12 Best Live Video Shopping Platforms For 2023

Live video shopping is the new kid in town. With titans of industry such as Louis Vuitton, Tiktok and Instagram all hopping on the bandwagon.

Live commerce is proving to be an attractive market to step into.

Staying up to date with all sorts of different platforms can be exhausting, never mind knowing which platform would best suit your needs.

No need to worry! We have you covered. We will be breaking down the pros and cons of the 11 best live video platforms.

What to know about live video shopping platforms

Before jumping in the deep end here are some terms to help you understand and navigate this article.

Don’t worry, they are easy to understand.

• Live video shopping is the intersection of livestream and shopping. It allows for sellers, brands and companies to interact with their customers in a live video stream, encouraging customers to directly buy items displayed without leaving the stream.
  
  
• Software as a service (SaaS) is a method of offering an application over the internet as a service. This means that instead of building and maintaining software, you access it via the internet. Meaning no coding. Many of the live video shopping platforms on this list are SaaS companies.
  
  
• One-to-many live video shopping means streaming to multiple viewers at once. This type of event typically showcases products and features a host, guest appearances, and special promotions.
  
  
• One-to-one live video shopping means having a one on one session with a single customer. This type of live video shopping is best suited to customers making larger purchases that require professional expertise and insight.
  
  
• Embedding allows other websites to host your stream on their website.

1. Giosg

The first one on the list is giosg. We are a Finnish SaaS company that offers businesses tools for creating interactive experiences online to connect with customers and accelerate sales. Giosg is not just a live shopping platform but the ultimate customer experience platform. 

Giosg has all the features you’d wish for when starting out with live shopping: one-to-one video calls for personal shopping assistance, one-to-many video streams for showcasing your products to the masses, and shoppable videos for repurposing your video content and turning them into high-converting ads. With giosg, you won’t need outside agencies or big production teams, which makes our platform especially great for those who are just getting into live shopping and want to test the waters. 

Promotional and targeting capabilities makes giosg platform stand out. You can promote your live shopping activities via engaging interactive content from pop-ups to gamifications and target your streams, calls, and videos always to the right customers online to ensure the best experience.

Cost: 

• For information contact sales

Pros:

• Flexible video stream source (Use e.g. YouTube Live, Facebook Live)
• Allows full customization of the solution
• Comes with consultation and dedicated customer support
• Comes with advanced visitor targeting for reaching the right audience
• Allows you to re-purpose video material into shoppable videos
• Comes with full-set of great e-commerce tools, such as chatbots, product recommendation quizzes, targeted pop-ups and live chat

Cons:

• Limited stream management
• Limited video analytics
  
  

2. Bambuser

Image via Bambuser

Second on the list is Bambuser, a SaaS (Software as a Service) provider that offers a live video shopping experience for businesses. Bambuser's focus is mainly on live streaming, however, they also have an option to post pre-recorded material.

Two options are available. One-to-many, meaning streaming to countless people and one-to-one, which means having a one on one with an expert. 

One-to-One is perhaps more suited for larger purchases larger. Live video shopping has already been used in the fashion and retail industry.

The platform offers an app as well as their own web page from where you can stream live on your own web page as well as share to other social media platforms.

Integration with other e-commerce platforms is also possible.

In addition, Bambuser offers a fully equipped studio in which to film your live video shopping event.

Bambuser’s proven track record is rather impressive and it is definitely a top-of-the-line service.    

Cost: 

• For information contact sales

Pros:

• Allows you to stream in high-definition video quality
• Allows you to edit, download and re-purpose video material
• Has various integrations to e-commerce platforms
• Chatbot and instant shopping capabilities within live shopping event 

Cons:

• Membership is costly.  
• No audience targeting 
• Live chat feature is not included in the basic package

3. Hero

Image via Hero

Hero offers a solution to convert customers that do not have the same confidence to buy as they would in-store.

The Hero app allows stores to connect to nearby shoppers.

Hero operates less like a live stream and more as a way to communicate with a shop assistant in a more human fashion. 

Hero offers one-to-many as well as one-to-one.

With Hero, customers can video chat, text message or chat with a store assistant.

A fresh feature is Hero’s Stories, which are intended to be similar to Instagram stories. 

