Appearing in Vietnam in late 2018, selling goods through live streaming promises to become a leading sales platform for online retailers.

Many livestream accounts have seen record high numbers of viewers which bring high revenue to sellers. Many e-commerce sites, including Shopee, Lazada, Sendo and Tiki, have applied this method.

Two years ago, Tiki tried the new sales method by playing live videos on its fanpage. In June 2019, it set fixed livestream schedules every month.

Since early 2020, Tiki has expanded live streaming to sell products to many different targeted clients – celebrities, community of buyers and KOLs (key opinion leaders).

Lazada, Sendo and Shopee have also jumped on the bandwagon. On the first days of the social distancing campaign, Shopee launched the program ‘o nha khong kho – co Shopee lo’ (it’s not difficult to stay at home, let Shopee take care of you).

Selling goods through live streaming, which has exploded in the Chinese market, has become popular in Southeast Asia, including in Vietnam.

Livestreams are organized two days every week, with up to three each day.

Meanwhile, Lazada ran ‘An tam mua sam tai nha’ (enjoy shopping at home). The e-commerce site has only a few livestreams within one day, but organizes livestreams on many days a week with many different topics.

Each topic has a hashtag attached, which allows viewers to easily find and watch favorite topics, such as LazCook, LazMusic, LazGetfit, LazLearn, LazHome and LazPlay.

As for Sendo, it joined forces with OTA Network, which brings game-focused content creators together to organize Livestream Showmatch.

Sales through live streaming, or social e-commerce, is well known. In 2015, Kohl’s in the US applied livestream for its fashion shows. Buyers can order products while they are watching videos about the shows.

In 2016, Facebook joined the market when it announced a live video streaming platform.

Tiffany Wan, CEO of VS Media, said to attract viewers, livestream videos need to have attractive informative content.

The biggest challenge for video streamers is retaining viewers as long as possible, thereby creating interactions through comments, likes, and deal finalization.

Le Huu Nhan from Tiki said the content of videos must be prepared thoroughly. Some sellers report revenue from TikiLive, accounting for 70 percent of their total revenue.

Revenue on the days when they organize live streaming is much higher than ordinary days. Livestream in combination with games can increase the number of interactions. 

Translated by Kim Chi

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