The data: Nearly 2 in 5 consumers (37%) report purchasing a product during or shortly after a shopping livestream, according to an Adobe survey.

Of those shoppers, 20% spent more than $500 in the past year on products obtained through livestreams, pointing to the format’s stickiness.

What people buy: Shoppers are buying a wide range of products from livestreams. Fashion and apparel was by far the most popular category with 42% of buyers, but beauty and skincare, electronics or tech accessories, and collectibles are also performing strongly.

Even categories like food and beverage are proving popular: Live shopping platform Whatnot saw a 2.5 times increase in total transactions in the food category from July 2025 to January 2026, causing the company to home in on the segment as a notable growth opportunity.

Why people buy: Most live shopping purchases tend to be impulse buys—which makes sense given the nature of the format and the increasing tendency to lean into shoppertainment. Among livestream shoppers, 42% said they made a purchase because of a limited-time deal, 31% said they were caught up in the moment, and 22% said they didn’t want to miss out.

Creator talent is also key: 1 in 5 livestream shoppers said that trust in the creator or host influenced their decision to buy.

Where people buy: TikTok is both the live shopping platform most effective at driving impulse purchases and the platform that consumers trust most, with Amazon Live, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook trailing.

However, it is not the only company benefiting from the live shopping boom: Whatnot generated $8 billion in GMV in 2025 and is counting on its push into food (alongside other categories) to help make livestream commerce more accessible to buyers and sellers alike.

Implications for retailers: Livestream commerce may not be as embedded in US retail as it is in China and other markets, but its influence is rising. We expect livestream ecommerce sales to approach $20 billion this year, a 35% increase YoY.

However, sales per buyer will outpace buyer growth into 2029, suggesting that platforms like TikTok and Whatnot will have better success in engaging existing livestream shoppers than in trying to attract new ones.