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Zara to launch live shopping in UK, Europe, and US

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Live show will be hosted on Zara's own app and website

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Zara's China livestreams boosted sales, data shows

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Parent company Inditex reports Q1 results on Wednesday

By Helen Reid and Corina Pons

LONDON, June 3 (Reuters) - 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 Wednesday, 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.

A team of 70 people works on the live show, which is

streamed from a 1,000-square metre space in Shanghai, switching

angles between seven cameras, Zara said. On average, it 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% 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.

FRIENDLY, CASUAL AND FUN

In the UK, U.S. 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.

Alfonso Segura, who runs Barcelona-based fashion retail

consultancy TFR, said this would also allow it to boost

engagement and leverage its database of registered users.

The ad-hoc livestreams will highlight specific Zara Woman

collections, and will be hosted by two "very well-known" fashion

personalities, the brand said, without naming them.

Aiming for a "friendly, casual and fun" experience, the

shows will be shorter than those on Douyin, lasting 45 minutes

to an hour, but viewers will still be able to react in real time

with questions, comments and emojis.

"We can't always read across what has worked in China, to

whether that's going to work in western Europe or in the UK,"

said JP Morgan analyst Georgina Johanan.

But, she added, Inditex's investment in live shopping is an

example of its momentum and ability to be at the forefront of

experimenting with new formats.

"This is a business that, 10 years ago, most people were

saying was behind in online, and here they are one of the first

to trial this in the UK," Johanan said.

Asos, L'Oréal and Puma are

among brands to have launched on TikTok Shop in the UK in recent

months, the platform said, while AliBaba ( BABA ) platform AliExpress

launched a UK livestream show in March called "It Girls"

featuring influencers including Olivia Attwood.

Asos said its first order came within 30 minutes of

launching, and new shoppers account for 57% of those buying its

products via TikTok Shop.

Madrid-based Carmen Muley started out hosting AliExpress'

first livestream in China in 2016 and now advises brands on live

shopping strategy through her company Paragon Social Commerce.

"Here in Europe, we don't really like having someone selling

something to us aggressively - of course the end goal of a live

shopping event is to sell a product, but consumers don't want to

feel like they have the obligation to buy," she said.

"Offering something the consumer would not normally find in

stores is a good idea - you need to make the event special,

otherwise why would they join?"

Inditex declined to say how much it is investing in the new

format but the family-owned company is sitting on an 11 billion

euro cash pile, giving it the firepower and a safety net to

experiment with new ways of selling, even if success isn't

guaranteed.