LONDON - Zara will expand its live shopping broadcasts to the UK, Europe and the United States this year, testing a format that is already wildly popular in China but one with which Western shoppers are less familiar. The fast-fashion brand, whose parent Inditex reports quarterly results on June 5, is investing in new ways to engage shoppers as analysts expect sales to grow less strongly after an extraordinary post-pandemic surge. Five-hour long live shopping shows in China, broadcast weekly on Douyin, TikTok’s Chinese sister site, have helped boost Zara’s sales since they launched in November, according to retail analytics firm EDITED.
“We want to take this to the Western countries, where livestream is not as popular...
but we think why not – from an entertainment perspective this is like an evolution,” said a Zara spokesperson for the initiative, which is expected to launch between August and October. Shopping as entertainment isn’t new - TV shopping channels where viewers phoned in to buy featured products were popular for decades - but social media and ecommerce have triggered a new era of livestreaming, led by China where influencers sell everything from cosmetics to snacks at a frenetic pace. Brands looking to create a more rarified experience have sought to do live shopping differently.
Zara’s show on Douyin features Chinese models wearing Zara dresses, trying on shoes and jewellery. It also includes catwalk sequences and “backstage” make-up shots, whi.
