Talk on the telly this morning in the UK is regarding the new Love Island episodes, and that you can buy the looks of the contestants online immediately on ISAWITFIRST - who are the show's official fashion partner.
Influencers promoting clothing lines is not new, there are some great apps and websites (such as WornOnTV) that you can look to recreate a look you have seen while watching.
Influencers do not have to be on reality TV. I myself represent a sportwear brand as an influencer where I give discounts using my own code (hint: see below). I see that UK news presenter Naga Munchetty is frequently asked on Twitter about where she got what she was wearing on the news that morning.
In China, it goes a step further where some movie stars or influencers will sell and recommend products through livestreaming. Thousands of products will be sold out during the livestream event. This concept of ‘live commerce’ is mainstream, and the Chinese are ahead of the rest of us in the selling power of the community driven by the influencer. The Taobao Marketplace platform of Alibaba has hundreds of thousands of products sold via livestreaming. In China, fans can ask questions about the products, post comments to the hosts and even send virtual gifts as a token of appreciation while watching the livestream.
Western platforms have slowly tried to follow. In 2019, Amazon launched Amazon Live, which features livestreamed video shows from brands and influencers promoting products. Facebook and Instagram have also experimented with the live commerce approach.
So in the near term, what kind of platforms will be supporting reality TV, Netflix watching and livestream events like the Oscars and Emmys going forward? How fast can you buy the look or send a token of appreciation to your favorite reality star to go with their bracelet? Will this take off as a concept outside of China?
H&M-owned fashion brand Monki debuted livestream selling on its own site last year, but a recent article from MIT highlights why the West is not on the same page as China when it comes to live commerce. We have fractured platform usage, multi-modal shopping and a different approach to try before you buy in certain categories of product.
Personally, I’d love to see Zoom, WebEx and other corporate video concall platforms have a livestream shopping channel linked up. You can imagine your next departmental meeting where you can ‘buy the look’ of your department manager live as they give the monthly sales figures….? Or going to a virtual conference and “buying the look” of the keynote presenter?
I think we would end up with more personal side hustle income and more personal influencer shopping codes as we consolidate our personal brand on our various platform usage. And as for me — juststrong.com/discount/aleafair10 Just saying. ;-)