M&S has announced the launch of Live Shopping on M&S.com, offering customers a new way to find inspiration and shop with the retailer and tapping into a growing trend that’s expected to account for 10-20% of global e-commerce by 2026**. This new service allows customers browsing M&S.com to join a live broadcast to hear more about a product range and pose live questions to an M&S expert. Each live episode is completely shoppable, meaning customers can buy the products as they watch.
Stephen Langford, Director of M&S.com, said: “Live Shopping on M&S.com is the latest in a wave of new initiatives we’ve introduced to improve our customer experience. It’s a global trend that responds to how customers are using social media – we all know how much more we’re scrolling and engaging with video content – at home, or on the go. Live shopping puts our experts front and center and gives them the ideal platform to share the M&S point of difference – in terms of both quality, design, and innovation features.”
Sophie Freres, CEO at LiSA, said: “The LiSA team could not be more excited to partner with M&S to bring exciting and interactive live shopping experiences to M&S customers. M&S plays a critical role not only in inspiring but in educating and helping its customers discover those products best suited to their needs. Live shopping allows M&S to give more members of its online community more regular access to M&S’ unique expertise in so many important matters of daily life, and thanks to the interactivity of the format, customers become true co-creators. At LiSA, we believe the future of e-commerce is community-led, and M&S is doing a marvelous job at embracing that.”
The service, facilitated by M&S software partner LiSA, allows any of the 13.5 million customers that visit M&S.com each week to join a live broadcast hosted by an M&S expert where they can hear more about the ranges they’re browsing, ask questions through the live chat function, view product demonstrations, and most importantly, buy the products as they watch.