Livestream shopping platforms’ market heats beyond China

Earlier in July, US livestream commerce company talkshoplive (TSL) secured 6 million dollars seed extension, what brought its total fundraising to date to 10.5 million dollars. Direct competitor Popshop Live also received 20 million dollars in funding the same week, signaling the explosion of livestream shopping beyond its primary market to date, China.

Livestream e-commerce has taken off in China in the last few years and is expected to yield more than 60 billion dollars this year, with market experts expecting 6 billion dollars to be generated in the US.

“Livestream commerce is not just a trend in China and through the pandemic, it is an emerging multi-billion-dollar phenomenon whose growth is accelerating every day,” said in early July Popshop Live board member Matt Cohler of Benchmark.

Livestream shopping is gaining popularity. According to GlobalWebIndex, in the second half of 2020, 32 percent of YouTube users worldwide had watched a livestreamed video on the platform within the past month.

“Our team has closely watched the development of live commerce in the U.S. and reviewed a number of different strategies in the space,” said Gordon Rubenstein, managing partner of Raine Ventures, leading investor in talkshoplive. when their latest fundraiser was announced.

Big tech companies join the livestream shopping frenzy

Over the past year, Facebook has launched Live Shopping Fridays to test live shopping with beauty, fashion and skincare brands and creators, while Walmart has partnered with TikTok on livestream shopping events.

YouTube has also been increasingly investing in the space with the acquisition of the Indian video shopping app Simsim. Google has also integrated video shopping into its Shopping search business, experimenting with different features and integrations with YouTube’s integrated video shopping experience.

Last but not least, Instagram’s executive Adam Mosseri advanced that “We’re no longer a photo-sharing app,” adding that the company will focus on four key areas: creators, video, messaging and shopping.

Image: talkshoplive