Gift Focus inc Attire Accessories - Page number 13 - November/December 2021

WORLDLINE PARTNERS WITH LIVESCALE TO BOOST THE GLOBAL ADOPTION OF ‘LIVE SHOPPING’ AND ‘IN-VIDEO CHECKOUT’ Worldline, the European leader in the payments and transactional services industry, has announced a partnership with Livescale, a pioneering force in the adoption of live shopping. Live shopping, a trend in which retailers, influencers, or celebrities promote and discuss products and services with shoppers via livestreaming video, is proving to be one of the fastest growing phenomena in ecommerce today. Together Worldline and Livescale will offer an embedded commerce solution with seamless in-video checkout capabilities across social media and websites, which will support 150 online payment methods so shoppers can pay as they like. Live shopping has emerged from China as one of the hottest trends in e-commerce. On the popular Chinese shopping platform Taobao over 50 percent of its 800 million customers use livestreaming e-commerce. For Chinese e-commerce businesses, live shopping is becoming a standard toolkit to sell online and particularly within fashion and cosmetics. Its popularity is growing exponentially across the globe and has gained traction in more mature markets such as the United States and Europe, especially as widespread lockdowns have forced physical stores to find new ways to engage with consumers. Live shopping is seeing impressive payment volumes and engagement with Livescale reporting boosting brands sales by a factor of three to six, a conversion rate up of 39 percent and new customer acquisition rate of up to 40 percent. This bodes well for future sales. The Worldline / Livescale partnership combines Livescale’s embeddable Live Shopping software with Worldline’s connected checkout functionality, increasing e-commerce sales conversion rate well above industry standard. One distinctive feature is in-video check out, which allows consumers to complete the payment for their purchase seamlessly while staying in the live video experience. This facilitates both the promotion and sale of goods or services, as well as deepening effective engagement with consumers in real time as brands look to bridge the physical and digital – “phygital” – gap in retail. This enhanced offering, alongside a robust analytics dashboard, will help provide brands and manufacturers with those three critical factors they are so desperate to share with their customers – inspiration, an enhanced shopping experience and increased loyalty. The statistics speak volumes. L’Oréal, an early adopter of the Worldline / Livescale Live Shopping solution in Canada, saw a 300 percent increase in sales in one hour of live shopping compared to one day of e-commerce activity, an average of 40 percent engagement across all events to date and a 50 percent boost in new customers. In addition, sales during Lancôme’s special Singles Day event in Canada exceeded expectations, earning a mention in Vogue Business’ holiday trend analysis for 2020. Jie Xue, Product Manager Innovations at Worldline Digital Commerce, commented on the partnership, “The launch of this new initiative is a step change in the way customers will interact with brands in the future. Consumer behaviour has changed dramatically over the past few years, and the Covid-19 pandemic has further accelerated the digitalization of retail. Enabling customers to purchase seamlessly without friction and at pace will increase transaction volumes and substantially improve the customer experience.” WAXWRAP SCOOPS PLASTIC-FREE INNOVATION AWARD AT THE RECENT VEGGIE AWARDS 2021 WaxWrap has announced that its Beeswax Organic Cotton Food Roll scooped top spot in the Plastic-Free Innovation category at the recent Veggie Awards 2021. The go-to for eco-conscious consumers who are looking for effective, quality products that have a positive impact on the environment, the Veggie Awards are at the forefront of the growing movement for ethical living. WaxWrap Sales & Key Account Manager, Andy Smok, comments, “We are delighted that our sustainable, convenient and innovative alternative to plastic wrap has been recognised as an innovation for plastic-free food storage by the leading awards in their field. This Gold Veggie Award, in addition to our recent accreditation from The Vegetarian Society, gives vegetarian and green consumers additional reassurance in our offering and potential supermarket partners the confidence that we can deliver an effective, credible solution to a potential packaging crisis in the industry.” One of the first brands to introduce a re-usable beeswax wrap wax in a roll format to the UK market, WaxWrap can manufacture on a large scale. As such the brand is perfectly positioned to satisfy a need from supermarkets looking for ways to boost their sustainability record and show consumers they are serious about reducing their use of single plastics. Introduced just a year ago in the UK, WaxWrap is therefore quickly establishing itself as a front-runner in the market for sustainable food storage system solutions. Made from 100% natural materials, the brand represents a key initiative in the war on plastic, in particular cling film. Instead WaxWrap uses organic cotton cloth coated in a mixture of beeswax, natural pine resin and organic jojoba oil, which allows food to breathe naturally – keeping food really fresh without the need for single use plastics that pollute waterways, poisoning wild and marine life in the process. Perfectly positioned to capitalise on the growing consumer interest in sustainable living, WaxWrap also boasts assorted sizes of waxed cotton bags and wraps to suit every food storage requirement. www.waxwrap.uk INDUSTRY NEWS 13 