive experience that can help customers feel more connected to the product and the brand.

  • Showcases products in a dynamic way: Selling live allows businesses to showcase their products in a unique and interesting way, using visual demonstrations and overlays, product reviews, and customer testimonials. This can be highly effective in highlighting the features and benefits of a product while giving your live selling stream a unique and interesting look

Challenges of live stream selling for businesses

Challenge | ELISA.io

With everything good comes challenges you have to overcome to really reap the rewards. Live stream shopping is a discipline everyone can master but you have to be aware of some of these challenges:

  • Technical difficulties: Live selling requires a reliable internet connection and some video and audio equipment. You can just start by using our phone and upgrade later on if you really enjoy the live selling experience. But with technology comes technical difficulties that can be an issue for some.

  • Planning and preparation: Live selling events require careful planning and preparation to ensure that they run smoothly. This includes selecting the right products to showcase, preparing your live campaigns, and testing equipment and technology prior to the live shopping event.

  • Audience engagement: While livestream selling can be highly engaging, it can also be challenging to keep the audience engaged throughout the live event. This requires the seller to be energetic, enthusiastic, and able to adapt to audience feedback in real time.

  • Competition: As live selling becomes more popular, the competition for audience attention and engagement is increasing. Businesses need to find ways to differentiate themselves from competitors and create a unique and compelling personal shopping experience for their audience.

How to start hosting live shopping events?

If you want to start selling live today, you’re in luck! One of the awesome features of live selling is that it doesn’t take long for you to not know anything about selling live to standing in front of a camera having fun and selling products to all of your viewers.

Facebook Live selling

It’s essential to find a good live selling platform. Whether you want to do Facebook Live sales or feel Instagram live selling is better is totally up to you. Both platforms have great potential for selling products through live events. The most crucial part is just getting started so your audience gets used to your awesome live shopping events.

Facebook Live selling rules

Selling clothes on Facebook Live or any other products for that matter has to follow some specific rules. Facebook created the Facebook livestream rules and Facebook Live selling rules which have to be followed so you won’t get penalized.

Penalty | ELISA.io

The most important rules you should follow when live selling on Facebook are:

  • Be transparent about what you’re selling: Make sure that you accurately describe your products and don’t mislead buyers about their quality or condition. This is a general rule for social shopping you should always follow.

  • Don’t tell viewers you’re live if you’re not: Trying to sell products through a video you are advertising as being a live selling stream is also a problem and should be avoided.

  • Comply with all applicable laws and regulations: This includes consumer protection laws, intellectual property laws, and any other relevant laws in your jurisdiction.

  • Don’t sell illegal or prohibited products: This includes items that are illegal or restricted in your country, as well as items that violate Facebook’s policies (such as weapons, drugs, or counterfeit goods).

Understand the live shopping features

If you want to start live selling, understanding the many live sale features available to you is essential. Choosing one live sales feature over another and finding the live shopping feature that just makes everything way easier can be a big step in the right direction to increase sales.

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Cross-platform streaming for live sales

You can also choose to go live on multiple platforms at once, which is a really powerful strategy to reach your entire audience on all social media platforms. This is easily done with software like Sprii that lets you go live on all platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and your own site, and you control everything from one single feed.

Wrapping up

If you are trying to sell products online, you have to take a look at live selling. Selling live on social media platforms is a new way of selling products but it has quickly become very popular among the biggest companies in the world.

The many advantages of selling live on social media easily beat out the challenges. Especially if you use third-party software that helps you with everything from order management to sales, and marketing. The only focal point for you is engaging with customers and selling your products through beautiful live streams.

FAQ

What does selling live on Facebook mean?

Selling live on Facebook is just a way of selling your products. You can go live at any time and showcase your products to the entire world for people to purchase. It’s quick, easy, and super simple.

How to do FB live selling?

It doesn’t take much to start your Facebook live-selling journey. With software like Sprii, you can easily go live and do live sales on all the social media platforms you want.

How to get more viewers on Facebook Live selling?

Using overlays, choosing awesome products, and going live more often, are all factors that can help increase your live-selling viewership. Using your social media channels to hype your livestream shopping can be a big help too.

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Sprii in Action

During a Live Shopping event, Sprii automatically replies to comments, creates orders for your customers, sends them a link to their basket, and handles payment and shipping.

5. Create hype & excitement during your events

The beauty of Live Shopping is that it can be used in so many ways. This is particularly valuable during Black Friday and Cyber Monday when businesses are looking to engage their viewers in as many ways as possible.

Here are 3 ways to create hype and get customers excited about your Black Friday events so you can achieve your revenue goals.

5. Create hype & excitement during your events

During Black Friday and Cyber Monday, potential customers often experience an intense pressure to participate in the shopping frenzy, driven by the fear that they will miss out on the best deals and discounts if they don't join in.

Live Shopping enables viewers to make purchases instantly while watching the stream, which can be especially effective during Black Friday and Cyber Monday when time-limited deals are available. This instant purchasing capability can drive sales during Live Shopping events.

With Live Shopping, consumers get the personal assistance of an in-store shopping experience and the convenience of being able to shop from the comfort of their own sofa or favorite coffee shop.

Viewers can get information from the retailer in real-time by asking questions directly in the Live Shopping event.

During a live show, viewers can ask questions and get answers in real-time. Even better, they can interact with each other and share their experiences with your products.

AspectTraditional E-Commerce JourneyLive Shopping Journey
Marketing ApproachHigh ad spend and several channels to attract shoppers to webshopLeveraging existing social media followers
NavigationRequires navigating through a static webshop to find products.Requires nothing more than watching a live video to discover new products.
Product PresentationProducts are presented through static images. Products are presented in a live video by engaging hosts.
Customer ExperienceFeels like a business transaction.Feels like a personal connection.
Engagement and InteractionLimited to static product descriptions, images, and occasional customer reviewsOffers real-time interaction between hosts and viewers, allowing for immediate Q&A, live demonstrations, and personalized recommendations
Customer ExperienceCustomers independently navigate the webshop and make purchase decisions without help.Customers are guided through products, receive helpful information, and can ask questions as well as see what others are writing and asking.
Conversion RatesRelies on well-designed websites and optimized marketing funnels to convert visitors into buyers.Often achieves higher conversion rates due to the sense of urgency and interactive nature of live events.
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)Higher CAC due to extensive marketing efforts across various channels.Typically lower CAC by leveraging social media followings and organic engagement during live events.
Return RatesHigher return rates due to customers not fully understanding the product before purchase.Lower return rates as live demonstrations provide a clearer understanding of the product, leading to more informed purchasing decisions.
Time to sellCan range from hours to weeks or even months. Often much quicker, ranging from minutes to hours.
Metric Traditional E-Commerce Live Shopping²
 Avg. Conversion Rate 2.5%³  Up to 60% (Sprii Data)
 Avg. View Time 54 seconds⁴ 20+ minutes (Sprii Data)
 Avg. Checkout Rate 45%⁵ 60% (Sprii Data)
 Avg. Return Rate 20-30%⁶ Under 10% (Sprii Data)
 Avg. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) +€50⁷ 0*
 Avg. Sales Cycle Hours, weeks, months Minutes