Many independent retailers are now harnessing the popularity of online video to sell more products and connect with shoppers like never before. (…) Since launching in Denmark in 2020, ELISA has grown exponentially with 600+ users in six countries across Europe – and it’s now available in the UK.

A recent study reveals that more than 70 percent of European consumers have explored or are open to explore live shopping. Undoubtedly, live shopping is not a short-lived trend but a sales and marketing channel which has come to stay.

Edit. Brother Nikolai actually built it. Rasmus visits the clothing store Kynde & Knak in Thyborøn to help set up the robot for the store’s live auction via Facebook.

Closed store with more than 1,000 customers: It’s pretty crazy. In a clothing store on Store Torv in Holstebro, they have more than 1,000 customers. Not physically, but virtually. What do you do as a store owner when the coronavirus forces you to close the store and you have no web-shop to sell your jackets, blouses and pants?

Niels Lunde: There will be fierce competition for customers in the retail trade after the corona crisis. A visit to a clothing store in Holstebro, which focuses on live shopping, provides practical knowledge of what customers want. Marianne Degn (left) and daughter Christine Degn Friis (right) show (red. and sell) the store’s clothes in front of a mobile phone for an hour. 1200 people follow while the two interact with the “visitors”. Photo: Michael Drost-Hansen

During the shutdown, live shopping became the new attraction for stores with locked front doors. A newly developed robot facilitates the work of managing orders and payments – a task that was previously done manually.

Nikolai explains with a certain seriousness in his voice how he got the idea for Easy Live Sales. “My mother is self-employed. She runs a café, and when the corona hit in 2020, it became difficult for her to continue. Since she has no other online presence than Facebook, we went together as a family with the purpose of helping her sales ”.

Between 600 and 1,500 people watch each time Helm is live, and in a single evening they can sell the equivalent of revenue of up to five regular days in February. For the same reason, the live sales are not going to end just because the physical store can now open on Monday.

The closing of retail stores really set motion in the liveshopping phenomena during 2020 and 2021. But the closeness, professionalism and experience that lies in live shopping is unique and can redefine the way we shop for the benefit of the local shops. But brands can also benefit greatly from jumping on the live train, according to an expert.

All key figures keep rising for ELISA, by Easy Live Sales, who offer a robot to assist shops making live sales on social media platforms. Since early this year, the two owners – Nikolai Aas Pedersen and Christian Degn Vester – have been busy welcoming new users. Grown from a simple idea for a business to survive COVID-19, this hybrid way of selling is now used by many shops – ‘they all have great success, and the variety of businesses is impressive’ says Christian Vester.