Live selling platform Whatnot has released a “State of Livestream Selling Report,” which revealed that over $2 billion in livestream sales have been generated on the platform so far this year. For purposes of comparison, Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) of goods sold on eBay last year was around $73 billion, so there’s lots of room for live selling to grow. Whatnot was launched five years ago; eBay was launched nearly 30 years ago in 1995. Whatnot raised $410 million in new capital in 2021 and 2022 to fund growth (see “Money Pours into Live Shopping“).
In addition to revealing information about its own sales, Whatnot also surveyed its sellers, and separately contracted with a research firm that surveyed livestream sellers across platforms, including not only Whatnot but also Tiktok Shop, YouTube Live, Instagram Live, Amazon Live, Facebook Live, CommentSold, Channelize.io, Bambuser, Smartzer, and NTWRK.
The study found that geek culture categories were definitely prevalent on the platforms, with 3% of vendors selling TCG products, another 3% of vendors selling “comics and anime,” and 8% selling “toys and hobbies.” Top categories include sneakers, sports (i.e., cards, memorabilia), and men’s fashion.
Sellers that are ramped up and active (selling for at least six months and streaming at least twice a week) are generating significant revenue, with two-thirds of sellers reporting sales of $10,000 per month or more, and one in four sellers reporting sales of over $300,000 per year. The top 500 Whatnot sellers generate an average of over $1 million per year.
Live selling takes effort, with 69% of sellers in the survey going live daily, and the average seller spending 19 hours per week on the channel.
While live selling is growing rapidly, it’s unclear where it will peak. In 2021, a McKinsey study quoted by Whatnot forecast that the channel would be 10-20% of e-commerce by 2026.
Source: ICV2
