Teleshopping channels and Gen-Z: what the future looks like

When thinking about teleshopping channels, you may remember a time when you woke up in the middle of the night with the TV left on. It’s not all infomercials and wonder mops sold in the twilight hours, there’s a booming industry that paved the way for e-commerce before it was even a thing.

Times change, and people do too, which is why once a simpler and easier solution comes along —  the internet, apps, online retail, and e-commerce — it’s hard to look back. Teleshopping has a bright future. It’s staking a claim in e-commerce, social commerce, and more importantly online video and streaming.‍

Start by moving beyond conventional TV channels and offering a similar experience online. Create apps, a seamless e-commerce purchase experience within that, and promote products on video-driven social media platforms.

That’s it… but if you’re eager to find out exactly how you do all of this, then keep reading.

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What are the advantages of teleshopping?

‍Teleshopping brings products to a wide and engaged audience of shoppers. By serving a product to a ready-made group of people that frequently purchase from the service, you’re also inheriting the trust the audience places in their brand too.

Here are some of the advantages:  

• Increased sales volume
• Larger audience
• Improve brand awareness and trust through association with the teleshopping brand
• Higher revenue
• Simple purchase process managed by the teleshopping service
• Product endorsement by professionals such as doctors or health and fitness specialists

Many teleshopping channels are now taking their services online and launching their own apps. As a result, audiences are expanding, and purchasing is possible over the web and via applications, rather than having to call directly.

Changing the modern shopping experience - teleshopping channels and e-commerce

Technology has made us a far less patient bunch. Shoppers don’t want to hang around or jump through hoops when parting with their hard-earned cash. It feels like paying twice if it’s difficult to complete a purchase. This is why younger generations have become accustomed to e-commerce with its frictionless purchasing. 24% of Gen Z have bought an item on social media due to it being easier, so making the process simple is key when targeting younger audiences.

Start by creating an app for the most popular platforms and make the checkout and purchase process seamless and simple. Using e-commerce platforms as the benchmark for ease of purchasing is a good place to start, as this is where customer expectations sit.

Teleshopping channels can improve the shopping experience by placing QR codes on their big screen apps. Viewers can simply scan these codes to be taken directly to the point of purchase for the product shown on screen. This is possible with Simplestream’s graphic overlay solution, powered by Singular.Live.

The future of shopping on tv is shoppertainment

Infomercial TV has been around since 1950, which is when the first shows selling a blender went live on TV in America. While the world may be a few generations ahead in blender tech now, the nature of the consumer hasn’t changed much.

Shoppertainment is a recent development that’s driving consumer expectations higher for the at-home shopping experience. It’s a combination of e-commerce and entertainment which appeals to the average consumer with interactive online retail events. The live stream events feature hosts who are usually familiar to the viewer. Think of minor celebrities or influencers selling products. It’s like an updated version of the infomercial in the social media age.

Teleshopping is shoppertainment

Traditional teleshopping channels can now easily create a shoppertainment-style experience by reusing their existing backlogs of video content – alongside a live stream – to create a virtual channel. Using popular influencers from social media platforms such as TikTok or YouTube to host shorter live-streamed shopping segments could draw in younger audiences too. Shorter clips taken from the programmes can be shared on the platform on which the influencers are most prominent to promote the teleshopping app.

Buying channels on TV or building apps?

Traditional linear TV is no longer dominating the viewing experience as it once was. Setting up a channel is expensive and difficult, without mentioning the extensive ongoing operational costs. Linear TV is still one of the best ways to reach large audiences, but reach is dropping between 2% and 3% each year as viewers choose to consume content on streaming services instead.

Developing and building apps from scratch is also expensive and requires a team of developers and QA testers. Designing and building an app can be done instead by partnering with a company which already has extensive experience in the field, with a framework that still offers freedom in design.

Taking teleshopping beyond linear tv channels and offering an updated, but similar experience online is the future. Creating shoppertainment-style segments with popular influencers and celebrities could push this style of content to new audiences. The opportunity is there for these established teleshopping brands to leverage their brand awareness and trust to capture new audiences.  

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