In partnership with Emplifi, GameStop® launched a modern selling approach involving "one-to-one" and "one-to-many" live video shopping, differentiating itself from the more traditional eCommerce models. Both make the online shopping experience more engaging and human, and are new essential channels for those who operate an eCommerce website.
"This partnership allowed us to approach lots of tools that are new for us," said Angelo Di Giorgio, Head of e-Commerce & Digital marketing at GameStop® Italy. "These tools not only have proven useful in supporting the digital transformation in general, but they also expanded and streamlined our omnichannel strategy."
Making clients feel like they’re in the store, even from home
Emplifi Live Advisor is a one-to-one online live shopping solution powered by Emplifi that allows customers to speak and interact with an in-store expert from the comfort of their own home. Users can benefit from a free, live, two-way or one-way video consultation, which allows them to examine the products and ask questions as if they were in the store without the need to turn on their camera.
The GameStop® team wanted to ensure that Emplifi Live Advisor was the solution they needed, so they began a three-month test with the tool on a specific item: Xbox.
After seeing the test results, the team decided to expand the service across the entire Microsoft portfolio. As of today, GameStop® has a dedicated team of live advisors available to assist users throughout their website shopping journey.
Here are some of their results from 2022:
9% (on average) conversion rate on valuable callers
55% (on average) uplift in average order value compared to standard
"With Live Advisor, we can give our virtual assistance a face; therefore, online customers interact with people who are physically in the store and are well prepared on the products we sell, making the online experience more human overall. It’s like when you enter the store and ask a question to a clerk," Di Giorgio said.
He added: "You could be located anywhere in Italy and, if you had a question, it would be as simple as clicking a button to be connected to one of our experts. As a consequence, this lets us focus on the product assistance and on the client. This is especially useful for those clients that don’t have our stores in their region or they live too far away." You can view a real-life example here on the GameStop® Italy website.
In addition, one customer service expert is always accessible for the live advisor to pull in a customer call whenever necessary. As some consumers may contact GameStop® for assistance with their order, the live advisor is prepared to transfer the call to a colleague who specializes in customer care.
Growing online sales and differentiating the brand with Emplifi Live Stream
Consumers are spending more and more time online, including for shopping, and GameStop® was looking for a way to meet growing customer demands while creating an engaging experience that would accelerate sales conversion and differentiate its brand name.
In this sense, the GameStop® eCommerce and digital marketing team has found an answer in live streaming sales. In fact, this is more entertaining and immersive than traditional eCommerce, and it keeps viewers watching longer while also humanizing the overall online experience.
It's no secret that live stream shopping is already booming in Asia, particularly in China, where the value of the live commerce market grew at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 280% between 2017 and 2020, to reach an estimated $171 billion in 2020. Companies that have already adopted this new technology report conversion rates up to ten times higher than in conventional eCommerce.
Thus, GameStop® decided to also activate Emplifi Live Stream (previously ShopStream). After a short 3 weeks to brief the team, set up the store, and test the technology, GameStop® went live heading into Black Friday with its very first live stream shopping experience using Emplifi from one of their stores in Italy.
The broadcast was hosted by Kobe (aka Lorenzo Fazi, presenter of the GameStop® TV show on Twitch) and Alberto, a master trainer at Microsoft. They were live for 60 minutes, exciting the online audience and taking them through special offers and a series of products that consumers could add to their basket right away through the on-screen carousel, as well as interacting with the audience with the live chat.
"The real differentiator with Emplifi has been the possibility to live stream directly from the store, show how the products look and have the customers add them to the cart with one click while the hosts speak," said Di Giorgio.
The brand chose to go live solely with the in-shopping journey mode for this session, which allows you to add a pop-up icon on your site that targets users in real-time as they browse the site. Visitors click on the icon to access the live broadcast and interact with the hosts through the chat. For those users who need more personalized advice, it is possible to go directly from the chat to a call with a GameStop® expert, thanks to the integration with Emplifi Live Advisor.
Despite not advertising the event, a quick and easy opportunity and revenue attribution analysis after the live session showed notable results:
2k+ total organic views
9% conversion rate
75% uplift in average order value vs non-Emplifi Live Stream sales
In conclusion, while live commerce is still an emerging channel, best practices are being established and GameStop® fans and customers now have a new space to connect where they can engage in both entertainment and discussions with the brand.
