Counterargument

Counter Argument

The article claims that it is the time to embrace live streaming in retail because the only kind of shopping that exists now is online shopping. Livestream shopping is the best way to reach consumers as they get accustomed to working, buying, and talking online. Retailers who had no adopted live streaming have undergone huge losses during the pandemic period. Due to the pandemic, e-commerce has expanded quickly. E-commerce currently favors the simplest purchases and the ones that can be shipped easily, but other products such as cars and real estate will soon be sold via e-commerce (Duenwald, 2020). Due to today's crisis, live streaming has become more beneficial than virtual reality. That is because it offers entertainment and a sense of community. These are crucial aspects of shopping as many shoppers also want to interact with people as they shop. There has been a sharp increase in the use of retail live streaming by Alibaba through its Taobao Live streaming. Many stores and chains are likely to create live streaming shopping platforms.

On the contrary, embracing live streaming may not be a good option for retail businesses because of the problem of timing. Knowing the most appropriate time to start a live stream is a big challenge for retailers. A retailer might start a live stream when the shoppers are offline. That means that he/she will not sell many items because of the lack of an audience. Some of the retailers have their customers in various time zones. That makes it even harder to sell their items because some customers might be asleep when the live stream starts. The retailers may, however, determine the time most people are online and ensure that their live streams are started during that time.

Retailers are also likely to face technical problems that make the adoption of live streaming difficult. Many retailers have faced technical errors like poor connections as they stream live. These errors have made forced them to stop live streaming and use other methods that do not provide a sense of community and entertainment. For example, retailers in Australia often face slow internet connection making it hard for them to stream live. If the technical problems are fixed, live streaming will become a good option for all retailers. The good thing is that all technical errors can be resolved to enable retailers in all parts of the world to stream live.

Reference:

Duenwald, M (2020). The Next Frontier of Shopping Will Be Livestreamed.