Event Coverage 8 minutesFree ReportVERB’s MARKET Hosts Shopfest 2022: Brands See Peak Engagement via Livestreaming Q&A Coresight Research August 31, 2022 What's InsideVERB’s Shopfest livestreaming shopping festival marked the launch of MARKET, a live shopping platform. In this free report, we present highlights from the event and discuss its multichannel livestreaming approach, tactics driving consumer engagement and more. Coresight Research collaborated with VERB to offer insights into Shopfest 2022. Click here to read more Coresight Research coverage of livestreaming e-commerce. Executive Summary Some 55 brands and retailers presented livestreams to nearly 15,500 shoppers during the three-day Consumers could shop from 200 stores on the MARKET platform during the event, spanning 14 product categories; the stores remain active following the event. Among the brands and celebrities participating in Shopfest were celebrity chef David Burke, fashion brand Halston, jewelry brand Judith Ripka, home-improvement retailer Longaberger, dietary supplement brand Organifi and online premium liquor and wine retailer ReserveBar. VERB partnered with charitable organization Good360 to provide shoppers with user-friendly donation options during the livestream shopping experience, including rounding up purchases to the next dollar. Engagement metrics peaked when hosts asked viewers simple questions, creating a dialogue and forging personal connections. Shopfest featured multiple global brands but offered a one-cart shopping solution. Brands and retailers leveraged VERB’s live shopping solutions to showcase their product assortment on the Shopfest site, syncing across multiple livestreaming channels, including their proprietary websites, social networks and live video channels. What We Think As livestreaming e-commerce continues to take shape in the West, it will provide a key opportunity for retail companies to offer interactive and engaging content and exclusive experiences. VERB’s MARKET festivalized the livestream shopping experience through the Shopfest event, enabling participating brands and retailers to improve brand awareness, attract new consumers and drive sales. MARKET provides seamless live shopping integrations and a marketplace model that marks a new addition to the livestream shopping space. Introduction On July 26–28, 2022, Verb Technology Company (VERB), held Shopfest, a three-day interactive livestream shopping festival, on its MARKET live shopping platform. As more brands and retailers turn to livestreaming to stimulate demand and drive sales, Shopfest sought to support retail companies by generating hype and demand with exclusive discounts and live engagement. We present key highlights from Shopfest, including its multichannel livestreaming approach, emerging live shopping categories and tactics driving consumer engagement. Coresight Research collaborated with VERB to offer insights into Shopfest 2022. Read more Coresight Research coverage of livestreaming e-commerce. VERB’s MARKET Hosts Shopfest 2022: Coresight Research Insights Key Highlights Shopfest enabled retailers to generate demand and traffic, capitalizing on the burgeoning live shopping opportunity. The event was designed to meet consumer demand for entertaining content, authentic engagement and a frictionless purchasing process. Consumers enjoyed a retail experience that combined live shopping, entertainment and charitable giving. The three-day live shopping festival saw strong consumer engagement, with 15,444 unique users visiting MARKET. These online viewers exhibited high rates of returning, browsing and purchasing, leading to 45,161 total website views over the three-day period. Shopfest saw a total of 8,511 livestreaming views through the MARKET platform alone—many viewers will have accessed content through external social or video channels. Shopfest was a global festival, featuring livestreams from 55 international brands and retailers from a diverse range of categories, including clothing and accessories, beauty, home and pet supplies (see Figure 1). Figure 1. VERB’s Shopfest 2022: Brands and Retailers That Hosted Livestreams Source: VERB MARKET’s simulcasting live shopping solution allowed sellers to simultaneously stream to multiple channels and locations, including Australia, Brazil and the US, during the event’s 63 live shopping sessions. VERB’s MARKET team produced 18 of the live shopping shows—the “Main Stage” sessions—in its Los Angeles and New York City studios; the rest were broadcast by merchants remotely. Shopfest provided shoppers with user-friendly charity donation opportunities during the live shopping experience through its partnership with charitable organization Good360. During the event, consumers could browse and purchase from 200 stores spanning multiple retail categories—and these stores remain active on the MARKET platform. Many of the participants that did not launch livestreams during Shopfest can do so following the event, giving consumers an incentive to return and remain engaged on the platform. Figure 2. VERB’s Shopfest 2022: Store Categories Arts and crafts Entertainment Office products Baby products Grocery and gourmet food Pet supplies Clothing and accessories Health and personal care Sports Collectibles and fine art Home Toys and games Electronics Industrial and scientific Source: Shopfest Since Shopfest, MARKET has continued to attract shoppers, who can make purchases and watch live replays of the event’s sessions. As of August 11, 2022, MARKET had garnered a further 3,408 views of on-demand Shopfest videos. Dialogue Drives Peak Engagement Authenticity from hosts when testing out products and replying to live chat comments builds brand credibility and influences viewers’ purchase decisions. Engagement metrics peaked when hosts asked viewers simple questions, creating a dialogue and forging personal connections. For example, premium liquor and wine retailer ReserveBar provided entertainment value with a mix of insight and comedy that translated to a 9% conversion rate, with average order value of $80. Livestreaming session from Brian Schmidt, VP of Acquisition and Retention at ReserveBar (right)Source: Shopfest Being responsive was also essential for brands wishing to drive engagement and sales. One viewer noted after the event