Live Shopping Is Already Huge in China, and Now Tech Giants Want to Make It Big in the U.S.

2020 has been the year of live shopping for US tech companies. Amazon launched Amazon Live for influencers in July, and Instagram and Facebook launched live shopping features in August. Google’s R&D division, Area 21, also launched Shoploop, which isn’t live but offers shoppable stories, and smaller startups continued their efforts to make live shopping not just a thing, but the future of retail. On every platform, it ends up looking like a modern twist on QVC — but with influencers instead of celebrities, and those influencers getting a cut of the sales.

There’s good reason for tech companies to believe live shopping could be big in the US: it’s already massive in China. In March, 60 million people tuned into shopping live streams, an increase of 126 million compared to last June, according to a report published by the China Internet Network Information Center. Even Kim Kardashian West partnered with a prolific Chinese influencer on a live shopping stream and reportedly sold 15,000 bottles of perfume almost instantly.