Whatnot adds Shopify plug-in to grow liveshopping

If as an online merchant you’ve avoided live shopping because it felt like extra work, the latest Whatnot tool for Shopify storefronts attempts to fix that. Sellers on Shopify can now sell via livestreams or “Buy It Now” listings.

Live shopping platform Whatnot has added a direct plug-in for Shopify, so live selling fits into the existing workflow of merchants on Shopify stores, instead of needing to create a separate tech layer.

“Whatnot’s live commerce community is one of the most engaged in e-commerce, and now it connects directly to the products, inventory, and orders merchants already manage in Shopify,” Jeff Kennedy, product partnerships at Shopify, wrote in an email. “Beta merchants like Glow Luxury and FashioNica are already seeing the impact firsthand.”

Whatnot released the plug-in in beta earlier this year, and the company says that businesses using the integration have driven over $10 million in sales across nearly 20 product categories.

Launched in 2019, Whatnot lets sellers offer collectibles, vintage finds, and luxury goods with live shopping. People bid in real time or buy instantly while watching livestreams. Users spend an average of 95 minutes a day on the app, Whatnot’s UK General Manager Daniel Fisher told Forbes in January.

According to Sky Canaves, principal analyst for retail and e-commerce, at Emarketer, the new Whatnot partnership can help reduce “operational friction” for Shopify sellers who want to tap into the opportunity to reach consumers on livestreams.

“The appeal for brands is that it’s much easier to go where the livestream shoppers already are rather than trying to build those capabilities into their owned channels,” Canaves wrote in an email. “And for Shopify, it fits into the broader strategy of lowering the barriers for brands and merchants to sell anywhere.”

Luxury handbag reseller FashioNica said the new tool “enabled us to unlock a new sales channel without compromising efficiency or quality” in a Whatnot blog post announcing the plug-in. “The integration allows us to execute drops quickly through bulk product management while seamlessly syncing orders directly into our fulfillment workflows.”

According to Whatnot, more than 70% of its sellers that have Shopify storefronts say keeping products, inventory, and orders synced across platforms was a pain point. The new integration aims to solve that, making live commerce an easier lift.

“We expect another year of very strong growth for livestream e-commerce in the US,” Canaves said. “Total retail sales from livestreaming will approach $20 billion, and Whatnot and TikTok stand out as the key players in this market.”