10 Top-Tier Brands That Have Jumped into Live Shopping

A staple of digital retail in Asia for years, live shopping is making waves around the world. If you’ve eyed live shopping as a potential new way for your brand to reach customers, you’re not alone. Several top-tier brands have experimented with live shopping events, and some have made live shopping a staple of their marketing strategy.

While you can follow proven steps to prepare for live shopping, each event is as unique as the brands that host them. As you consider how to add more live shopping to your marketing mix, you can look at these examples from 10 world-class brands that have jumped into live shopping. 

Aldo

Based in Montreal, Canada, ALDO has offered high-quality shoes since the 1970s. From its earliest days, ALDO has positioned itself as a value-led company with a passion for keeping customers at the heart of all it pursues. ALDO’s commitment to connecting with customers drove the company to explore the emerging live shopping trend in 2021.

The company’s very first live shopping event–which featured celebrity stylist Mimi Cuttrell and entertainer Nate Wyatt as co-hosts–was a resounding success. During the live event, Cuttrell and Wyatt highlighted new spring styles and showed viewers how to wear various ALDO shoes and accessories. 

The event attained an average viewing time of more than 12 minutes, along with a 308% engagement rate. Afterward, the momentum continued, with a surge of 17,000 page views on the ALDO website. It’s no surprise that the brand planned to host more live events for eager brand aficionados. 

LG

Korean consumer electronics and appliance brand LG used the power of live shopping to demonstrate several home products designed to make life easier. Featuring products targeted to families leading hectic lives with children, the live shopping event showcased vacuum cleaner models and an in-home garment steaming cabinet. Known as a premium electronics brand, LG used the event to establish its presence with a younger demographic.

Dubbed “Live’s Good” to tie into the brand name and tagline (Life’s Good), the event’s co-hosts included LG home appliance expert Vincent Keravan and famous influencer Doris Blanc Pin, who has more than 185,000 Instagram followers. Throughout the event, hosted on live shopping platform Aploze, Doris Blanc Pin shared perspectives on balancing motherhood with being an entrepreneur while emphasizing the convenience and quality of featured LG products. Attendees at the live event could score an exclusive 30% discount for each item purchased.

Nordstrom

Nordstrom has maintained a reputation as a customer-centric innovator for decades. Recent years have seen the luxury department store brand seeking to elevate brick-and-mortar shopping with exclusive merchandise-free experiential stores in select markets. As a consistent innovator, Nordstrom was one of the first major US retailers to embrace live shopping with its own branded channel.

Through its virtual events hub, Nordstrom Live, the department store brand seeks to provide helpful advice and build bonds with customers. To date, the brand has hosted everything from beauty trend shows to cooking demonstrations. Viewers can also tune in to get tips on gift-giving, personal style, skincare, and more. The brand has even hosted mindfulness and movement activities to highlight the importance of self-care while featuring activewear designs.

Nordstrom senior vice president Fanya Chandler says the brand took inspiration from watching the rapid growth of live shopping in China. The opportunities to heighten customer engagement motivated Nordstrom to adopt live shopping.

There’s so much opportunity for us to get closer to the customer. We hope customers see this as an opportunity to seamlessly shop and participate in an informative and entertaining event.

Fanya Chandler, Senior Vice President, Nordstrom  

Petco

Petco knows its target audience –pet parents– are devoted to their furred, feathered, and finned family members. The brand is constantly looking for ways to reach its customers where they're already shopping. With many pet parents gravitating to social settings online, taking the leap into live shopping was a natural choice for Petco. 

The brand quickly realized the immense value live shopping has to offer:

Live shopping events create shoppable moments for fans and allow brands to entertain, educate and inspire. We’ve leveraged livestream shopping events to better reach our customers where they prefer to shop and engage with them in new, unique ways at the intersection of entertainment, shopping and heartfelt give-back experiences.

Jay Altschuler, Vice President of Media Transformation, Petco 

One of Petco’s first forays into live shopping was an online event called “The Perfect Fit” – a theme that had a double meaning. Actress and television personality Arielle Vandenberg hosted the event, which included pet fashions spotlighting two Petco-owned product lines, Reddy and Youly. While viewers could select clothing for their furry best friends, the event held a deeper purpose beyond fun and fashion. The fashion models were rescue dogs up for adoption from L.A. Animal Services.  By featuring pets in need of forever homes, Petco reminded viewers that adoption is a path to finding “The Perfect Fit” animal companion. The event included links to buy products and adopt dogs within the livestream, making it easy for viewers to take action. 

As the US pet industry’s first live shopping event, this unique mix of product features and charitable elements heightened consumer engagement. More than 304,000 viewers have watched the live event and post-event replays. 

Philips

When looking for a creative way to showcase a top-quality Airfryer, Philips opted for cooking demonstrations via a live-streamed shopping event. Philips brought some star power to the event through host Camille Santoro, the star of a docu reality show that tracks the day-to-day lives of several large families. A luminary in her own right, event co-host Sarah (@thebelgianblondie) has made her name as a social food influencer on Instagram and TikTok. 

Prior to the event, Philips built an audience through customer outreach, social media campaigns, and advertising, while tapping into the hosts’ large networks. Reminders sent two days and five minutes before the live event brought viewers to the 45-minute broadcast.

