Last night, the one and only Priti Malik of Virgin Radio Dubai, hosted one of the region’s hottest live-shopping event alongside beauty and lifestyle influencers Karen Wazen and Farhana Bodi to sell exclusive hair-care products.
Instagram influencers Karen Wazen and Farhana Bodi teased their millions of followers in the days leading up to the live-stream shopping event as they announced they will be promoting and talking about their latest hair-care collaborations. The exclusive products, which were only available for purchase on Instagram itself during the live event, turned out to be a major success as everything was sold out within the hour of the show’s duration.
Adorned by their collective 8.9 million followers for their taste of style and beauty credibility, it comes as no surprise that the live-streaming event was a one-hit-wonder as the time frame to act was limited and came with incredible discounts and promo deals.
What is Instagram live-stream shopping?
Instagram Live Shopping enables creative content creators and brands to sell products during an Instagram Live broadcast.
Think of it as an update to the old-school TV shopping networks, where people had to call in real-time to place their orders— only this way it’s more authentic and interactive, and best of all you can’t hear a phone ring! With Instagram Live Shopping, you can showcase products, interact with your viewer, and collaborate with other brands and creators.
Instagram Live Shopping is available for any Instagram Business Account that has Checkout capabilities. These users can tag a product from their catalog to appear on the bottom of the screen for purchase during a Live broadcast.
Is Instagram live-stream shopping the way to go?
We’ve seen in the last year that live-streaming events held on Instagram have proven to work at a great success rate when it comes to marketing and making public announcements. Features such as users (or in most cases influencers) going live together from both accounts, allow for a bigger amount of traffic to stream into the event. Not only that but the aspect of creating FOMO (fear of missing out) on exclusive information drives users to tune in immediately as there won’t be another moment to revert back to. Once you miss out, you miss out!
Live-stream creator collaborations, FOMO and limited time frames are incredible tools when it comes to shopping, as it manipulates the human psyche and drives real-time demand for products. In addition, the play on scarcity on Instagram live-stream events do not allow users to double-think or reflect on whether they truly need the products being advertised to them. A great marketing tool brands and influencers aim to reach every time when promoting goods.
Interaction and engagement are a major part of selling products fast via live events, as you keep users hooked and evoke a sense of making shoppers feel they are being guided by a sales assistant, only this time it’s from an idol.
A great trick, as seen on last night’s event, both Karen and Farhana played a Q&A game with tuned-in viewers as Priti read questions asked in the comments. This type of engagement goes further than just marketing products but gives followers the opportunity to get advice and answers from influencers they adore.
As a matter of fact, Q&A during live-streaming events work so well because they blur straightforward product marketing and on contrary create a relaxed communicative atmosphere that goes beyond just selling, but rather a conversation that just comes with the added bonus of buying something too.
What do you think of this new shopping method? Comment below and let us know your thoughts on Instagram Live Shopping.
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