Zara brings live shopping to Europe and US

Zara is expanding its live shopping to Europe and the United States later this year. The fast-fashion giant hopes to boost its online sales with the concept that is extremely popular in China, but that European consumers are less familiar with.

“Why not…”

Since November, Zara has been broadcasting a weekly five-hour live shopping show via Douyin, a version of TikTok that is allowed in mainland China. These have boosted the retailer’s e-commerce sales significantly, so the fashion chain wants see if it can replicate that success elsewhere in the world. “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”, a Zara spokesperson for the initiative told Reuters.

In China, Zara shows models wearing dresses or trying on shoes and jewellery, alongside catwalk footage and behind-the-scenes images. The style is more relaxed than most other livestreams, which tend to focus more on hard selling. The shows attract an average of 800,000 viewers and help Zara increase brand awareness.

The European shows would be broadcast in Zara’s own app and on website, rather than via external social media channels. The experiment is expected to start sometime between August and October.