Retailers, brands and tech platforms bet big on live-streamed shopping in the US

A number of retailers, brands and tech platforms are convinced that it can, despite a slow start. Beauty Inc., which in recent months organized shopping events on platforms including TikTok and Ntwrk, a live-shopping app owned by Commerce Media Holdings LLC, sees live shopping as a key part of its North American marketing strategy, says Ekta Chopra, the company’s chief digital officer. Cause for hope U.S. brands would love to duplicate live-stream shopping’s runaway success in China, where Coresight estimates revenue will grow to $512 billion this year from $159 billion in 2020. Putting it together One reason live-stream shopping generates big sales in China is that a company like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. can serve as a self-contained marketing ecosystem, says Glen Conybeare, global president of commerce at performance-marketing firm Reprise, which is part of Interpublic Group of Cos. Alibaba can track consumers from when they receive a link on its messaging app DingTalk to when they watch a video on the company’s streaming platform Youku to their ultimate purchase of a featured product on its shopping site Taobao, he says. The U.S. consumer experience also can be bumpy, sometimes requiring users to sign up for individual shopping events, download new apps and enter identification and payment information in multiple places, says Ms. Chopra of e.l.f.