Live shopping is a popular digital trend that redefines online shopping. Real-time interaction allows for a new way to discover and buy products. It makes online shopping more authentic, engaging and dynamic. To create the right online shopping experience for your customers, you’ll probably need a live shopping app. This guide covers the top choices available and helps you pick the best live selling app for your brand.
Some live shopping apps are only available on mobile, some let you white label their video players for embedding on your website and others are built into popular social media platforms. Our list includes the live shopping apps that can cater to a wide range of influencers and brands.
1. Instagram Live
With 2 billion active users, Instagram is one of the world’s most popular social media networks. Brands can run ads and create shoppable posts and videos on Instagram, as well as host live streamed events. Although Instagram discontinued its Live Shopping feature, you can still create a shop on Instagram, and you can still talk about your products on your live streams.
Instagram could be the ideal place to start selling your products if you already have a decent following on the platform, or you can team up with an influencer who has an existing community on Instagram.
One downside to streaming on Instagram is that Meta charges a selling fee on all shipments made in the app, and purchases take place within Instagram, meaning customers don’t go to your website.
Features
- Live stream analytics via Facebook Business Page
- Live Rooms feature to invite co-hosts
- Live video effects and filters
- Live chat
- Upload pre-recorded videos and photos
- Download the recording of your live stream when it ends to repost later
- Product Tags to highlight items in all of your Instagram content, including ads
- Product detail pages (PDPs)
Pros
- Free to use
- Easy to collaborate with content creators
- Followers get a notification when you’re live
Cons
- Requires an Instagram business account
- Instagram checkout (in-app purchase) is only available for U.S. accounts
Pricing
2. YouTube Live
YouTube started rolling out live shopping features for eligible video creators in 2022. If you are in the YouTube Partner Program and have an Official Artist Channel, you can set up a store with your own products. If you want to promote products from other brands as an affiliate, you need to be in the YouTube Partner Program, based in South Korea or the U.S. and have more than 10,000 subscribers.Â
If you host a live shopping event on YouTube, you can tag products to your live stream, pin products in the live chat, add products to end screens or put products on your product “shelf.” Unlike Instagram Live, YouTube doesn’t handle transactions for purchased products, so you still have to manage that yourself.
YouTube doesn’t have many of the managed service features that other shopping apps on this list have, but it does have 2.2 billion users worldwide. It’s highly likely that your target audience is already using YouTube, or at least familiar with it.
Features
- Live chat and engagement features
- Shopify integration
- Channel store
- Tag products in videos, Shorts, and live streams
- Display products in video descriptions and on product shelf
- Collaborative live streams with other channels and cross-channel redirects
- Live stream markers to highlight big moments coming up in your streams
Pros
- Access to a wide audience
- Viewers can watch on mobile or desktop
- Free to use
- Build on existing YouTube audience
- Robust analytics tracking
- Use ads, Super Chat and Super Stickers in addition to live selling
Cons
- You need 1,000 channel subscribers to promote your products (and 10,000 to promote another brand’s products)
- No multistreaming
Pricing
3. Facebook Live
If you’ve set up a Shop on Instagram, you should use it on your Facebook account as well. Just like on Instagram, you can import your product catalog and facilitate in-app checkouts. You can use Meta’s Commerce Manager to track all the activity in your shop in one centralized location.
Facebook lets you tag your products in posts, which appear on your News Feed. While you can’t add products to live streams because Meta discontinued live shopping, you can still promote your products and ask your viewers to visit your store.
Also like Instagram, Facebook’s shopping features are pretty limited geographically. Only U.S.-based business accounts can use the in-app checkout. You also can’t tag products in Stories or Reels on Facebook like you can on Instagram.
Features
- Live chat, polls and engagement features during live streams
- Go live on mobile or on desktop
- Add featured links in live streams
- Share Facebook live broadcasts directly to Stories
- Highlight top fans with front row feature
- Give out badges to valued fans
- Use Live With to collaborate with other creators and brands
- Turn a Facebook Messenger Room into a live stream
- Add product tags in posts
Pros
- Free to use
- Several live video collaboration options
- Live stream from Facebook’s Live Producer, the mobile app or an encoder
- Robust live stream analytics
Cons
- In-app checkout only available in the U.S.
