Are You Ready to QVCify Your Life?
Live shopping is gaining serious traction among your favorite style stars on social media. It's time to tap in!
While it’s possible you’ve never turned on your television and consciously flipped the channel to QVC or HSN, you’re probably well acquainted with live shopping and its shtick. I grew up in the era of the late-night infomercial, so I’ve been watching people sell me stuff through a screen for most of my life. Millennials surely remember the ShamWoW guy, and even Kris Jenner hosted an infomercial slinging $100 “magic candles” for a psychic in the ‘90s. Life-changing products were just a phone call and a check or money order away, as long as you were on the couch at the right time to catch the broadcast. Now, thanks to Amazon, Poshmark, TikTok, and the endless list of other places we buy things online, you can watch your favorite internet personalities promote their wares at all hours of the day — and shop them with just one click.
I waded into current livestream shopping culture by accident, as a result of being extremely plugged into the Bravo universe. Some of the most popular Bravolebrities have lucrative side hustles hosting shows on (and earning affiliate revenue through) Amazon Live, including “Summer House” leading lady Paige Desorbo, and “Southern Charm” sweetheart Madison LeCroy. Desorbo is one of Bravo’s preeminent style stars; with 1.4M followers on Instagram, she often partners with both fashion and beauty brands on sponsored posts, and it’s clear the 32-year-old’s audience trusts her taste and product recommendations. Her weekly Amazon Live show not only highlights her bubbly personality, it also gives her another avenue to provide shopping and style advice, answering fan questions in the chat and providing click-to-buy links for exact items in her outfits.
This platform has become so popular (and profitable) for the Bravo set, that drama from tea spilled on Amazon Live has started seeping into the shows’ main storylines. For example, Lala Kent of “Vanderpump Rules” spoke out about James Kennedy’s assault allegations for the first time on an Amazon Live stream, launching a tabloid news cycle of its own. Most recently, Kyle Richards revealed details about her highly publicized rift with “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” co-star Dorit Kemsley via an Amazon Live Q&A. Yes, I realize how ridiculous this sounds — and no, I can not tell you about a single thing any of them were selling — but the ladies are laughing all the way to the bank!
Even the red carpet has become an occasion for live shopping, thanks in large part to events broadcast on Amazon. When the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show made its return this past October, there was a shoppable “pink carpet” special co-hosted by Tefi Pessoa and Olivia Culpo, with appearances from Ciara Miller, Suni Lee, Jordyn Woods, Remi Bader, and more — all of whom were wearing pieces from Amazon Fashion immediately available for purchase online. The VSFS itself was also shoppable, with products from the runway popping up for livestream viewers to buy in real time, similar to the Savage X Fenty show that aired on Amazon a few years prior.
Of course, TikTok has been instrumental in bringing the novelty of live shopping to a U.S. audience. According to Business Insider, American shoppers watched over 30,000 TikTok livestream shopping sessions on Black Friday in November, with content creator and Canvas Beauty founder Stormi Steele earning $2M in a single livestream. (TikTok Shop saw over $100M in single-day sales overall on Black Friday in 2024.) I’m willing to bet that every scroll through the app on any given day will serve you at least one person selling you something, whether it’s a piece of clothing, a beauty product, or a dubious wellness supplement or trend, like the mouth tape I’ve seen hundreds of times but refuse to believe actually works.
While live shopping drives billions of dollars in sales in more established social-shopping markets like China, it’s been slow going stateside. The New York Times published a story to coincide with the launch of Poshmark’s livestreaming platform, Posh Shows, in 2023, also name-checking Ntwrk (which has since become Complex Shop, known for streetwear and sneaker drops) and Whatnot as startups to watch in the promising space. Despite the apparent buzz, I hadn’t spent time on any of these until very recently, when my esteemed colleague and former pod guest
told me about Whatnot in preparation for her Neverworns Live! Shopping event, which she streamed from the comfort of her Brooklyn living room on Sunday — and where I was lucky to be in attendance.
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