Why India Lags In Online Live Commerce

When AnyLive, the AI-powered platform which supports live commerce online through virtual hosts, enabled mineral water brand Evian to run round-the-clock live streams using AI avatars along with human hosts, it increased the brand’s live shopping sales by more than three times. Except that this happened in Thailand since the tech company which operates AnyLive, is big in Asian markets such as Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia and Philippines.

Aditya Aima, co-MD, India and MENA region at AnyMind Group, said India was behind other Asian markets in live commerce, that is, selling products via live videos. “In India, platforms have not driven that behavioural change or made it easier for consumers to shop through a live link,” Aima said.

Though it is banned in India, Chinese app TikTok has made live selling big on its platform in major markets like the US, the UK, France and countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand etc. It merges live entertainment feeds with built-in e-commerce so that consumers do not exit the livestream to shop and pay. Brands partner TikTok content creators to host their live streams. Kalyan Kumar, co-founder of influencer marketing-led tech platform KlugKlug, said, India is nowhere near China in live commerce where it is almost 20% of total e-commerce. “In India, we’re in low single digits. We need to stop copy-pasting the China playbook and build our own.”

Though the live commerce trend here is underwhelming, it’s seen some traction in fashion and beauty, Kumar said. For instance, on Amazon Live, beauty and personal care brands are active with livestreams. The activity intensifies during Amazon’s sales events where brands use live streams for new launches, product demonstrations and flash sales.

Live commerce conversion rate (where a sale is made) is higher at 10-30% than traditional e-commerce where it is 2-3%. “But adoption of any new tech requires ubiquity. You need to be ubiquitously available to be able to form a habit,” said Aditya Aima. “India still spends on the offline market or traditional media like TV, print and outdoor. Total ad spends on digital may have surpassed traditional media spends, but marketers need to be bolder in what they do,” he said.

There are other roadblocks too. “Internet infrastructure outside the metros is still inconsistent. Payment friction is higher than it should be. And there aren’t enough trained creator-sellers who can hold an audience and close a sale,” he said.

But neither of the two experts writes off live commerce in India just yet. For starters, India’s massive online shopper base at nearly 300 million is next only to China’s. “Also, a lot of marketing money is moving into creator commerce and brands are learning from their global\regional teams and localizing the playbook,” said Aima.

“The potential is enormous. I’d say live commerce could account for 10 to 15% of Indian e-commerce within five years, and that’s being cautious,” said Kumar.