Two wine glasses placed on a barrel, an expert and an entertainer surrounded by champagnes, red wines and other whites *, which take you to Provence, describe the “elegance” of a rosé or provide some information on the grape varieties of Burgundy.
Welcome, on this Tuesday evening, to Carrefour's “live shopping and tasting”, a “world first”, announces the brand.
For a good hour, Internet users - some of whom have pre-purchased the wines presented that evening - can ask questions, but also order bottles, by clicking on the product sheet at the bottom of the screen.
“It's great to be able to buy the wines in the catalog without having to go to the store,” one of them ecstasies, won over.
Carrefour, but also Moulinex, PicWicToys, Oxybul Eveil et jeux, Cultura, Nocibé… more and more brands are starting to “live shopping”.
"Without forgetting a multitude of small traders", underlines Jean-Marc Mégnin, general manager of Altavia ShopperMind, an observatory of consumer trends.
The name varies - it is also referred to as “live streaming” or “interactive commerce”.
The practices also: “In some cases, you first watch the video posted by a merchant on social networks, then you buy, in other cases, as with our technology, you have the option of buying throughout live, ”explains Sergine Dupy, the founder of Quidol, a start-up that supports Carrefour and Marionnaud in particular.
Whatever the name or the technology used, one fact remains: this kind of teleshopping 2.0 is coming out of limbo.
"If only 3% of French people have already used it, they are on the other hand 28% to say that they would like to try it, and this percentage climbs to 49% among young women under 25 years old," says Jean- Marc Mégnin.
“Electronics, video games, kitchen machines, and even books, all sectors have started to do it,” confirms Julien Le Bescond, digital marketing director at Fnac Darty, who has organized around a hundred “live” events since August 2020 .
Double sales
“Live” all the more popular since, for a year, confinements have assigned the French to home.
But above all, this new form of interactive commerce has many advantages.
“While e-commerce can be cold, this new way of shopping is full of heat, since we see the merchant, that we can interact with him,” explains Sergine Dupuy.
And then, buyers join a community, "and are all the more embarked on the adventure as the sale is led by an influencer, who will establish the legitimacy of the brand", specifies Stéphane Tubiana, partner at Roland Berger - les videos of the Moulinex robot presentation by chef Cyril Lignac were seen by… 300,000 people.
"Buyers can ask for advice, and see the products in use," adds Julien Le Bescond.
The brands, for their part, "have understood that the most important thing today is the relationship they can have with the customer, the receipt is only the result," insists Stéphane Tubiana.
Even if, on arrival, the receipt is often a pleasure to see.
Thus, the “live” events organized by Carrefour at Christmas to present toys brought in “several tens of thousands of euros in turnover,” assures Thomas Rudelle, Carrefour's digital marketing director.
“Thanks to live shopping, we have doubled our sales of the Moulinex food processor,” explains Julien Le Bescond.
On a smaller scale, Alain Struve, image consultant and manager of the “L'habit fait le moi” store in Brest, estimates that a video seen live by 200 people is then replayed by 3,000 people, and generates “between 60 and 80 orders”.
An essential plus, in these times when non-essential businesses are closed.
"Indispensable for turnover, but also to sell stocks", specifies this Brest trader, who nevertheless insists on the time-consuming aspect of this activity: it takes almost four days of work for an hour of live.
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Coming from China, "where it appeared in 2016 in particular to help farmers market their production," recalls Jean-Marc Mégnin, live streaming now represents 5% of e-commerce sales there.
“We are not there in France.
But, clearly, a new sales channel has been born ”.
* Alcohol abuse is dangerous for your health, consume in moderation