Pricing
4. Amazon Live
If you already have a store on Amazon, you can promote it with live shopping events on Amazon Live. You can also join the influencer program and promote other stores’ products with live stream shopping.
You can only add products to your stream that appear on Amazon — but that’s not a problem if you already have an Amazon store. Another benefit to streaming on Amazon over social media networks is that users on Amazon are primed to purchase. They’re not looking for entertainment like they are on YouTube or Instagram.
One downside to using Amazon Live as your live shopping app is that you can’t generate any traffic for your own website, if you have one. It’s against Amazon’s policies to link away from Amazon during your live stream.
Features
- Stream from desktop or mobile app
- Add products to the carousel
- Pay to boost your live stream to reach more customers
- Live chat
- Stream appears on the Amazon Live page while you’re live
- Level-up program offers benefits to streamers
Pros
- Free to use
- For brands and influencers
- Huge product catalog
- Ideal if you already have an Amazon store
- Earn affiliate commissions on products sold through your influencer storefront
Cons
- Only available to the U.S. marketplace
- Can’t embed a live shopping event on your website
Pricing
Restream is a live streaming studio that you can launch directly from your web browser. With Restream live shopping, you can import products to your live stream from your e-commerce store, and display links to your products as a QR code on-stream. Viewers simply scan the code and make their purchase on your site, without leaving the live shopping event.
Going live with Restream also allows you to broadcast on multiple social media platforms simultaneously, including YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and more. You can customize your broadcast with branded assets like backgrounds, captions and logos, and you can add remote guests and co-hosts to your stream. You can also record and edit a live shopping video, upload it to Restream, then set it to broadcast live on your preferred channels — so you can focus on moderating the chat during the live event.
Create stunning live videos
Restream Studio is the easiest way to create high-quality live videos on multiple platforms at once. It’s user-friendly and offers an engaging viewer experience.
Restream Studio is the easiest way to create high-quality live videos on multiple platforms at once. It’s user-friendly and offers an engaging viewer experience.
Features
- Import your store from Shopify, Amazon, WooCommerce, Etsy and more — with new store integrations being added all the time
- QR code product pop-ups with flash sales, auctions and pre-orders functions
- Add your custom branding with captions, logos, backgrounds and overlays
- Multi-seat accounts so you and your producer can log into the same Restream account
- Upload and stream pre-recorded live shopping videos
- Broadcast your live shopping event to your website
- Multistreaming to several channels from one web browser
- Add an extra camera as another video source for multiple camera angles
- Invite remote guests and co-hosts to your shopping event
Restream is beginner-friendly — you don’t need any live streaming experience to use it. You can also host your live commerce stream directly from your web browser, without having to download any apps or software. By multistreaming to several platforms at once, you can let your viewers choose which platform they want to watch on.
You can host live shopping streams using Restream for free with our Basic plan. If you want to get more features, support and customization options, you can upgrade to a Standard, Professional or Business plan.
1. ShopShops
ShopShops is a live streaming app geared toward social influencers and creators who want to promote their favorite brands and products. The app features products from designer brands as well as vintage and handcrafted items.
Brands and influencers can both join the app and ShopShops will pair them up, so brands don’t have to worry about supplying their own live show host. ShopShops focuses on creating fun live shopping experiences that are driven by dynamic hosts and exclusive access to global brands.
The app is free for creators to use but all sales are subject to ShopShops’ fees and commissions, which average about 20%. You have to apply to be a seller as well.
2. NTWRK
NTWRK is a live shopping app more suited to niche brands with cult followings. It’s also more similar to a social media platform than a live shopping app NTWRK specializes in exclusive product drops, festivals and other live events. The app appeals to customers looking for scarce or highly coveted products that tend to be pricier.
High-quality artists and influencers have to apply to join the NTWRK marketplace. You’ll be vetted first before you can start selling your products on the app. NTWRK also hosts daily live streams featuring trending brands on the app and well-known figures in pop culture. Getting mentioned in these short streams can be a huge boost for a seller on NTWRK.
