A Live Streaming Challenger For Amazon, Facebook: Popshop Live Gives Small Stores A Lifeline
Forbes | July 8, 2020
Danielle Li believes the live-streaming e-commerce platform she founded, Popshop Live, has the potential to make e-commerce sites like Amazon look like the Stone Age of shopping.
Popshop Live has been operating in semi-stealth mode since last year, with buyers and sellers needing an invitation and a password to participate. Today, the company is expanding public access to the platform, and announcing $3 million in new funding.
Amazon, Facebook, and other U.S. e-commerce and social media giants are in a race to connect live videos to real-time sales opportunities. Popshop Live, a small Los Angeles-based startup, may have beat them to the starting line.
The Popshop Live app lets sellers easily host shows from their iPhones, create clickable links for purchases instantly by snapping a photo of an item - or in the case of retail stores, by linking their e-commerce inventory software to the app - and engage with customers in real time. Popshop Live handles the payments and gives sellers printable, discounted shipping labels, and order-tracking for buyers.