Live commerce, or shopping while watching a live video stream, has been a major channel for e-commerce in China as well as in several other Asian countries since 2016. Today in China, live shopping is a $703 billion industry, with $200 billion of live commerce done on TikTok’s Chinese counterpart, Douyin. Yet in the West, live commerce has been stubbornly slow to take off – until now. In the U.S., TikTok Shop has quickly become the 800-pound gorilla in live commerce, and companies ranging from Amazon and eBay to start-ups such as WhatNot and Tilt are quickly looking to emulate that success. For TikTok Lives, the real-time, live-streaming video broadcasts on which hosts interact with viewers, there are two primary formats brands can employ: a “seller Live,” hosted by a brand representative, or a “creator Live,” hosted by a content creator, or simply, creator. Live stream selling offers a new avenue for job generation and income stream for content creators, influencers and brands, while it gives consumers a way to connect directly with brands, the sellers and a community of like-minded shoppers – without having to go into a store.