The Democratization of Live Selling

Live selling has a new look, and retailers are finding new opportunities to connect with audiences. While live selling came to prominence through TVs with players like QVC, today’s shopper desires an experiential retail experience from their smartphone. eCommerce and live selling expert Brandon Kruse, CEO of CommentSold, shared his insights and predictions for this type of shopping.

Kruse started the company in 2017 after seeing a clothing company entrepreneur find success but struggle with social selling. He said, “I advised the friend not to start an online clothing company because she’d get crushed by the competition. But she did anyway, and after trying traditional eCommerce strategies, she began to have a breakthrough selling only on Facebook, but she needed a way to invoice and manage operations.”

He told her he could write a program to do that in a few hours. He joked he’s still working on that code. CommentSold is, of course, the result of that need. It’s a technology platform that allows retailers to sell across social channels and through websites and mobile apps.

Finding a way to enter the eCommerce market doesn’t have to seem insurmountable. Kruse said three things he sees with CommentSold’s successful retailers: authenticity, consistency, and depth of product.

“The number one thing is authenticity. They are building relationships with customers. They are consistent with their content and have a depth of product to keep selling to the same customer,” he added.

When talking about the best channel for his customers, he sees organic social as the number one source of new shopper acquisition. But those shoppers become loyal when they download the brand’s app. “With an app, you control the distribution of your content with users receiving push notifications that live video is starting. You don’t have that same control with social profiles,” Kruse stated.

So how is live and social selling fairing during COVID? Kruse relayed that the company continues to have impressive numbers, greater than Black Friday in 2019. “There has been live selling growth during COVID, even in such a competitive market as women’s clothing. Live selling of a dress is much different than seeing a static image. It’s a very curated experience that may not be possible in person right now,” he commented.

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