We live in an era where simply “shopping” just isn’t enough to make people happy anymore—surprise, surprise!
Modern consumers want a shopping experience that goes beyond viewing product photos, reading the product’s description, then adding it to their cart. People want brands to entertain them before they decide if they’re “take my money” worthy.
That’s what shoppertainment, the next big thing in e-commerce, is all about. As a portmanteau of shopping + entertainment, it involves giving consumers fun and immersive buying experiences to build stronger connections. This can be anything from live stream selling and shoppable videos to games and augmented reality.
Let’s take a closer look at shoppertainment and break down five strategies you can incorporate into your website.
What is Shoppertainment?
Shoppertainment is the act of making websites more engaging and entertaining to promote sales and consumer participation.
It’s driven by a content-first approach where the ultimate goal is to provide valuable content that combines culture and commerce to sell without being too “salesy”. It’s an opportunity to educate shoppers about your products in an exciting and immersive way. More than that, it’s a chance to create a sense of community with your shoppers.
Who First Coined the Term?
The term “shoppertainment” was coined by southeast Asian e-commerce giant, Lazada, and has been transforming the online shopping scene since 2019.
Reinventing what it meant to be an e-commerce platform, Lazada incorporated live stream events, games, and other interactive features to entertain users. As a result of such innovations, it saw purchase frequency grow by more than 1.3 times year-over-year (YoY) since June 2019. In 2021, one of their LazLive sessions achieved 18 million views and saw a 187% YoY growth in GMV (gross merchandise value) through live streaming.
Today, the trailblazer gets more than 37 million visitors monthly.
5 Types of Shoppertainment Strategies
When incorporating shoppertainment to your e-commerce platform, it’s vital to ensure your strategies align with your brand voice so you can effectively resonate with your target audience. Be consistent with who you are as a business, even if you’re exploring new things.
Here are some popular types of shoppertainment worth trying out.
1. Livestream Selling
Livestream selling events involve a host endorsing products on live video to generate sales. It’s the perfect opportunity for potential customers to ask questions and learn more about product prices and other details.
Not only does it enable you to connect with audiences on a deeper level, but it also provides you with real-time feedback on your products. What’s so great about livestream selling is how easily brands of various scales can incorporate it into their strategy.
2. Shoppable Videos
Studies show that 54% of consumers want to see more video content from the brands they support—this explains why shoppable videos have become so popular.
This type of shoppertainment features products in videos and uses embedded links that enable viewers to click and purchase those products without leaving the video.
Traditionally, product videos would have links in the description box that users needed to click, leading to a lengthy purchasing process. Shoppable videos offer consumers a streamlined experience straight from the ad to checkout.
3. Contests
Another type of shoppertainment is rewarding contests.
Shopee, the leading e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia, frequently hosts contests catering to K-pop fan communities. In early 2023, it held a video call event promoting the release of TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s latest mini album, The Name Chapter: TEMPTATION. Every album purchase automatically entered a fan in a draw for a chance to win a video call with the group.
When the prize is something as exciting as a chance to virtually meet one of the biggest K-pop groups in the world, your brand will successfully grab all the attention.
4. Augmented Reality
We’ve seen it all, from Maybelline's virtual make-up try-on tool that shows you whether that shade of crimson lipstick is indeed flattering for your skin tone to the IKEA Place app that allows you to virtually place furniture in your home.
Augmented reality stands as one of the pillars of shoppertainment that is making buying decisions so much easier.
5. Gamification
Gamification is all about adding game-like mechanics into non-game environments to boost participation. You can't deny that people love a challenge—especially when it grants them sweet deals. It's also one of the easiest ways to inject some shoppertainment into your e-commerce site.
- Spin the wheel - Adding a game that offers an extra 10% discount upon checkout will get people spinning like crazy.
- Complete the puzzle - While you're typically not supposed to test a customer's patience, puzzles are a different story. Wouldn't this be a fun way to have them win $5 off their next purchase?
- Scavenger challenges - How about sending your customers on an exciting scavenger hunt across your website? Ask them to look for certain codes or images to complete a mystery in exchange for amazing prizes. This is a low-key way to increase traffic to other pages on your site.
- Point reward systems - Offering site members a chance to gather points through shopping is a great way to keep them coming back for more—just make sure the redemption of these points leads to valuable rewards.
- Timed rewards - We're no strangers to the effectiveness of timed rewards. You'll often find them in the form of vouchers and discount codes that expire in a few hours. When the clock is ticking on the sale price for a cute pair of shoes someone’s been eyeing, you’re bound to see them run a little bit faster to the checkout lane.
- Badges - Ah badges…there's just something about them that instills a sense of pride and excitement. From "Loyal Shopper" to "Platinum Member," awarding these titles to customers—along with some other well-deserved perks to go with each tier—is one way to show your appreciation for them through shoppertainment.
Make Your E-Commerce Site Shoppertainment Ready
Thinking about launching an e-commerce site? Or maybe you just want to revamp the existing one? No matter where you are in your e-commerce journey, you could always use a team of experts to ensure your page is extraordinarily shoppertainment-ready.
The Influence Agency, a leading digital marketing agency in North America, has got you covered with next-level e-commerce website design services.
All you have to do is reach out to us to get started!