Short review videos by shop assistants showcasing a particular piece of clothing or an entire outfit.

Cost:

• $99/month
• For more information contact sales

Pros: 

• Increases foot traffic to physical stores
• Keeping in touch with your customer via Virtual Clienteling (Live Chat)
• Allows you contact stores with three options are Video, Text and Chat
• Allows you to integrate with Shopify
• Video Chat with in-store assistant
• Add own logo to livestream
• Allows customers to pay with Klarna

Cons:

• Doesn’t allow audience targeting 
• Learning curve to get used to software

​4. Streams.live

Image via Streams.live

Streams.live allows customers to buy products straight from a live video session. Comment sections help keep the experience interactive.

The platform offers an iOS app as well as their own web page from where you can stream live on your own web page as well as share to other social media platforms.

Streams.live is perhaps very similar to Bambuser, with many of the same features. However, Their standout feature is their platform that allows users to sell NFT’s via live video. 

An NFT stands for non-fungible token. Non-fungible: meaning it is unique and cannot be replaced.

Something to consider for this platform is that the more viewers you have the more expensive it will be.

Cost: 

• Personal: Free for less than 50 viewers
• Pro: $299/month for less than 1000 viewers
• Enterprise: Contact sales
• For more information contact sales

Pros: 

• Allows for the sale of NFT’s
• Coding is not required
• Embedding stream to your own website
• Integrate with Shopify
• Live chat discussions and instant shop capabilities within shopping event
• Upload options pre-recorded videos
• Moderates chat from inappropriate comments

Cons:

• No video archive
• No audience targeting 

5. Facebook Live

Image via Facebook

Facebook, which was recently rebranded as Meta, now offers a live shopping feature that can be accessed via the Facebook Business page. 

This feature is the next evolution of Facebook’s Marketplace platform, which originally only allowed sellers to post pictures of products.

The platform allows you to stream on Facebook to current audiences, as well as embedding to other social media platforms.

However, when a Facebook Live feed is embedded onto your own website viewers cannot comment or interact with the stream.

Customer data is limited so you would have considerably less data than if the customer would have purchased from your own website. 

Cost:

• The selling fee is 5% per shipment or a flat fee of $0.40 for shipments of $8.00 or less. 

Creating and operating a shop is free.

Pros:

• Analytics available via Facebook for Business Page
• Facebook notifies fans when live shopping stream is beginning
• Live video shopping sessions are archived and can be used at a later stage
• Free to use

Cons:

• Not intuitive user experience
• Viewers cannot interact with video once embedded on your own site
• Facebook Ads will appear on the screen
• No 1-to-1 video options
• No targeting (addresses all viewers)
• Harder to drive customers to own website

6. Instagram Live

Image via Instagram

Instagram Live shopping and Facebook Live shopping both share the Facebook Business Page platform. This means that many of the features, as well as issues, are shared by both platforms.  

Obstacles include Instagram retaining all customer data that is not necessary for shipping. This makes building customer trust and retention harder - as well as building a brand. 

In-app purchases ensure that traffic is not being driven to your own website. This may be ideal for small businesses that don’t have their own web interfaces but for larger businesses Instagram’s checkout margin for your using their platform may be a factor to avoid. 

Cost:

• The selling fee is 5% per shipment or a flat fee of $0.40 for shipments of $8.00 or less. 

Creating and operating a shop is free.

Pros:

• Offers in-app purchases
• Access to analytics via Facebook’s Business Page
• Ability to take advantage of Facebook’s Business Page
• Easy to collaborate with other content creators
• Free to use

Cons:

• Mobile-only – does not support third-party video streaming service.
• Harder to drive customers to own website
• In-app purchases (does not drive traffic to own website)
• No 1-to-1 video options
• The selling fee of 5% per shipment is a margin to consider

7. Whisbi

Image via Whisbi

Whisbi offers video communication, co-browsing as well as live chat to drive customer engagement and sales. Their service allows the user to embed a call-to-action on their website, that will connect them with a store clerk.

The platform offers a one-to-many feature as well as a one-to-one live video shopping. Currently, Whisbi primarily prioritises one-to-one interactions in industries such as automotive and retail. 

