Can a mainstream fashion brand evolve into a luxury online shopping experience? With the launch of Zara Streaming, Inditex's flagship brand is betting on a phygital strategy, which seeks to integrate the physical and the digital and for which it uses the power of social networks and image.

Live shopping or live shopping is an online shopping modality through streaming broadcasts -through social networks or own platforms- and, as in a fashion runway, of the collections. The goal is that consumers interact with the brand and, above all, buy their products.

Live shopping originated in China in 2016, when Alibaba introduced Taobao Live. In 2023, the gross value of e-commerce by live streaming accounted for 31.9 % of the total gross value of online shopping in China, about 4.9 trillion yuan. The growth has been very marked as it accounted for only 8.6% in 2020.

It was also in China that Zara began, in November 2023, its live shopping through Douyin, the Chinese equivalent of TikTok.

The more than 800,000 unique streaming users and the sales success achieved led Inditex to take this digital marketing strategy to Spain, the United States, France, Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands and Canada.

The launch took place at the end of September 2024 with the participation of celebrities and personalities from the fashion world to make clear the brand positioning on which it has been working for some time, thanks to the impulse of Marta Ortega. For 35 minutes, the two models, Cindy Crawford and her daughter, tried on the pieces chosen by a renowned stylist, which viewers could add to their shopping carts.

There are five factors that we consider particularly relevant to this digital marketing strategy being developed by Zara:

1. Goodbye to the perception of fast fashion: live shopping adopts the codes of high-end fashion (catwalks, celebrities, glamour) while taking advantage of the immediacy and reach of social networks and digital platforms.

2. Phygital strategy: it is committed to differentiate itself from skill. In general, Zara is investing in technology to try to eliminate frictions between the physical and the e-commerce implementing in its application the store mode that allows self-payment via mobile(Pay&Go), theonline reservation of fitting rooms and online shopping from the catalog available in a particular physical store. The intention would be to create something similar to the "See now, buy now" that luxury brands use on their catwalks and that allows those who attend to buy the clothes they see in the fashion show on the spot.

3. Engaging the customer through the shopping experience: live shopping is entertaining, immersive and dynamic, so consumers stay longer and make more impulsive purchasing decisions. This is part of social commerce. Sales success relies on instant gratification. During the live streaming launch, the participation of 90s supermodel Cindy Crawford with her daughter Kaia (also model) was a content that engaged viewers: the mother-daughter complicity and the curiosity to see what clothes they chose kept them expectant.

4. Influencers: brands are increasingly betting on influencer marketing in their communication and sales strategies. But to do so, they must be clear about their audience goal: in the case of Zara, global celebrities with a strong presence in the networks. In addition, the mother-daughter combination encompasses two segments core topic: generations X and Z.

5. The web and the app as central elements of the marketing strategy: brands want consumers to spend as much time as possible on their website, in their app and in each product file. The aim is not only to get them to know the product and buy it, but also to generate community and brand loyalty. Zara Streaming content enables both objectives.

Zara is neither the first nor the only brand to introduce live shopping to its customers in Spain. Other brands, such as Mango, Lush or Parfois also do live shopping. The difference is that Zara does it with great pretensions, fashion film style.

In fact, many are wondering if, beyond live shopping, the real goal of Zara is that its digital business is also a great social network or content platform. We will stay tuned.