What Is Live Stream Shopping?
Live selling only works while the host and the buy button stay in step: a frozen presenter loses the sale in the seconds it takes a viewer to close the tab. Those freezes trace back to an internet connection that cannot hold a steady upload through an hour of demonstrating products.
Speedify is an app that combines your internet connections: it sends one stream over Wi-Fi, 4G/5G cellular and Ethernet at the same time rather than picking just one. Speedify needs two or more internet connections for this. On a single connection, Speedify works as an encrypted VPN and cannot stop that connection from dropping. What follows: how live shopping works, what makes a host worth watching, and how to set your internet up with Speedify so a session does not stall mid-pitch.
Speedify keeps the stream up when the venue internet does not
What Makes a Good Livestream Shopping Host?
As a merchant, you’re probably expecting an answer like “a known celebrity” or “somebody who has a good sense for what they should be selling based on the interactions with their followers”. That is good advice, given the way live stream shopping works. Other than the product itself, the host is the biggest factor in the purchasing decision.
But there’s another thing that matters: fast and reliable internet, which makes or breaks a live shopping session. If the internet connection in the location where you showcase your products is slow and unreliable, this will translate into:
- stuttering video,
- buffering and
- dropped connections, ultimately.
And this, unfortunately, minimizes the chances for a purchase, whether you’re using a fully integrated live shopping solution like Livescale, where your customers can shop within the live streaming window, or one of the others, where the shopping cart lives in another browser tab or window.
How to Get Fast and Stable Internet for Your Live Stream Shopping Session
There are two rules of thumb here:
- get the best Internet available for the live streaming location. Best = fastest, highest bandwidth for upload especially (!)
- use at least two Internet service providers at the same time. If one has issues or fails, you should failover to the other one(s).
If you plan to do this often, make sure your internet connection can keep up with high resolutions (at least 1080p) at 30 fps. Check your streaming platform’s recommended upload bitrate for that resolution and leave headroom above it.
Remember to get at least two Internet connections, just to have a failover in case one breaks during a live shopping session. The problem with switching from one to another is that potential customers will see anywhere from a few to 30-40 seconds of still image until the stream resumes on the other connection.
The solution is to combine the two connections. You can do this using link aggregation technology.
Hardware or Software: Choosing a Way to Combine Internet Connections
To use multiple internet connections at once, you can get dedicated hardware that combines connections, such as the devices from Peplink, LiveU or Mushroom Networks. These support plugging in multiple internet connections. Here’s what you need along with the hardware:
- pay to rent the equipment, which can set you back thousands of dollars.
- get specialized engineers to manage and run that hardware. Companies that rent out this hardware generally send their own people and equipment for your live stream, which adds to the cost.
If that sounds too complicated, the alternative is software that combines connections, right on each device that broadcasts live video. You install an app on a computer or a mobile device, and the device can combine all available connections:
- Wi-Fi and 4G/5G cellular on mobile devices
- Wired Ethernet, Wi-Fi, cellular and other types of connections on computers. As long as you have a network adapter for each connection, you’re good.
Software that combines connections is easier and cheaper to run, and it does not need a special setup. Speedify is one such link aggregation software option.
Speedify Makes Live Shopping Events Successful
For live stream shopping done right, get fast and reliable internet with Speedify and a second internet connection. Viewers with slow, unreliable internet can use Speedify too. Setup is simple: there is no need to rent dedicated equipment or sign contracts.
Speedify combines internet connections and also identifies audio and video streams, prioritizing streams over other traffic (quality of service, or QoS), so web browsing and software updates do not slow down your calls and live streams.
As a VPN that combines internet connections, Speedify acts like a power-up for your device. Instead of using a single internet connection at a time, Speedify lets your device use multiple connections simultaneously, so you get more upload bandwidth and more stable livestreams.
Paired with a dedicated speed server, Speedify routes your traffic through a server reserved for your team, with up to 1 Gbps and a static IP address.
Get rid of all the connectivity hassles that come with running a successful live stream shopping event. Use Speedify!
Speedify
Get started with Speedify today.
Speedify combines Wi-Fi, 4G/5G cellular, Ethernet, Starlink and satellite into one faster, more reliable internet connection. Free to try: 5 GB a month with a free account. No credit card required.
🚀 Speed
Faster uploads and downloads, because Speedify uses all your internet connections at once.
📶 Stability
If one internet connection drops, Speedify moves your traffic to the others in milliseconds.
🔒 Security
AES-256 encryption on every internet connection, on any network you join.
15M+ downloads worldwide. 75K+ five-star reviews on iOS and Android.