Myntra has been running a pilot where a group of experts and influencers in the domain of fashion, beauty and personal care hold live video sessions on the platform and one can purchase products directly by adding them to the cart while the session is underway. For example, an influencer in the beauty and personal care space would be demonstrating certain makeup hacks and products she/he uses, and the products being used by the expert would be available on the screen to be bought. These influencers are also interacting live with consumers and are answering their queries related to brand and pricing.
ET has reviewed the live sessions where these experts are also offering time-bound (typically for around four hours) discounts to nudge consumers to buy products live.
The live commerce model has been a major success in China, with Alibaba’s Taobao Live having a large chunk of the market share. It reported a gross merchandise value (GMV) of close to $62 billion in 2020, according to Alibaba.
ByteDance, the parent firm of TikTok, owns Douyin — a short-video platform with ecommerce integrations to make direct purchases. Kuaishou is the other major player in the market.
In India, startups like Bulbul and Simsim (now acquired by YouTube) have tried replicating this model and are in the early stages of expansion. Last month, InMobi’s Glance-owned Roposo also
pivoted to the live commerce model.
Myntra is expected to formally announce its entry into live commerce later this month. Myntra’s parent, Flipkart, recently announced it had partnered with short-video platform Moj, owned by the parent firm of ShareChat, to
introduce video commerce to bring new users to its platform and shop online.
An email sent to the Myntra spokesperson did not elicit any response till Sunday press time.
Live commerce, which is considered part of the broad social commerce space, is also part of etailers’ plans to bring in a new set of users influenced by such domain experts to transact on the platforms. Unlike large purchases like smartphones or large appliances, where it is typically planned and researched, live commerce relies on spontaneous orders from consumers in relatively lower ASP (average selling price) categories like fashion, accessories and beauty.
In a report in June, market research firm RedSeer said live commerce could be $4-5 billion in size by 2025 and around $1 billion of GMV would come from the beauty and personal care segment.
The report said content creators or influencers are earning through their content and endorsements but are yet to start with live commerce content. “This is expected to be the next big move in the ecosystem, which will inevitably strengthen the live commerce segment,” it added.
