Live commerce, the combination of live-streaming with real-time purchases online, has been revolutionary in some markets. Perfectly tapping into the draw of influencers, social media, and the ever-emphasized fear of missing out, many individuals and businesses have been able to achieve huge sales figures, with the practice being, by far, the most successful in China. Intrigue beyond the Far East really picked up at the end of the 2010s.
Alibaba seemingly perfected live commerce for mainstream audiences with the inception of Taobao Live. It was a hit in 2016, and by 2020, the major shopping event Singles’ Day turned in $7.5 billion in total transaction value in a mere 30 minutes, per the McKinsey Digital report. Since, the innovative new way to shop has only struggled to connect to vast audiences in Western markets, but that might just change in 2025.
A Built-In Audience that Loves Live Streaming
While live commerce hasn’t yet found its audience, there are ever-promising signs that live-streaming, at the very least, is popular and normalized in the Western markets.
It’s estimated that the live-streaming market was worth in the region of $39 billion in 2022 and tipped to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 28 percent through to 2032. As it stands, it’s primarily used as a passive, real-time experience.
Anyone who has visited an online casino over the last decade will have noted the rapid rise of live casino games. Unlike other popular forms of live-streaming, with these products the user interacts with what’s being live-streamed. Take a game like Live Bellagio Roulette at the Jackpot City casino. Here, the professional croupier is hosting the game in Las Vegas live, while people online bet on the outcomes, can chat to other players/dealer and get their winnings in real-time.
Tapping into the Immersion of Going Live
The primary pocket for live commerce experiences over the last handful of years has been social media, like Facebook Live. However, it is still rather niche. What seems to be needed is big brand and professional backing that makes the whole experience immersive, high-quality, and seamless.
Experts see this as being in the works and for “shoptainment” to begin to make up ground this year, even to the extent that, as Andreessen Horowitz writes, it will account for 20 percent of 2026’s ecommerce transactions. Forming the foundations for this line of thinking is the increase in participants and the commercial push being made in key markets.
Some surveys have found as many as 45 percent of respondents saying that they’ve taken part in Amazon or Poshmark live sales events, and six in ten had browsed live shopping sections on social media. In the UK, Topshop-backed live shopping platform Sprii says it’ll be investing heavily in ads to draw in British customers.
The predictions are that live shopping will take a huge leap in Western markets in 2025, and if advertising campaigns like Sprii’s raise awareness and generate a new following, those predictions might just come through.
