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By Helen Reid and Corinna Pons
LONDON (Reuters) – Zara will expand its live shopping broadcasts to Britain, Europe and the United States this year, testing a format already hugely popular in China but less familiar to Western shoppers.
The fast-fashion brand, whose parent company Inditex reports quarterly results on Wednesday, is investing in new ways to attract shoppers as analysts expect sales growth to slow after an extraordinary post-pandemic sales surge.
The five-hour-long weekly live shopping show in China, which airs on TikTok’s Chinese sister site Douyin, has helped boost Zara’s sales since its launch in November, according to retail analytics firm EDITED.
“We would like to introduce this to Western countries where livestreaming is not as prevalent, but we think it’s an evolution from an entertainment perspective and we think it would be fun to try it,” a Zara spokesperson said of the initiative, which is expected to launch between August and October.
Shopping as entertainment is nothing new: TV shopping channels, where viewers buy featured products on their phones, have been popular for decades. But social media and e-commerce have spawned a new era of livestreaming, with influencers in China hawking everything from cosmetics to snacks at a ferocious pace.
Brands looking to create a more special experience have been trying different things with live shopping.
Zara’s Douyin shows feature Chinese models wearing Zara dresses and trying on shoes and jewelry, and also include catwalk scenes and “behind the scenes” make-up shots, with a conversational, laid-back style that contrasts with the hard-hitting livestreams that hosts like “lipstick king” Li Jiaqi are known for.
Zala said the live show is produced by a team of 70 people and streamed from seven cameras in a 1,000-square-meter space in Shanghai, and on average, each show draws around 800,000 viewers.
“Zara’s livestream approach has built significant brand awareness in China,” said EDITED analyst Christa Corrigan.
Zara sold out 50% more products in China in the first three months of this year compared to the same period in 2023, according to EDITED data.
And while Zara’s number of physical stores in China has fallen from 570 in 2019 to 192 as of January 31 this year, livestreaming has allowed the company to reach shoppers.
Friendly, casual and fun
In the UK, US and yet-to-be-announced European countries, Zara has chosen to host live shows on its own app and website, rather than third-party social media platforms, in order to control the aesthetic.
This will also allow them to increase engagement and leverage their database of registered users, said Alfonso Segura, who runs Barcelona-based fashion retail consultancy TFR.
The special livestream will showcase select Zara Woman collections and will be hosted by two “highly well-known” fashion personalities, the brand announced, without revealing names.
Aiming to be a “friendly, casual and fun” experience, the shows will be shorter than those on Douyin — between 45 minutes and an hour — but viewers will be able to respond in real time with questions, comments and emojis.
“You can’t always tell whether what works in China will work in Western Europe or the UK,” said Georgina Yohanan, an analyst at JPMorgan.
But she added that Inditex’s investment in live shopping is an example of the company’s momentum and ability to be at the forefront of experimenting with new formats.
“Ten years ago most people were saying this business was lagging behind online, but they were one of the first companies to try this in the UK,” Yohanan said.
ASOS, L’Oreal and Puma are some of the brands that have joined TikTok shops in the UK in recent months, while Alibaba’s platform AliExpress launched a livestreamed UK show called “It Girls” in March, featuring influencers such as Olivia Attwood, according to the platform.
According to ASOS, the first orders were delivered within 30 minutes of the launch, and 57% of people buying products through the TikTok shop are new customers.
Madrid-based Carmen Muhly hosted AliExpress’ first livestream in China in 2016 and now advises brands on live shopping strategies through her company Paragon Social Commerce.
“Here in Europe, people don’t really like being hard-sold anything. Of course, the ultimate purpose of a live shopping event is to sell products, but consumers don’t want to feel obligated to buy,” she said.
“It’s a good idea to offer something that consumers can’t normally find in stores. You need to make the event special, otherwise will consumers attend?”
Inditex declined to say how much it would invest in the new formats, but the family-owned company has 11 billion euros in cash, giving it the leverage and safety net to try new ways of selling, even if success is not guaranteed.
(Reporting by Helen Reid in London and Corina Pons in Madrid; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
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