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With the commerce landscape forever changed, there’s a land grab for publishers to own the space.
Hearst Magazines’ Cosmopolitan is building up its commerce repertoire through semi-annual deal days, Clubhouse chats with editors and designers and livestreamed commerce. The latter is forecast to generate $25 billion in U.S. sales by 2023, according to retail insights firm Coresight Research.
“One of the things that keeps me up at night is being first to market with everything,” said Nancy Berger, Cosmo’s svp, publishing director and chief revenue officer. “During the pandemic, people have missed being in retail. [Livestreaming] is the right hybrid: bringing audiences into a store experience and walking them through the shop. It allows engagement and two-way dialogue.”
Retailers, vendors and media companies alike are eyeing China’s $125 billion livestreaming commerce market with hungry eyes. A seismic boost in online shopping habits has accelerated tech innovation to a point where buying products via livestream video is much less clumsy.
Tech companies like Google, YouTube, Amazon, Instagram and Facebook have all launched live shopping offerings. Publishers such as Cosmo and BuzzFeed, which are already well-versed in commerce, are joining the fray.
Hauliday in March
Cosmo’s commerce revenue has seen consistent growth, thanks to a mix of affiliate deals, site memberships and licensed products across beauty and fashion.
Cosmo says product sales were up more than 301% year over year in 2020, though the publisher wouldn’t share from what base. Top retail performers include Nordstrom and Sephora.
Understanding how consumers shop—including preferred payment methods and ideal buying times—set the stage for Cosmo’s second 48-hour deal day called Hauliday. More than 50 retailers participated earlier this month, following the first iteration last August. Editorial and promotional impressions for March’s Hauliday doubled from the August event, the publisher said.
‘The next big thing’
For Berger, the sweet spot is the entertainment of TikTok with the utility of home shopping TV. Cosmo even enrolled Jackie Miranne, the daughter of Miracle Mop creator and QVC veteran Joy Mangano, to host the livestream.
“Livestream is definitely the next big thing in retail,” said Berger.
Cosmo introduced four 90-minute-long livestream shows in collaboration with the buy-now-pay-later app Klarna and live shopping app ShopShops. The event took place Monday and Tuesday, chosen because those are big shopping days for Cosmo’s audience.
The livestreamed shows were timed for 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. EST, in line with demand. The four shows had 12,000 total views, in the first stream alone, 14% of viewers went on to buy something. According to Cosmo, 43% of the audience was new to ShopShops. Arlyn Davich, president of ShopShops U.S., said the event attracted “a record number of views.”
The shows featured 56 different products across the two days. The average watch time was 20 minutes, Berger said. During the livestream, shoppers added something to their cart (but did not necessarily purchase) every two minutes. Bestsellers included a Glamglow moisturizer and tie-dye loungewear outfits.
The publisher’s next installment is scheduled for the fourth quarter of this year. Berger expects this to be additive to in-store buying when shoppers are comfortable enough for that.
“We want to be the first and we are going to see a lot more commitment [to livestream commerce] as we go into the year and beyond,” said Berger.