3. Firework
Firework lets companies create on-demand shoppable videos as well as live shopping events. There’s a library of video templates and drag-and-drop editing tools included in the app as well. You can embed live streams on your website as well as simulcast to social media platforms. Products are added directly to the stream and Firework supports in-video checkout.
If you’re simply looking for shoppable video creation, Firework is free to use. However, if you want to add live streaming to your plan, the price jumps up significantly. Signing up with one of Firework’s paid plans does get you media amplification services and their team will be pretty hands-on with helping you get it set up — but you have to decide if the high price tag is worth it.
4. Channelize
Channelize is a live shopping solution that integrates with your website and existing e-commerce apps such as Shopify or WooCommerce. You can also use Channelize’s API and webhooks to integrate live shopping into your existing apps and tailor the user interface to your needs. You can get started with Channelize for free but there are limitations and you may have to pay extra for feature add-ons.
With Channelize, you can broadcast your live streams to multiple social media platforms, as well as embed them on your website. Unlike social apps like NTWRK, Channelize doesn’t have its own shopping app that hosts streams and products. Shoppers therefore don’t need a Channelize account to watch your live shopping streams.
5. Smartzer
With the Smartzer live shopping app, you can add clickable pop-ups and shopping carts, which the app calls “interactive hotspots.” These pop-ups allow users to add items to and view their shopping carts without leaving the stream. Smartzer integrates with major e-commerce platforms so you easily import your products.
The Smartzer player lets you embed your live videos on your website or broadcast to a live streaming platform with a stream key and RTMP ID. You can also generate a link to the stream to drop into your Instagram Story. Features and pricing vary for Smartzer depending on which integration you’re using (Shopify, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, Magneto, Big Commerce, WooCommerce).
6. Bambuser
Bambuser is a live shopping platform that supports one-to-many and one-to-one live streaming. You can embed shoppable live streams and pre-recorded videos on your website as well as social media platforms. Products are highlighted throughout the show and customers can simply tap or click to add them to their carts. The Bambuser video player works on mobile as well as desktop.
If you don’t want to embed the stream on your site, you can create channels using the Bambuser dashboard. Bambuser offers live stream metrics and reporting and gives you full control over your customer and transaction data as well.
7. Streams.live
Streams.live is similar to Bambuser, offering live shopping sessions on the Streams.live app and website, as well as the ability to embed in your own app or website. It also has a live chat feature, both live and pre-recorded shoppable video, and allows you to invite video guests to your live shopping broadcasts. Streams.live stands out from other live shopping apps because it lets you promote and sell non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in your streams.
You can also import your products from an e-commerce app such as Shopify or WooCommerce and then promote them in-stream with a “buy now” button. Streams.live also lets you organize your shopping events into channels if you have more than one category of products.
FAQs
Why should you use live shopping apps?
Live streaming shopping is expected to surpass $55 billion by 2026, making it an ideal time to use a live shopping app. This approach enhances brand awareness by allowing you to connect directly with your audience through shoppable videos. Additionally, live shopping apps personalize the buying experience, enabling customers to interact with sellers and make more informed decisions.
What are the main features of live shopping apps to consider?
Live shopping apps vary, and not all will meet your needs. The most popular ones typically offer features like importing products from e-commerce platforms like Shopify, live chat for real-time engagement, and support for at least 50 concurrent viewers. They often allow embedding broadcasts on branded websites, multistreaming to multiple platforms, scheduling events in advance, and include built-in payment functions or QR code scanning to direct customers to your website.
Wrap-up
There’s never been a better time to get into live shopping. If you want to create engaging live experiences that connect with your customers in new ways — and boost sales in the process — then start doing live shoppable videos. No matter the size or niche of your store, you can find an app that helps you deliver professional, high-quality live shopping experiences.
Restream makes going live and selling to your customers easy. It’s free to broadcast live shopping events featuring your products and you can stream on more than one channel at a time. Simply add links to your products in your Restream account and start streaming on your favorite social channels. Turn your viewers into buyers, without all the hassle.
