Daraz Group, South Asia’s leading e-commerce platform, released the inaugural report on Daraz Live selling in South Asia. The report indicated that live commerce, a combination of live streaming and sales is one of the fastest-growing platforms for raising awareness for brands and sellers alike. The report looks at Daraz Live’s performance over twelve months across Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal with over 3000 brands and sellers. Over 2600 consumers were also interviewed across the four markets.

The report revealed that Daraz Live selling saw a 900 per cent increase in orders in the last six months of 2022, cementing itself as a strong selling proponent for marketing campaigns. Live selling has worked particularly well for categories where consumers were either able to make quick, low-cost, impulse purchases or situations where consumers want to learn more about certain products before purchasing. In addition, categories like fashion, lifestyle, electronics and fast-moving consumer goods benefit the most from live streaming. 60 per cent of the consumers surveyed stated that they use Daraz Live to learn more about a product and potentially get additional discounts before making a purchase.

Besides Daraz Live streaming, Daraz also launched the Daraz influencers model that allows brands to tap into a list of influencers who are trained to live stream professionally in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Trained influencers have their own engaged following, which helps brands to increase their reach and visibility. Professional live stream influencers also bring a level of authenticity and credibility to brands that are difficult to achieve through traditional advertising methods. 71 per cent of the orders generated directly from live streams happened during the live stream itself due to the influencer/presenter’s persuasive skills, time-sensitive discounts and deals, as well as real-time two-way interaction. Since the launch of influencers, 45 per cent of the total orders can be attributed to them.

“Live commerce at Daraz Pakistan has been a great experience in terms of building engagement across platforms and creating the right kind of conversions by implementing tactics like gamification, product reviews and unboxing. This, powered by commissions, keep the momentum going,” said Zoheb Asif, Daraz Live Pakistan influencer and actor.

According to McKinsey , live commerce has evolved rapidly in China, taking less than five years to develop into an innovative sales channel. Following China’s lead, Western brands, retailers and marketplaces are establishing their own live-commerce ventures and events to promote their products, especially in beauty and fashion. Closer to South Asia, according to a report by Boston Consulting Group and TikTok , live commerce or shoppertainment could uncover USD 1 trillion in market value for brands in Asia Pacific by 2025.

As the leading e-commerce player in South Asia, Daraz is confident that live selling will scale in the next few years as internet penetration continues to grow in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal. In addition, barriers to entry are lower for businesses signing up for Daraz Live since it is a free-for-use solution that increases the visibility of their brand.

“Live selling has proven to be a useful, interactive marketing tool that helps buyers to make their purchase decisions more effectively. We are confident that Daraz Live would help brands achieve credibility when our users shop online,” said Edouard Gheerbrant, Chief Business Officer, Daraz Group.