that she would not have felt confident purchasing a pair of sneakers if she had not been able to ask the host about their size—and be confident that her question would be answered. In addition, waiting for the host to answer kept the viewer attentive and engaged. Dietary supplement brand Organifi used interactive and personal stories to drive engagement, resulting in a 9% conversion rate and an average order value of $125. The brand’s CEO and Founder Drew Canole shared personal stories behind product creation and his own belief in the importance of using organic and vegan ingredients. Drew Canole, CEO and Founder of Organifi, presented products and answered viewers’ questions.Source: Shopfest Single Shopping Cart Enables Multi-Brand Purchasing To enable a seamless shopping experience for consumers, VERB’s MARKET platform enabled shoppers to make purchases from multiple brands via one shopping cart. Left: Mark Cuban’s brand of “entrepreneur-wear,” Three Commas, hosted a livestreaming session with Mike Chaffin, Co-Founder of Three Commas (right), and VERB’s host Kate Eckman (left).Right: Shopfest’s one-shopping-cart checkout process allows shoppers to purchase products from multiple brands at once.Source: Shopfest Multichannel Strategy Promotes Organic Viewership Growth Shopfest enabled a multichannel strategy, with dozens of sellers simultaneously broadcasting their streams on multiple social media channels. The 18 “Main Stage” multicasts attracted 1,219,672 Facebook views in total between July 26 and August 10, 2022. According to a Coresight Research global survey conducted in June, retail companies currently using livestreaming as a sales or promotional channel use an average of 3.9 platforms for livestreaming, enabling them to reap the benefits of each platform and connect with a bigger audience. Multichannel broadcasting gives MARKET users access to more viewers without the upfront commitments of creating multiple accounts on individual websites—but allows presenting brands to leverage their previously built audiences on platforms such as Instagram and Facebook for additional exposure. Chat moderators and hosts were able to encourage viewers to watch on MARKET for an enhanced experience: the majority of shoppers who jumped from social platforms to MARKET did so because they learned of the opportunity to win prizes or easily chat with the hosts and other shoppers, according to VERB. Gay Isber Designs broadcast its Shopfest session simultaneously on its own website (left) and Gay Isber’s Facebook account (right)Source: Shopfest Food and Beverage Category Sees Highest Engagement Of all categories featured at Shopfest, food and beverage saw the most sales and engagement, followed by beauty and jewelry. Many hosts presenting food and beverage products hooked viewers with informative content. For instance, South African farm and winery Babylonstoren shared its story as one of the oldest Cape Dutch farms still operating, and educated consumers about wine tasting and food pairings. Livestreaming from Christi Azurmendi, Director of US Sales at Babylonstoren (right) sharing Babylonstoren’s wine selectionsSource: Shopfest Meanwhile, celebrity chef David Burke, who has 107,000 followers on his Facebook and 73,800 on Instagram, entertained online shoppers with a foolproof steak and side recipe, achieving a 9% conversation rate with an average order value $95. Livestreaming from Chef David Burke (left) sharing selected branded productsSource: Shopfest What We Think The interactivity of livestream shopping—with shoppers getting more product information and one-to-one personal communication—allows brands to build intimate engagement and loyalty with their customers, on top of driving sales. VERB’s MARKET platform looks to be tapping into three important trends for brands and retailers in the live shopping space: Driven by tech-savvy consumers and cross-functional e-commerce platforms in China, livestream shopping took less than five years to become a predominant sales channel. We estimate that the livestreaming e-commerce market in China will total $497 billion in 2022. In the West, livestreaming e-commerce has lagged the China market but is now seeing a surge in adoption as online shoppers’ choices are increasingly inspired by influencers, and brands and retailers seeking to make their products more discoverable. We project that the US livestreaming e-commerce market will total $20 billion in 2022 and grow to $68 billion by 2026. Livestreaming is a key opportunity for sellers to offer consumers interactive and engaging content and exclusive experiences. MARKET’s Shopfest amplified the live shopping experience through festivalization, presenting enticing opportunities for brands and retailers to improve brand awareness, attract new consumers and drive sales. While most livestreaming platforms are brand-focused, Shopfest also enabled influencers and content creators to set up storefronts and implement a livestream-driven customer experience. Shopfest served not only as a promotional event but as a destination for consumers to discover new products and spur their spending outside of traditional shopping holidays. Online shopping events are increasingly gaining popularity among consumers globally and can drive monumental sales—for example, Amazon’s 2022 Prime Day captured around $9 billion in sales worldwide, and JD.com reported total GMV of $56.6 billion during the 18 Shopping Festival in China. VERB’s MARKET platform supports US-based and global brands and retailers with seamless live shopping integrations and operates a marketplace model that marks a new addition to the livestream shopping space. We believe that livestream shopping experiences will hold heightened importance through 2022 and beyond, with brands and retailers looking to adopt innovative technologies to engage consumers online as the retail landscape continues to digitalize. This document was generated for Other research you may be interested in: Weekly US and UK Store Openings and Closures Tracker 2024, Week 14: Aldi Announces UK Store Expansion PlanShein’s “Supply Chain as a Service”: Reshaping Retail LogisticsHead-to-Head in US Drugstore Retailing: CVS Health vs. Walgreens Boots AllianceWeekly US and UK Store Openings and Closures Tracker 2023, Week 21: UK Closures Up 59%