What Is Shoppertainment and How to Put It into Practice.

Shoppers have increasingly high expectations regarding their shopping experience. At the same time, e-commerce continues to grow, shifting those expectations from brick-and-mortar retail to the digital realm. In this regard, younger consumers in particular are demanding a more social and interactive shopping experience. To meet this need, a concept known as “shoppertainment”—combining shopping with entertainment—emerged during the lockdown. Want to know exactly what it is? Want me to give you the keys to success? Then keep reading this post.

The Shoppertainment stems from the fusion of social commerce, influencer marketing and conversational commerce. In this context, the brands that use it, through the streaming, they connect with users to showcase their products, interacting with them in real time via chat. But keep in mind: these types of activities aren’t limited to online—they can also take place at the point of sale.

Thanks to this system, brands are able to gain firsthand insight into users’ questions, opinions, and needs regarding their product, addressing them in real time and helping many other potential customers make a purchase decision on the spot.

By adding a link to the stream, users can instantly access the product page for the item being shown and purchase it right then and there.

This type of activity is particularly popular in Asia and is gradually gaining ground in the West.

According to Dentsu, this live shopping market is projected to reach $35 billion by 2024 in the United States.

According to another study conducted by Forrester and AliExpress “70% of European consumers are open to exploring the category, and in Spain that number rises to 78%,” which is why Shoppertainment looks set to be here to stay.

Meanwhile, in Asia, for the shoppertainment to be successful, it must include interactive features such as chat, collaborative games, and wheels of fortune, in Spain, shoppers place much greater value on finding great deals and having access to more information about the product in question.

But what are the real keys to the success of Shoppertainment?

What are the keys to success with Shoppertainment.

The first thing you should do is think carefully whether this format is the best suitable for your product, your target audience, and your company.

Your product must meet a number of requirements so that they are eligible for sale through this system. It is true that in China, vehicles have been successfully sold through the Shoppertainment, even houses during the 11.11 special promotion, but let’s be honest—in the Western world, that’s really complicated. So, make sure to carefully assess whether your product can be sold directly through this system.

Taking into account your target audience is another essential requirement, since you can’t sell something through shoppertainment to an audience that does not use the channels through which this technique is implemented. Therefore, find out if your audience is active on those channels, and most importantly, if they are open to this sales approach.

And finally, to your company—and by that I mean whether you have the resources to carry out shoppertainment. By “resources,” I don’t just mean financial ones—more importantly, do you have the people or influencers Are we really ready to sell in front of hundreds of people in real time? Often, we want to do things because our competitors have done them, because someone in the same industry in another market has done them, or because it’s a trend—and we don’t stop to think about whether we can actually do it well. It’s often better to ask for help from those who can do it than to try to do it yourself and end up with a result that isn’t truly effective—wasting time, money, and your reputation.

But if you’ve gone over each of those points and feel that everything makes sense to you, here are a few tips to keep in mind:

IDENTIFY THE TARGET AUDIENCE.

Yes, again. But this time I’m not referring to your typical target audience—the one you’ve already clearly identified. I’m talking about that same audience, but specifically the ones who actually engage with that channel. Also, study how they behave there and incorporate unique aspects of the community where you’ll be streaming. That way, you’ll connect much better with your audience, and they’ll feel much more welcome and connected to everything that comes next.

CONNECT THE EXPERIENCE TO THE STORE.

Although being creative is essential, it won’t make sense if what you do isn’t directly connected to the products or the store. In addition, whenever possible, customers should interact directly with the products, which will make them more likely to buy and encourage them to return to the store.

On the other hand, sales and promotional offers should link the event and the products in a meaningful way. For example, you could offer a 15% discount on workout gear after an in-store yoga class.

SET A BUDGET.

The first step should always be to set a budget. Depending on what you want to do and how often, the budget will be higher or lower. Although it may not seem like it, that budget can range from a very low amount for a simple idea to large sums of money if you want to produce a blockbuster with the influencer fashion influencer.

DETERMINE THE FREQUENCY.

As I mentioned in the previous point, it’s essential that you determine how often you’re going to carry out Shoppertainment. Depending on your business, this can range from once a year to once a week—for example, if you hold workshops or classes related to the use of your product, if applicable.

This aspect should be carefully examined, with dates for activities set and promotional periods throughout the year considered, in order to coordinate with or avoid specific events or dates and thus organize things much more effectively.

EMPLOYEES CAN BE CRUCIAL.

Both in terms of Shoppertainment Whether in-store or online, the staff who interact with the product on a daily basis can be a key asset in making this work. Motivate them, train them, and you might just have a future Shoppertainment expert among your ranks.

MEASURE THE RESULTS.

If you don’t measure, it’s impossible to improve. After every action of shoppertainment You need to measure how much traffic it has generated for the store or e-commerce site, and what the conversion rate was, and compare it to the other days when this action wasn’t taken. Identify the positives and negatives so you can build on what worked and stop doing what didn’t.

INTEGRATE NEW TECHNOLOGIES.

Without a doubt, technology has become an important ally for retail. From an online perspective, there’s no question about it; however, for a traditional store, the combination of the digital and physical worlds opens up a fascinating new frontier, in what is being called phygital, which is simply the use of technology to create digital experiences in the physical world—how? Through interactive kiosks or virtual mirrors, among other things.

The key for brands is to develop content that is brief, reliable, easy to consume, relevant to their target audience, and informative. In this regard, the Shoppertainment It enables this, as well as creating opportunities to connect with digital natives in their own spaces. Furthermore, it helps deliver a true omnichannel experience and, above all, boost sales.

At MioGroup , we develop comprehensive solutions—both online and offline—that deliver positive results for your business. Want to talk?