By Helen Reid and Corina Pons
LONDON (Reuters) – Zara will broaden its stay purchasing broadcasts to the UK, Europe and america this yr, testing a format that’s already wildly widespread in China however one with which Western consumers are much less acquainted.
The fast-fashion model, whose mum or dad Inditex stories quarterly outcomes on Wednesday, is investing in new methods to have interaction consumers as analysts anticipate gross sales to develop much less strongly after a unprecedented post-pandemic surge.
5-hour lengthy stay purchasing exhibits in China, broadcast weekly on Douyin, TikTok’s Chinese language sister website, have helped increase Zara’s gross sales since they launched in November, based on retail analytics agency EDITED.
“We wish to take this to the Western nations, the place livestream is just not as widespread…however we expect why not – from an leisure perspective that is like an evolution,” mentioned a Zara spokesperson for the initiative, which is anticipated to launch between August and October.
Purchasing as leisure is not new – TV purchasing channels the place viewers phoned in to purchase featured merchandise have been widespread for many years – however social media and ecommerce have triggered a brand new period of livestreaming, led by China the place influencers promote every part from cosmetics to snacks at a frenetic tempo.
Manufacturers trying to create a extra rarified expertise have sought to do stay purchasing in a different way.
Zara’s present on Douyin options Chinese language fashions carrying Zara clothes, attempting on footwear and jewelry. It additionally contains catwalk sequences and “backstage” make-up photographs, whereas its conversational, leisurely model is in distinction to the hard-sell livestreams that hosts like “Lipstick King” Li Jiaqi are well-known for.
A staff of 70 individuals works on the stay present, which is streamed from a 1,000-square metre area in Shanghai, switching angles between seven cameras, Zara mentioned. On common, it attracts round 800,000 distinctive viewers per present.
“Zara’s livestream strategy constructed important model consciousness in China,” EDITED analyst Krista Corrigan mentioned.
Zara bought out of most sizes in 50% extra merchandise in China within the first three months of this yr than in the identical interval of 2023, based on EDITED knowledge.
The livestream additionally permits Zara to achieve consumers at the same time as its bodily presence in China has shrunk from 570 shops in 2019 to simply 192 as of Jan. 31 this yr.
FRIENDLY, CASUAL AND FUN
Within the UK, U.S. and nonetheless to be introduced European nations, Zara has chosen to host stay exhibits on its app and web site as a substitute of a third-party social media platform to make sure management over aesthetics.
Alfonso Segura, who runs Barcelona-based style retail consultancy TFR, mentioned this is able to additionally enable it to spice up engagement and leverage its database of registered customers.
The ad-hoc livestreams will spotlight particular Zara Girl collections, and will probably be hosted by two “very well-known” style personalities, the model mentioned, with out naming them.
Aiming for a “pleasant, informal and enjoyable” expertise, the exhibits will probably be shorter than these on Douyin, lasting 45 minutes to an hour, however viewers will nonetheless have the ability to react in actual time with questions, feedback and emojis.
“We won’t all the time learn throughout what has labored in China, as to if that is going to work in western Europe or within the UK,” mentioned JP Morgan analyst Georgina Johanan.
However, she added, Inditex’s funding in stay purchasing is an instance of its momentum and skill to be on the forefront of experimenting with new codecs.
“This can be a enterprise that, 10 years in the past, most individuals have been saying was behind in on-line, and right here they’re one of many first to trial this within the UK,” Johanan mentioned.
Asos, L’Oréal and Puma are amongst manufacturers to have launched on TikTok Store within the UK in latest months, the platform mentioned, whereas AliBaba platform AliExpress launched a UK livestream present in March referred to as “It Ladies” that includes influencers together with Olivia Attwood.
Asos mentioned its first order got here inside half-hour of launching, and new consumers account for 57% of these shopping for its merchandise by way of TikTok Store.
Madrid-based Carmen Muley began out internet hosting AliExpress’ first livestream in China in 2016 and now advises manufacturers on stay purchasing technique by her firm Paragon Social Commerce.
“Right here in Europe, we do not actually like having somebody promoting one thing to us aggressively – after all the top purpose of a stay purchasing occasion is to promote a product, however shoppers do not wish to really feel like they’ve the duty to purchase,” she mentioned.
“Providing one thing the patron wouldn’t usually discover in shops is a good suggestion – you have to make the occasion particular, in any other case why would they be a part of?”
Inditex declined to say how a lot it’s investing within the new format however the family-owned firm is sitting on an 11 billion euro money pile, giving it the firepower and a security internet to experiment with new methods of promoting, even when success is not assured.
(Reporting by Helen Reid in London and Corina Pons in Madrid; Modifying by Kirsten Donovan)
