Best Buy, TalkShopLive debut in-store pickup for livestream shopping

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Dive Brief:

• TalkShopLive is connecting livestream shopping to physical stores. The company on Monday partnered with Best Buy to offer an in-store pickup option for customers buying from its livestream shopping platform, according to a press release. 
• The collaboration with Best Buy is the first time the platform will offer an in-store pickup option. To kick off the partnership, the livestream platform has tapped TikTok influencer Noah Schnacky to showcase some of his favorite items. 
• In another physical retail experiment, TalkShopLive debuted its first live commerce window shopping experience last month. At the displays, customers can watch livestreams and scan QR codes to purchase the items they see. 

Dive Insight:

TalkShopLive is working to tie its livestream shopping platform to physical retail stores, starting with a major electronics retailer.

“We constantly strive to innovate solutions for retailers and brands to connect their live shopping experiences with physical shopping experiences,” TalkShopLive CEO and founder Bryan Moore said in a statement. “For our large retailer partners, we have proven that products featured in TalkShopLive shows often garner an omnichannel sales lift upwards of 1500%. As holiday shopping often leads to shipping delays, in-store pickup allows customers to have a personal and interactive live shopping experience without any worries on delivery times.”

The company cited its longstanding relationship with Best Buy as a reason for debuting the service with that retailer, though TalkShopLive partners with a number of other retailers. Earlier this year, for example, Walmart expanded its partnership with TalkShopLive to introduce eight livestreaming shopping events. Introducing in-store pickup, though, adds an extra layer of convenience to the livestream shopping experience.

Best Buy had been facilitating an in-store pickup option long before it teamed up with TalkShopLive. In fact, the feature was critical to helping Best Buy through the early months of the pandemic, with CEO Corie Barry attributing its Q1 2020 success to the company’s pivot to curbside-only service.

Though the COVID-19 pandemic has entered a new phase since then, the retailer has continued to integrate pickup services into its stores and experimented with new ways to better serve digital shoppers. In July, the retailer unveiled a new small-format, digital-centric store concept. The store is equipped with mobile self-checkout, allows shoppers to scan product QR codes for desk pickup and offers livestreaming sessions with employees for product advice.