How Amazon Live is creating interactive shoppable livestreams for customers powered by Amazon IVS

In the era of prolific OTT content, social media, and connected technology, consumers are tuning into live and on-demand video more than ever. Approximately 80 percent of consumers would rather watch a live video than read a blog, while video streaming in general is estimated to account for more than 80% of Internet traffic. Amazon Live, an early mover in livestream shopping in the US, is using Amazon Interactive Video Service (Amazon IVS) to connect customers with their favorite influencers and brands, and provide them with shopping inspiration through interactive livestreams.

Amazon Live and IVS Background

Amazon Live brings interactive live video into the Amazon shopping experience, helping Amazon customers find shopping inspiration and discover new products and brands. Amazon Live provides shoppers the opportunity to “try before they buy” by helping them virtually experience the products through demonstrations, stress tests, tutorials, and try-on-hauls. Viewers can chat live with each other and the creator throughout the stream, and products featured in the livestream are displayed alongside the video player – making it easy for customers to add them to their cart while watching (and purchase them in just a few clicks). Influencers and brands can download the Amazon Live Creator app, a free to use, self-service application that enables creators to stream to placements throughout the Amazon site, including Amazon.com/live, relevant product pages, and the Amazon homepage, where millions of Amazon customers will have an opportunity to discover and engage with their content. You can find a wide range of content and creators on Amazon Live, from fashion and beauty influencers, tech experts, celebrity chefs, fitness trainers, authors, and even music artists.

To deliver a seamless customer experience, Amazon Live needed a robust solution for live video packaging and delivery with low latency that was easy to use and had the ability to easily build interactive experiences on top of. Amazon IVS ticked all the boxes. By using Amazon IVS, Amazon Live could focus on providing the best shopping experience for customers.

How Amazon Live is using Amazon IVS

Amazon Live utilizes Amazon IVS’ low latency live streaming so that creators and customers have the ability to interact through live chat. Viewers can ask questions and share their experience with the product, and the creators will answer questions submitted via chat, and shout out to new followers. The real-time interactivity builds a relationship between the creator and customer, and is one of the many benefits of livestream shopping as it creates a more personalized shopping experience, and a sense of community.

The products selected by creators are available in the shopping carousel located alongside the stream, making it easy for customers to shop while they watch – all made possible because of the Amazon IVS Timed Metadata feature. This allows for minimal delay when the creator updates the carousel, ensuring all viewers can see the products and access any promotions and deals right when the creator highlights them.

It was important for Amazon Live’s underlying infrastructure to scale with the program, and Amazon IVS met this need seamlessly by leveraging its vast scale to ensure that creators could go live within seconds and reach audiences easily.

Katy Perry livestreamed on April 28, 2021 for the launch of her new shoe collection. During the stream, she took viewers through the design process, and her sources of inspiration.

Final Thoughts

Amazon IVS has helped reduce the complexity of building and distributing live video for Amazon Live, enabling the Amazon Live team to focus on creating fun and unique shopping experiences for customers, and helping creators build their businesses.