Live viewers could use a promo code to buy products at a discount–but the sales didn’t end when the cameras turned off. Phillips and its media partners pushed replays out across multiple channels to optimize post-event sales:

Samsung

Electronics company Samsung has a global footprint–and has actively brought live shopping to several countries where it does business. Throughout 2020 and 2021, the brand hosted live shops in France, Great Britain, India, Spain, Sweden, and the US. In each market, the company used distinct approaches and featured different products to reach audiences. Building on those initial successes, Samsung has pushed live shopping into Latin America, scheduling events in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru.

Leveraging popular influencers and content creators has proven to be a smart choice for Samsung. One Samsung shopping event featuring the brand’s state-of-the-art QLED TVs had two famed YouTubers as hosts. During the shop–which occurred during the run-up to the holiday shopping season– the YouTubers watched a year-in-review highlights video on a Samsung QLED TV. Some fans tuned in to see an exclusive video by favorite content creators also learned about Samsung’s exciting new QLED technology, which enhances color and contrast for improved TV viewing experiences.

Sideshow

A US-based manufacturer of specialty pop-culture collectibles, jewelry, art, and more, Sideshow has an enthusiastic fan community. As part of its strategy to build engagement and strengthen bonds with its customers, Sideshow hosted its first celebratory live shopping event to commemorate 28 years in business. Hosts for the event were two Sideshow team members–Paul Hernandez and Amy Chase–who had already formed a bond with the community through regular YouTube livestreams and podcasts (@thecomicshaul). 

To generate buzz and draw viewers to its Birthday Extravaganza, Sideshow offered several sought-after collectibles from Marvel, DC, Disney, Star Wars, and more. During its week-long birthday celebration, the brand built excitement through time-limited flash giveaways on social media, special promos in its Facebook groups, and fun game show contests for its fans.

One reason live shopping appeals to Sideshow is the opportunity it provides for hosts to share every angle of products with viewers. What’s more, viewers could ask product questions, which a moderator could answer or share with hosts to discuss on the livestream. Also, the event featured promo codes that provided discounts, free shipping, and event-exclusive products.

With a first successful event in the books, Sideshow is looking forward to making live shopping part of its eCommerce marketing mix going forward.

Tommy Hilfiger

After hosting its first live shopping event in May 2020, fashion brand Tommy Hilfiger knew they’d tapped into a high-powered channel to market. Recognizing live shopping’s vast potential to reach younger, digitally-savvy consumers, Tommy Hilfiger saw an opportunity to bring its classic preppy looks to a new generation of connected shoppers. Company founder, fashion designer, and the brand’s iconic namesake Tommy Hilfiger is a major champion of live shopping:

We’ve tested [live shopping], we’ve had success with it, and we’re going [...] fully into it, because I really believe that the consumer is [always] walking around with a mobile device — or they’re shopping. And if we combine all of that together with livestream shopping [...] we’re able to speak to the consumer worldwide.

Tommy Hilfiger

While sales are always at the forefront of the brand’s mind, Tommy Hilfiger has used live shopping events to send messages of inclusivity and sustainability. One event, hosted by a well-known YouTuber and a journalist, also featured brand ambassador Lewis Hamilton, a Formula One World Champion who has collaborated with Tommy Hilfiger designers on exclusive collections.

Valentino Beauty

Italian luxury fashion house Valentino wanted to make a big splash when it launched its first-ever beauty collection. Live shopping was a natural fit. 

The event featured a demonstration of several Valentino Beauty products by make-up artist Akissi Ago, with influencer L by Lise serving as a model. During the demo, a journalist from fashion and entertainment magazine Cosmopolitan described the products and engaged with the other hosts and audience. 

Walmart

When the world’s largest retailer embraces a trend, the industry takes notice. Such is the case with retail giant, Walmart, which has gone all-in with live shopping. One of the first major US-based retailers to embrace live shopping, Walmart celebrated its first year of shoppable livestreams with an event hosted by music sensation Jason Derulo.

During year one of its live shopping outreach, Walmart held 15 events and partnered with 20 popular content creators. The anniversary event launched a series of 30 shoppable livestreams that extended throughout the holiday season. Other celebrity hosts for the year-end series included Drew Barrymore, Rachel Ray, and Ree Drummond of the Pioneer Woman.

Early 2022 saw Walmart building on its success with a series of eight live shopping events throughout February and March. Those events timed with Black History Month and Women’s History Month celebrations while spotlighting popular products sold by the retail giant.

Join the Live Shopping Revolution

As you can see, a true “who’s-who” of retail heavyweights have embraced the live shopping revolution. The unparalleled opportunity to connect with digital consumers in an immersive, interactive, and very human way has made live shopping the next big thing in retail.

Consumers have embraced digital shopping as part of their everyday lives–and are looking for brands to provide engaging and immersive experiences. Live shopping helps you attract new audiences and build close bonds with loyal customers–a winning formula that can spark next-level growth. 

Is your brand ready to be the next live shopping success story? Let iAdvize be your guide. We’ve partnered with brands like LG, Samsung, Sideshow, Valentino, Philips, and dozens more to create immersive and memorable live shopping experiences.

Learn More About Live Shopping