Levi’s in pilot to directly host holiday livestream event
Levi Strauss & Co. will test its ability to host a livestream shopping experience on its own e-commerce platform.
On Monday, Nov. 21, starting at 4 p.m. PT, the specialty denim brand is partnering with Internet influencer Emma Chamberlain in a new holiday-themed livestream promotion. Chamberlain will share her holiday picks from Levi’s item assortment, including styling items on herself and also displaying selections for men.
Levi’s has previously engaged in livestream shopping events., but this pilot enable the brand to host the event directly on its website, with a similar experience to what it would have hosting a livestream on a third-party social media platform. The videos will also stay on the Levi’s website throughout the holiday season, with the goals of drawing in more consumers to replay it every day and complementing the website’s traditional static imagery.
“Holiday shopping is the busiest time of the year,” said Lara Lasisz, director of direct-to-consumer innovation at Levi Strauss & Co. “We must both bring value-add capabilities that improve the shopping experience and ensure that these pilots work worry-free especially during the holiday season. The slightest tech hiccup could have serious impacts, so we spend a lot of time planning and testing technologies to find the right solution to achieve the best results. We’re excited to pilot this new live shopping feature and enable our fans to engage and shop on the Levi’s® site in an entirely new way.”
It’s beginning to look a lot like livestream
A rapidly growing number of retailers are including shoppable livestreams in their holiday promotional campaigns. As part of its recent “Holiday Beauty Haul” promotion, Amazon hosted “Live Festival” livestream shopping promotions, where customers could live chat with celebrity beauty influencers and can shop the featured products through a carousel that updated in real-time on the Amazon Live platform.
Meanwhile, department store chain JCPenney is hosting a livestream event, the “JCP Live Holiday Spectacular,” on the Facebook Live platform on Thursday, Dec. 1, from 8-9 p.m. ET.
Outlet store retailers are also getting into the holiday livestream spirit. Through the end of the year, two Bloomingdale’s Outlet stores — in Woodland Hills, Calif. and Paramus, N.J. — will host a six-week, 10-episode holiday livestream shopping series in partnership with global livestream shopping app ShopShops.
And premium mall owner Simon and the Shop Premium Outlets (SPO) e-commerce platform it runs jointly with Rue Gilt Groupe recently participated in Chinese retail giant Alibaba Group’s “Singles Day” global holiday shopping festival, via a series of livestream events.