Dive Brief:

• Though more retailers are diving into the livestream commerce market, less than a third of U.S. adults have seen, heard of or read about live shopping events overall, but under half of Gen Z adults (45%) and millennials (42%) are aware of live shopping events, according to a new Morning Consult report. 
• More than three-quarters (78%) of U.S. adults surveyed said they have never participated in a livestream shopping event. And while 54% of respondents said they were not comfortable shopping through social media platforms, over a third (35%) of respondents said they were concerned about product quality, seller integrity and shipping concerns, the report found. 
• While 41% of respondents said they wouldn’t attend a livestream shopping event in the future, 44% said they would consider doing so. Of the consumers who participated in a livestreaming shopping event over the past year, 86% said they were satisfied with their experience.

Dive Insight:

Though Morning Consult’s report cites McKinsey & Company’s prediction that livestream shopping could comprise as much as 20% of online sales by 2026, its latest survey raises questions about the current state of livestream shopping adoption in the U.S.

While men were slightly more likely than women to have taken part in a livestream shopping event, many companies have used them to launch female-skewing product categories such as beauty and fashion traditionally, per the report. 

“If the form is to truly take off here, players, big and small, will have to adapt their platforms and business models to the American monolith,” Scott Moskowitz, APAC geopolitical risk analyst at Morning Consult, said in a statement.  

Morning Consult also noted that Facebook was the top platform for livestream shopping across most generations except for Gen Z shoppers. The younger cohort of consumers turned to Instagram for livestream shopping events instead.

Meta shuttered its livestream shopping feature on Facebook in October and chose instead to focus on short-form videos on Facebook and Instagram. As part of the move, Facebook users can still use Facebook Live video but can’t tag products or create product playlists within the feature.

As Facebook exits the livestream shopping market, other platforms have enlisted retailers to experiment with the format. Earlier this year, Walmart tapped TalkShopLive to launch eight livestream shopping experiences featuring celebrities like Drew Barrymore and Rachael Ray. 

As Morning Consult pointed out, the livestream shopping market has not taken off in the U.S. as it has in China. Another survey from Klarna indicated that only a quarter of American consumers said they had attended a livestream shopping event, but six in 10 consumers who have done so said it enhanced their shopping experience. It remains to be seen whether live commerce sales in the U.S. will catch up to the Chinese market.

In the U.S., some grocers, including Albertsons, H-E-B and The Fresh Market, have turned to livestreaming as a way to attract shoppers with many turning to video commerce technology company Firework. Walmart stateside has linked with different firms including Buywith, TalkShopLive and Firework on livestreaming and held shoppable livestreaming events on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube. This summer, HelloFresh launched a livestream cooking challenge on Twitch.