Nordstrom debuts a platform for shoppable shows

March 17, 2021: On Wednesday, the department store chain Nordstrom said that it would debut its Livestream Shopping channel as part of its broader ambitions to delve into e-commerce live streaming, which is already a massive phenomenon in Asia.

Retailers like Nordstrom are play catch-up in the U.S. to a trend that has been rampant for a long time overseas, in large part thanks to efforts by the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.

In the upcoming time, Nordstrom will host a styling Livestream on “how to wear Burberry runway looks,” a spring beauty trend happy hour, and a conversation with the British makeup artist Charlotte Tilbury, said the company.

During each event, customers can shop the fashion products mentioned on Nordstrom’s website and participate in a live chatroom.

“There’s so much opportunity for us to get closer to the customer,” Fanya Chandler, a senior vice president at Nordstrom, told in an interview.

Amazon was an early mover in live streaming on its home turf. It debuted Amazon Live in early 2019 as a sort of live-streamed home shopping network. Meanwhile, Facebook has made shopping a more significant focus on its namesake social media platform and Instagram.

Social media influencers are expected to have a more significant impact on younger consumers’ shopping behaviors moving forward, Weinswig added.

In China, live streaming is estimated to drive up to $125 billion in sales in 2020, up from $63 billion in 2019, Coresight says. In the U.S., the market was worth about $6 billion the previous year and could reach $11 billion in 2021, the firm said. It expects the U.S. e-commerce live streaming market could eclipse $25 billion by 2023.

For Nordstrom, the idea to launch a shoppable live streaming channel hasn’t been brewing for long. The company decided late into this past holiday season to experiment in the space, drawing on the playbook of China, it said.

“I’ve been watching things in China for a while, and it’s exciting that you can get this connection with the consumer immediately,” Chandler said.

Nordstrom shares are up around 43% year to date. The company has a market cap of $7.05 billion, which is more significant than Macy’s but smaller than Kohls.