Live Shopping, new sales channel or support for eCommerce and physical store?

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The thinking is open: are we looking at a true retail channel that is positioned between eCommerce and the physical store, or is it a mode that is yes new but more importantly a communication mode to support it?

This is the question posed to the roundtable by Sergio Capaldo who also brings Progress experience, teaches that he is working on a different eCommerce project than the classic world of online sales, because, “one of the difficulties to be solved is that of marginality, which is not so easy to manage and is obviously a big problem for those who want to do business seriously. That is why it is necessary to find not so much the tool but that series of expedients that allow the project to be profitable, in support or not of the physical channel.”

Not only that, one of the non-secondary aspects is the possible conflict with the physical store, because, Sergio Capaldo continues: “it is necessary to be careful not to cannibalize, through online sales, what you have built over many years within your stores as a reference in the territory but, at the same time try to develop what can be a tool that can give you the opportunity to expand the natural geographic boundaries within which the physical store forces you. It is not easy to find the trade off but the certain thing is today and in the future all channels should be given equal attention.”

For Landolfi, live: “right now they can be supportive of eCommerce or social channels, when there is a clear and defined strategy, but that may become a real sales channel. In the meantime, it’s a mode that is still being tested and evolving.”

Of the same opinion is Daniela D’Arcangelo who, “based on what is happening in China on our channels and because of the number of interactions and sales, it cannot but be considered a sales channel. However, the high presence of influencers also positions it as an excellent form of communication to support offline.”

Technically more accurate opinion expressed but Massimo Monaco, co-founder of Bronet Service who is keen to point out that at the moment, for technical reasons, “live cannot be considered a sales channel because it is hooked up to an eCommerce anyway, which makes it an auxiliary tool to the actual online shop.

Read on, the panel discussion continues with:

• Live shopping, sales or communication tool?
• Live shopping as a marketing tool
• Live shopping as a reputational tool
• Live Shopping. The node of payments
• The role of influencers in live shopping
• Live shopping: which and how many products?