Livestream shopping is gaining steam in the U.S., thanks to apps like TikTok and Whatnot

Livestream retail is drawing renewed attention in the United States as TikTok and Whatnot pursue an opportunity that has already transformed online shopping in China. The format turns a sales presentation into a live broadcast, allowing products, personalities and audiences to converge in the same moment. Its expanding American presence signals a bid to make shopping through a screen feel less like browsing a catalog and more like attending an event.

TikTok brings the reach of a major social network to that effort, while Whatnot has been built around live commerce itself. Their momentum comes after roughly a decade in which the model became enormously successful in China. The American market is not simply replaying that history, but the Chinese experience has established that real-time video can become a significant route from attention to purchase.

One illustration is unfolding in a warehouse north of Chicago. Sarah Potempa, a celebrity hairstylist and the chief executive behind the Beachwaver curling iron, uses TikTok Live to present products to audiences that can number in the thousands. Her broadcasts can hold viewers' interest for hours, placing product selling inside a longer-running live performance rather than a conventional advertisement.

That setting also shows why the format differs from a standard online product page. A listing can be visited at any time, but a live session centers on what is happening now and on the person guiding the presentation. For a founder or creator such as Potempa, that can put a recognizable face beside the item being offered. For viewers, the shopping experience is tied to a shared broadcast instead of an isolated search.

Whatnot's recent valuation of $20 billion offers another measure of the confidence surrounding the category. The figure places a high value on a company focused on live commerce at a time when the concept is still working to establish a wider foothold in the United States. Alongside TikTok's efforts, it suggests that livestream retail is no longer being treated solely as a niche experiment.

The potential prize is a different relationship between social media, entertainment and transactions. Platforms have long competed for attention; live shopping seeks to connect that attention directly to a sale while the audience is engaged. Sellers can use a broadcast to keep a product at the center of a conversation, and platforms have an incentive to turn time spent watching into commercial activity.

At its broadest, the shift is about the role that video plays in a purchase. Recorded marketing and static listings can show an item, but a live format places the presentation on a clock and makes the host central to the experience. That can encourage a seller to build an audience rather than rely only on a one-time product search. It can also make the distinction between content and commerce less clear: the broadcast is designed to retain attention even as it presents goods for sale. The approach therefore depends on both the appeal of the host and the audience’s willingness to treat a social or entertainment destination as a place to shop.

Still, a large audience or a rich valuation does not by itself settle how broadly the approach will be adopted in the United States. China’s long-running success provides an important precedent, but its scale does not guarantee that American viewers and merchants will behave in the same way. The format will have to show that people want to return for live product sessions, not merely sample them because they appear inside apps they already use.

The next test will be whether demonstrations such as Potempa's can be repeated across more goods, sellers and audiences. TikTok has the advantage of an established social-media audience, while Whatnot's valuation gives it substantial visibility as a specialist in the field. Together, their progress will help determine whether live broadcasts become a lasting part of U.S. e-commerce or remain a fast-growing but more limited alternative to ordinary online shopping.

Source: CNBC Business