AGORA, a social and live-shopping platform dedicated to beauty and wellness, has announced the launch of the AGORA marketplace on the Mirakl platform.
Inspired by the rise of social and live shopping commerce in Asia, AGORA is a UK next-generation beauty commerce app combining a unique livestream shopping experience with a marketplace of thousands of products, powered by the Mirakl Marketplace Platform. AGORA was founded with the vision of bringing the breadth and excitement of the offline beauty experience online, so that consumers can truly experience products through passionate content creators before making their purchases.
Live shopping is on the verge of exploding in Europe as it has in China over the last few years, where on Singles Days this year one live show host sold US$1.7bn in beauty products. Live shopping sales in China are estimated to reach over US$400bn by 2022. In the US, the market is expected to hit US$25bn in 2023, and Europe will follow in its footsteps. With 360,000 registered users and over 5,000 content creators, the AGORA app is at the forefront of this trend for social beauty commerce in Europe. Live shopping through the Agora app maximises the opportunity for revenue generation for both content creators (who receive a share of any sale placed during their live events) and sellers. In November, AGORA will host close to 200 shows, with plans to continue growing their live show offering so as to have a constant stream of hosts going live.
For brands sold via the app, the marketplace offers the opportunity to reach new audiences via an existing peer-to-peer sales channel and also minimises advertising costs. It also allows for a first-class shopping experience for the app’s users, who can directly shop from a rapidly growing selection of curated products demoed on the platform.
“We are at the forefront of bringing live shopping to Europe and with that a new form of monetisation for content creators,” said Riccardo Basile, co-founder and CEO of AGORA. “With our new Mirakl-powered Marketplace, we are pioneering a new era of online beauty commerce. We are empowering content creators to become sellers, creating new jobs and disrupting traditional physical retail.”
Lizzie Craft Townsend-Rose, co-founder and president of AGORA added, “Brands and sellers alike are given the opportunity to leverage the power of the community to market and sell their products.”
Sophie Marchessou, EVP customer success, beauty, fashion and home, Mirakl, added, “AGORA recognised a huge market opportunity for social commerce in Europe and is yet again a first-mover with the launch of this marketplace. By bridging the gap between content creators and brands, AGORA is building the future for online beauty shoppers. Our technology is making it easy for AGORA to seamlessly and quickly onboard the brands they need to power a massively scaled product offering that feeds a highly elevated experience for the app’s users.”
In the last quarter of 2020, marketplaces grew by 81 per cent, more than double the rate of overall eCommerce growth, while research has shown that third-party sellers outperform traditional eCommerce benchmarks for assortment quality and customer service. They also have lower refund rates (50 per cent lower than traditional eCommerce) and fewer customer service inquiries per order than their first-party seller peers.
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