Study: 70% of live stream purchases in Singapore are food-related

Singapore  –  15%  of people in  Singapore turn to live streaming to purchase popular products such as fresh seafood, lipsticks, and earphones. Millennials are more likely to jump onto the bandwagon. 4 out of 5 respondents aged 18-24 years old state that they are likely to purchase products from live streaming.

These are findings commissioned by  Shopavision,  a live stream focused shopping platform in Singapore. The data was derived from 5,200 online conversations from 9 May 2020 to 9 June 2020.

Research partner Parrot Social extracted these conversations from social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, forum, and online pages in Singapore.

Who is tuning into live streaming?

People in Singapore who purchase items from live streaming are  51.3% female and 48.7% male. In terms of live stream purchases among the different age groups, 55.4% of people aged 18 -24; 36.8% aged 25-34, and 6.4% aged 35-44 purchase products via live streaming.

Despite this, Singapore is slower in the adoption of live streaming as compared to countries such as China and America. 15% of people in Singapore consume live streaming content as compared to 90% of people in China and 38% in America.

Consumers are no longer just browsing through product descriptions, but they are now actively participating in the buying process.

Rachel Pang, Founder, Shopavision

“We saw that live streaming has become such an integral way of life for people in China and wanted to bring it to Asia. Live streaming marries sales with entertainment and provides a direct channel for people to interact with merchants. Consumers are no longer just browsing through product descriptions, but they are now actively participating in the buying process.  They can ask questions, get responses live, and get entertained by live streamers, from the convenience of their homes. Live streaming is the future of online commerce,” said Rachel Pang, Founder, Shopavision.

What are people buying via live streaming?

The top three product categories that people in Singapore are buying online are food, make-up, and technology gadgets at 70%, 20%, and 10% respectively.

Some of the food items that people have been purchasing online include bubble tea, seafood, and other meats. People typically spend between $2 – $200 on seafood and fresh meats.

In the category of make-up, lipsticks are one of the most preferred items. This is likely due to the fact that lipsticks are low cost items and often come in bundled deals.

People typically spend between $1 – $40 on lipsticks and lip glosses. One of the top searched items in this category are moisturizing lipsticks.

In the category of electronic gadgets, people typically spend between $5- $25 on earphones. Other commonly purchased electronic gadgets are power banks, which see purchases between $5- $20 on average.

Why do people like live streaming?

9 in 10 respondents who tune in to live streaming like the platform as they can get actively involved.

74% of millennials say they find live streaming videos helpful when it comes to comparing products before they make a purchase.

What are popular live streaming platforms?

Online conversations seem to reflect the dominance of platforms catered to specific interests in Singapore. The top three most popular live-streaming platforms include Twitch; a live streaming app for gamers, V Live; an app that facilitates live chat between Korean celebrities and fans, and Youtube Live.

“We started to explore live streaming to sell our products and services in 2018. Today, our traditional wholesale business relies solely on live streaming as a sales channel. I believe live streaming brings many opportunities to merchants and they should try it. Shopavision is the first live streaming focused shopping platform and its system helps merchants with tedious backend work such as manually collating customer orders. Customers can buy instantly.  We are excited to be one of their partner merchants,” said Max Kee, Merchant, Shopavision, and Business Owner, Lian Huat Seafood.