Cost: 

• $250/month (Pro Plus)
• For more information contact sales

Pros:

• Shopping cart integration
• Mobile-first interface
• Live chat solutions available 
• Offers industry-specific solutions
• Prioritizes one-to-one customer engagements
• Easy to implement

Cons:

• Limited customisation options 
• Implementation takes a while
• Customer data analytics is lacking in detail

8. Channelize

Image via Channelize

Channelize.io platform enables e-commerce businesses to leverage the power of live video shopping. 

A live shopping experience that lets you host live video shopping within your apps and own website. Channelize has experience in a lot of vastly different industries that gives it credibility.

Cost: 

• Free but very limited. Add-ons starting at $49/month
• For more information contact sales

Pros:

• Ease of use
• Shopping cart integration
• Live chat tools
• Proven track record in various industries
• Integration with other e-commerce sites (Shopify)
• Great customer support

Cons:

• Limited changes to user interface
• Can get costly with additional add-ons

9. Live Scale

Image via Live Scale

Livescale is a cloud-based live stream shopping software that uses interactive content and gamification to help retailers and e-commerce enterprises increase buyer engagement.

Customers can make purchases from live videos using the application's in-video checkout feature. Team members can connect with purchasers, block users, modify or remove messages, and delete comments using Livescale's chat moderator module.

Livescale integrates with Shopify, allowing users to analyse product feeds, as well customer information.

Cost:

• $99/month
• For more information contact sales

Pros:

• Third-party integration
• Seamless Checkout
• In-video purchases
• Brand-owned experience control
• Live chat capabilities
• Chat moderation options

Cons: 

• Platform only supported on the web, not mobile apps

10. Smartzer

Image via Smartzer

Smartzer helps marketers with making videos interactive and shoppable. Hotspots are added to video or livestream to create pop-out carts wherein customers can view the entire outfit shown in the video or stream. These hotspots help improve click-through rates.

Smartzer is perhaps unique in that they offer short interactive videos as well as livestream. As well as offering CRM tools.

Cost:

• Subscription-based 
• For more information contact sales

Pros:

• Hotspots that open pop out carts, added to video/stream content
• Customer engagement data from viewers
• Repurpose live video shopping events
• Embed to e-commerce platforms and social media 
• Instant add to cart
• Sleek interface/look

Cons:

• No social media integrations to Facebook or Instagram
• No WordPress integration

11. NTWRK

Image via NTWRK

NTWRK prioritises exclusive product launches from world-renowned artists, brands and influencers for a global audience.

The platform is a mobile-first living video shopping platform, with upcoming drops of various products displayed on their website.

NTWRK is more inclined towards customers at the bottom of the funnel with many products being rare and rather pricey – high-end fashion. Before being able to sell on the platform, NTWRK needs to grant you access, ensuring that they feature only high-quality creators and influencers.

NTWRK also hosts daily episodes where they show different products from various sellers’. These episodes usually last 15min with lots of content packed into a small time frame.  

The platform is geared towards a younger audience looking for scarce coveted products and are willing to pay a big margin.

Cost:

• For information contact sales

Pros:

• Hosts virtual festivals
• Sleek interface
• Established market for exclusive products 
• Hosts sale of NFT’s

Cons:

• Cannot embed to other platforms
• App based
• No data on customer activity 

12. Conferwith

Image via Conferwith

Conferwith is a video commerce platform offering real-time advice to customers via video. The platform is focused on one-to-one interactions, as opposed to a one-to-many interaction. 

Additionally, the platform is geared towards customers looking to make larger purchases.

Functioning as a browser-based platform, Conferwith’s highlight feature is that it allows users as well as the customer to add items to a “shared basket”.

Cost:

• For information contact sales

Pros:

• Specialise in one-to-one live video shopping
• Easy integration
• Diverse client base from different industries

Cons:

• “Shared basket” feature may put pressure on shoppers to buy something they don’t want

“The Proof is in the Pudding”

Navigating different live video shopping platforms can be overwhelming. Figuring out which platform best suits your business’ needs is no easy task. 

Only you can truly know what will best meet your business needs.

Many of the live video shopping platforms mentioned have some sort of free trial, so try you can try out what fits for free.

That being said, here’s something to download free guide live commerce trends

If you want to learn more about live video shopping and the live commerce industry, download our free Live Commerce Guide here.