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Livestreams Are the Future of Shopping in America

The U.S. has been slow to shop via live online video, but the coronavirus sparked interest: “It’s basically digitizing QVC and HSN.” 

Sheri Hensley, co-owner of Pink Coconut Boutique, models clothes during a livestream from Olive Branch, Mississippi. She and her husband, Mic (seated), have doubled their company’s sales thanks to a boom in viewership during Covid-19.

Sheri Hensley, co-owner of Pink Coconut Boutique, models clothes during a livestream from Olive Branch, Mississippi. She and her husband, Mic (seated), have doubled their company’s sales thanks to a boom in viewership during Covid-19.

Photographer: Houston Cofield/Bloomberg

E-commerce in the U.S. is on the cusp of big change.

A quarter century after Amazon’s founding, shopping online in America is largely the same experience: People click around a website and buy stuff. But this next phase promises a major evolution, by intertwining streaming video, social media and celebrity into a shopping experience that has the potential to further disrupt an already-battered retail industry.

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