After China, Zara expands live shopping experiment to Europe and US

LONDON – Zara will expand its live shopping broadcasts to the UK, Europe and the United States this year, testing a format that is already wildly popular in China but one with which Western shoppers are less familiar.

The fast-fashion brand, whose parent Inditex reports quarterly results on June 5, is investing in new ways to engage shoppers as analysts expect sales to grow less strongly after an extraordinary post-pandemic surge.

Five-hour long live shopping shows in China, broadcast weekly on Douyin, TikTok’s Chinese sister site, have helped boost Zara’s sales since they launched in November, according to retail analytics firm EDITED.

“We want to take this to the Western countries, where livestream is not as popular…but we think why not – from an entertainment perspective this is like an evolution,” said a Zara spokesperson for the initiative, which is expected to launch between August and October.

Shopping as entertainment isn’t new – TV shopping channels where viewers phoned in to buy featured products were popular for decades – but social media and ecommerce have triggered a new era of livestreaming, led by China where influencers sell everything from cosmetics to snacks at a frenetic pace.

Brands looking to create a more rarified experience have sought to do live shopping differently.

Zara’s show on Douyin features Chinese models wearing Zara dresses, trying on shoes and jewellery. It also includes catwalk sequences and “backstage” make-up shots, while its conversational, leisurely style is in contrast to the hard-sell livestreams that hosts like “Lipstick King” Li Jiaqi are famous for.

The live show, streamed from a 1,000-square metre space in Shanghai, on average attracts around 800,000 unique viewers per show.

“Zara’s livestream approach built significant brand awareness in China,” EDITED analyst Krista Corrigan said.

Zara sold out of most sizes in 50 per cent more products in China in the first three months of this year than in the same period of 2023, according to EDITED data.

The livestream also allows Zara to reach shoppers even as its physical presence in China has shrunk from 570 stores in 2019 to just 192 as of Jan. 31 this year.

In the UK, US and still to be announced European countries, Zara has chosen to host live shows on its app and website instead of a third-party social media platform to ensure control over aesthetics.