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Walmart Inc. WMT, -0.08% is hosting its latest livestream TikTok event on Thursday at 9 p.m. Eastern Time, building on the better-than-expected results of its first event, hosted in December 2020.
“Spring Shop-Along: Beauty Edition” will take place on the Walmart TikTok page and will be hosted by Gabby Morrison, an influencer with 3.5 million TikTok followers.
The event, which will highlight brands like Maybelline and Marc Jacobs fragrances, as well as Black-owned beauty brands, will serve as a shoppable, 60-minute tutorial.
The previous event, “Holiday Shop-Along Spectacular” featured Michael Le, who has more than 46 million followers and showcased fashions that viewers were able to buy while on the platform.
That event had seven times more viewers than Walmart anticipated and added 25% more followers to the retail giant’s page, according to a blog post by William White, chief marketing officer for Walmart U.S.
Walmart currently has 688,000 TikTok followers.
Watch: 3 ways the pandemic has changed the face of beauty
It’s no secret that TikTok is popular with young audiences. Now brands and retailers are increasingly looking for ways to log in and make gains with these important shoppers.
“Video might one day deliver the highest return for e-commerce companies,” said Oz Etzioni, chief executive of Clinch, an advertising agency that’s focused on the use of data, technology and hyper-personalization.
Livestreaming events have already caught on in China. Coresight Research says livestreaming generated $63 billion on major platforms in 2019.
AlixPartners quotes data that puts livestreaming at $66 billion currently in a recent report, and says the number of consumers watching livestreams grew 30% between March 2019 and June 2020.
With shoppers sequestered at home during COVID-19, more and more of them turned to online shopping and livestreaming for purchases, entertainment and interaction.
“As e-commerce continues to garner additional dollars and become much more significant strategically, enhancing consumer touchpoints will become a crucial differentiator for retailers,” AlixPartners wrote.
“While livestreaming in other markets may never look like how it does in China, the broad lessons from the format apply globally: always focus on a two-way conversation with the consumer and don’t let anything get in the way of the path to purchase.”
See: These technologies allow you to shop with your friends — without leaving the house
TikTok, which is owned by China-based ByteDance Ltd., is exploring new livestream shopping features, according to media reports. Walmart, alongside Oracle Corp. ORCL, -5.99%, had been in talks about a deal to acquire TikTok, which was first derailed by former President Donald Trump and has since been shelved indefinitely under President Joseph Biden.
Snapchat SNAP, +8.44% is also testing a feature called Brand Profiles that has a number of features, including the ability to shop in-app, according to reports.
E.L.F Cosmetics Inc. ELF, +3.90% says it has had success on TikTok, with 10 billion views for its hashtag challenges.
“TikTok continues to be a great way for us to galvanize Gen Z and build awareness among other growing cohorts on the platform,” said Taran Amin, chief executive of the company, on the second-quarter earnings call, according to FactSet.
E.L.F. will have the platform’s first-ever reality show, Amin said.
Also: Cosmetics brand E.L.F. is partnering with Chipotle on a burrito- and guacamole-inspired makeup line
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. CMG, +3.11% has launched TikTok challenges and other initiatives over the past couple of years, most recently making a sound from a viral video of 12-year-old Roy Murray raving about Chipotle available to others for their own TikTok videos.
Chipotle partnered with Murray on a limited-edition Chipotle apparel collection and a TikTok activation.
Chipotle Mexican Grill|, Inc.
And Shopify Inc. SHOP, +5.18% is making TikTok, as well as other social-media platforms, available to its merchants.
“As e-commerce captures a greater share of retail, omnichannel commerce becomes even more critical for businesses,” said Harley Finkelstein, chief executive of Shopify, on the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call, according to FactSet.
“We continued to strengthen our multichannel value proposition in 2020, adding more ways to help merchants get discovered by new buyers, including Facebook Shops, Walmart, Pinterest and TikTok.”
According to Clinch’s Etzioni, now is the time for retailers and brands to dip their toes to determine how best to use these attention-grabbing social media platforms.
“Many of these emerging platforms (like TikTok) are still building out their e-commerce functionality, which makes for an interesting opportunity for brands to get in early and test/influence their ad solutions,” he said.
