Newegg pilots livestream shopping platform
Newegg Commerce Inc. is testing a mobile app-based, interactive livestream shopping experience.
The online consumer electronics retailer is piloting a platform it calls Newegg Live. The platform enables customers to interact with hosts while having access to exclusive, real-time deals available only on mobile during the livestream.
Newegg Live is a mobile-only medium that delivers customer-facing livestreams within the Newegg mobile app. On September 1, 2021, Newegg previewed the new livestream to an audience of more than 10,000 users, showcasing 20 products over the course of the 90-minute event.
During this current beta phase, Newegg expects to livestream Newegg Live events weekly, before scaling up for increased promotions later in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Livestreaming is not the first leading-edge digital commerce technology Newegg has taken an early interest in. In 2014, Newegg became the first major retailer to accept bitcoin payments. In July 2021, the e-tailer became the first major retailer to accept Litecoin cryptocurrency as a payment method on the BitPay platform.
Newegg is not quite as early in its adoption of livestreaming, which has been a mainstay of Asian e-commerce for several years but has only started becoming popular in the U.S. in the past year or so. Other U.S.-based retailers that have launched livestream digital commerce efforts include Macy’s, Walmart, Facebook, Forever 21, and Nordstrom.
Newegg is also joining the livestreaming trend as recent data from global retail bank, payments and shopping service Klarna indicates virtual livestream shopping events show promise, with older audiences as early adopters. While only 25% of shoppers surveyed by Klarna report having attended a virtual livestream shopping event, 60% of those who have tried it say that it improved their online shopping experience. Baby boomers (28%) and Gen Xers (27%) are more likely to have participated in these events than millennials (23%) or Gen Zers (20%).
“We’ve always been committed to delivering a great mobile shopping experience,” said Montaque Hou, Newegg CTO. “But mobile engagement goes much deeper than simply shopping. Customers want to hear expert opinions about how products will fit into their lives, and engage with those experts within the flow of the livestream. So, we developed Newegg Live to allow customers to ask questions, comment and react in real time using features built directly into our Newegg mobile app.”
“Our engineering team went to great lengths to understand the needs of our sellers, as well as what our customers expect when using our mobile app. Based on this extensive research, we were able to build a livestream platform that equally serves the needs of both,” said Kidd Liu, Newegg director of mobile development.
Headquartered in City of Industry, Calif., Newegg was founded in 2001 and serves a global customer base throughout North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East. The company offers direct sales and an online marketplace platform for PC and IT hardware, consumer electronics, automotive, gaming products and finished goods.