Characteristics of users using @cosme’s live commerce based on online analytics

The e-commerce market is gaining momentum in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and according to a survey by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry released in July 2021, the e-commerce market for merchandise (B2C), such as consumer electronics and clothing, is expected to continue to gain momentum, with a growth rate of 21.71%. In this booming e-commerce market, "live commerce" is currently the focus of much attention.

Live commerce is a sales method that uses online livestream broadcasts on Instagram, YouTube, etc. Since around 2016, it has been gaining attention, especially in the U.S. and China. It is showing great momentum in the Chinese market and is expected to reach a market size of approximately 33.915 trillion yen in 2021 (yuan/yen rate as of 2021).

Although this method is similar to televised home shopping, the major difference between live commerce and televised shopping is the interactive nature. The advantage of live commerce is that the seller and viewer can communicate in real time. Viewers can ask questions or address their thoughts during the livestream and the seller can share the details of products as requested by viewers, which is information that tends to be difficult to convey in the e-commerce environment.

Live commerce began to garner attention in Japan around 2020, mainly due to the increased demand for the "stay-at-home" lifestyle as a results of the COVID-19 outbreak. The leading figure in Japan is Yuko Sugamoto, a.k.a. "Yukosu" who is a creator on YouTube. She is actively using live commerce to sell the products she produces.

In an article in Markezine, Yuko says, "Social media gives me the feeling that I am working together with the viewers to create a program. The strength of live commerce is its 'real-time experience' and 'sense of togetherness.'" In addition, Yukosu's past livestreams have achieved one month's worth of sales in just 30 minutes, indicating the potential of live commerce as a powerful e-commerce sales channel.

In addition, the apparel store ".st" has been live-streaming from its physical store, and the live-streaming service SHOWROOM has implemented a live shopping function, demonstrating the popularity around live commerce across various industries in Japan.

This month's research will focus on @cosme, the largest cosmetics information site, as one example of how live commerce is being used.

@cosme started to hold a live commerce session called "Beauty Consultant Live Shopping” in January 2022. The staff from its beauty department actually working at physical @cosme stores act as live-streamers and stream several times a month on the company's e-commerce website.

We will analyze the visitors that visit this page to investigate the characteristics of user trends in live commerce. The analysis will be conducted using Dockpit, VALUES' web behavior analytics tool that enables users to analyze competitor sites and investigate trends using behavior data updated monthly, all in their browsers.

First, according to Dockpit, the number of users doubled between May and June of this year (May: approx. 32,000; June: approx. 80,000), exhibiting rapid growth.

Each livestream has a theme, such as "summer makeup" and "self-care," and products will be introduced accordingly. Viewers can comment in real time, allowing them to ask questions directly to the sales staff and address any concerns or request further information while watching.

In addition, at the bottom of the streaming page, there are detailed descriptions of the products introduced and a button that takes you straight to the purchase page, so that viewers can immediately purchase the products they are interested in after watching the livestream.

What are the user characteristics of those attending their live commerce " Beauty Consultant Live Shopping” hereafter referred to as "Live Shopping") compared to the customers at @cosme as a whole? Using data from the online behavior analytics tool Dockpit, let's identify the user base that attend the live commerce.

First, let’s compare the male to female ratio.

The percentage of women using @cosme was 75.4% and 96.4% for Live Shopping. Compared to @cosme customers as a whole, the percentage of women is higher among Live Shopping users.

Next, let's look at usage by age group.

As for @cosme as a whole (red), it can be observed that users in their 20s and 40s are using the service in similar proportions, with a moderate number of users in their 30s. On the other hand, for users who use live shopping (blue), the most users are in their 40s, with only about 10% of users in their 20s.

A 2021 survey on live commerce conducted by the KDDI Research, Inc. reported live commerce usage rates of approximately 4% for women in their 20s and 30s and 2.4% for women in their 40s, showing a lower usage rate among women in their 40s compared to women in their 20s and 30s.

Based on this research, it is telling that a large portion of those using the @cosme live commerce are those in their 40s.

What can be credited is the other media utilized by @cosme. In addition to the "Beauty Consultant Live Shopping," which was introduced here, @cosme also conducts livestreams on other media channels, such as YouTube and Instagram, and it is possible that users in their 20s and 30s are sourced from these channels.

• Show schedule > @cosme shares beauty information via livestream! Discover great cosmetics products
• @cosme - YouTube
• @cosme (@at_cosme) Official Instagram

Also below are rankings of other websites that those who attend the @cosme Live Shopping also visit.

Since @cosme ranked first, it can be inferred that users who have interest in and use @cosme are also visiting the Live Shopping page.

Also ranked in seventh place was the website “Shufoo!” which has a growing user base of housewives and offers flyers from supermarkets and drugstores. It is thought that users who regularly use supermarkets and frequently check store information are visiting @cosme’s live commerce.

We took a look at the topic of "live commerce," a new way of shopping growing in popularity due to the COVID-19 pandemic, by researching @cosme's live commerce “Beauty Consultant Live Shopping " and investigated the characteristics, the user demographics in particular.

As a result of the research, it was observed that compared to @cosme as a whole, those using Live Shopping have the following characteristics:

・A high percentage of users are women (@cosme as a whole: 75.4%, Live Shopping: 96.4%)
・Most users are in their 40s (Most users using the general @cosme website are in their 30s)

In addition, looking at other websites that users using Live Commerce also visit, it appeared that people who were visiting the general @cosme website were also visiting the Live Shopping page.

The live commerce market is expected to gain more attention as COVID-19 is expected to continue to affect daily life. Given the above characteristics found in the "Beauty Consultant Live Shopping," a service offered on @cosme's own website, it seems that the key to a live commerce strategy is to identify the target demographic as well as what to sell.

The data in this investigation is from Dockpit, an analytics tool with online behavior log data and user demographic information under the permission of panelists in Japan presented by VALUES, Inc.

※The numbers of users are estimated by the data in the monitor and the internet population in Japan.

▼Dockpit is an online behavior analytics that uses monthly updated behavior data to analyze competitor websites and investigate trends. There is a free version of Dockpit, so if you are interested in using it, please register below.