From a warehouse simply north of Chicago, Sarah Potempa – celeb hairstylist and CEO of the viral Beachwaver hair curling iron – retains 1000’s of viewers hooked for hours promoting merchandise on TikTok dwell.
This sort of livestream purchasing, which has boomed in China over the previous decade, is constructing momentum within the U.S. because of social media large TikTok and dwell commerce platform Whatnot, which simply reached a $20 billion valuation.
Beachwaver did about $8,000 in gross sales throughout the first 4 hours of a TikTok livestream in late July, which CNBC sat in for. She auctioned off limited-edition curling irons as her teenage son DJed behind her; demoed hair care merchandise; and promised viewers she would shave her brother-in-law’s head dwell on digital camera in the event that they bought 500 orders.
It was one in every of lots of of livestreamed reveals that Beachwaver does every year. A few quarter of its $1 million in TikTok Store gross sales to this point in 2026 originated from livestreams, the place the corporate hosts its personal promoting reveals and works with affiliate creators on the favored social media app.
Beachwaver CEO Sarah Potempa hosts livestreams from the corporate’s warehouse in Gurnee, Illinois.
CNBC
Harking back to the QVC craze of the previous few many years, livestream purchasing places customers in entrance of hosts who promote merchandise in actual time.
Now, QVC is dwell on TikTok for greater than 200 hours per week throughout seven channels, in accordance with the corporate, because it prioritizes digital after not too long ago rising from chapter.
“QVC is a good instance of a giant established retailer that may have been seen as a competitor to TikTok store … however actually they’ve turned out to be a extremely profitable service provider,” stated Patrick Nommensen, president of strategic initiatives for TikTok Store within the Americas.
Beachwaver received its begin on QVC. TikTok and Whatnot have reinvented the wheel.
“No one is saying, OK, you could have 10 minutes at 7 p.m. and prepare and this is your 10 minutes and also you’re executed,” stated Potempa. “You undoubtedly should be on longer on a digital platform, however you actually are extra in command of the income.”
Beachwaver CEO Sarah Potempa makes use of the corporate’s namesake product, a patented rotating curling iron.
CNBC
Following in China’s footsteps
The U.S. dwell purchasing trade is forecast to achieve practically $20 billion in gross sales in 2026, about 35% increased yr over yr, in accordance with eMarketer trade estimates.
Nonetheless, it is a far cry from the fast development that dwell purchasing skilled in China.
Alibaba launched Taobao Reside in China in 2016. Inside 5 years, the market crossed $50 billion, and it is projected to high $1.1 trillion in 2026, in accordance with eMarketer.
Reside purchasing has been more and more built-in into Chinese language “tremendous apps,” that are utilized by tens of millions of customers and mix options like social media and messaging within the case of WeChat or synthetic intelligence help, meals supply and journey reserving on Alibaba’s Qwen.
“[Chinese consumers] nonetheless like shops, however they use the livestream a part of the digital expertise because the leisure, the engagement, the inspiration,” stated Globaldata managing director Neil Saunders. “Within the U.S., we have tended to rely historically extra on shops to satisfy that function.”
Saunders stated that is altering now as youthful customers lean extra into dwell commerce to find merchandise.
U.S. dwell purchasing winners
TikTok Store launched in 2023. The corporate shared solely with CNBC that dwell purchasing gross sales greater than doubled within the first half of 2026 in contrast with the identical time-frame in 2025.
The variety of dwell purchasing periods elevated by greater than 60% throughout the identical interval, TikTok stated, and complete dwell hours grew by greater than 80%.
Based in 2019, Whatnot constructed its viewers on novelties and collectibles. It is grown quickly over the previous yr, doubling its valuation since October. Whatnot ranked No. 8 on this yr’s CNBC Disruptor 50 listing, which identifies essentially the most promising venture-backed corporations.
Whatnot says it is the most important dwell purchasing platform within the U.S. however declined to share its home gross sales figures. The corporate informed CNBC {that a} majority of the $8 billion in world gross sales it reported for 2025 had been within the U.S.
“You may have [5,000], 10,000 folks on Whatnot or TikTok watching your present at one time,” stated Eric Pagan, who sells for manufacturers on each platforms, throughout an interview in mid-August. “I did a present on TikTok this weekend that was nicely into six figures … I believe what manufacturers are usually not conscious of but is that that exists.”
Whatnot’s core focus is auctions, the place viewers can bid on merchandise in actual time. TikTok rolled out dwell auctions in January.
“It appears like issues are actually, actually clicking and dwell purchasing is changing into a bit extra mainstream,” stated Whatnot’s chief income officer, Armand Wilson. “In yr one, it was largely all collectibles. … Now just about anybody can obtain Whatnot and discover one thing for them.”
Whatnot sellers showcasing Funko Pops on the platform.
Supply: Whatnot Inc.
Legacy on-line marketplaces like Amazon, Walmart and eBay even have native platforms for sellers to host dwell purchasing streams, although these platforms aren’t as inherently video-first as social media websites.
Amazon and Walmart declined to remark about their dwell purchasing companies, whereas a consultant for eBay Reside described the providing as making purchasing “extra human.” All three corporations declined to share livestream gross sales figures with CNBC.
Mark Yuan, a former enterprise improvement lead for eBay’s dwell purchasing division and now the proprietor of e-commerce consulting firm And Luxe, stated legacy marketplaces profit from the patron belief that comes with how lengthy they’ve been round.
“These are the issues you possibly can’t purchase with cash, however sadly, what offers them the benefit additionally may be their boundaries as nicely,” he stated. “Structurally it is very onerous to remodel themselves right into a discovery-first or content-first [platform].”
The way forward for purchasing?
The place newer entrants are succeeding is in creating boards for like-minded customers.
Whatnot, which is very standard for collectibles, says it prioritizes group and has seen success in areas like Funko Pop collectible figurines, Pokemon playing cards, sneakers and trend.
“Going right into a group, actually deeply understanding their issues and constructing a product round them has been the ethos that I believe has gotten us to the place we’re right now and what actually differentiates us” stated Wilson.
Pagan, the livestream host, stated with out the belief of your viewers, “there isn’t a level in even being dwell.”
“These persons are my associates,” he added. “I consider that they know issues about me {that a} regular particular person on the road would not know. And we had these conversations on a livestream.”
TikTok Store emblem on a smartphone.
Costfoto | Nurphoto | Getty Photos
Marshal Cohen, chief retail analyst at Circana, stated livestream purchasing helps to bridge the hole between e-commerce and conventional retail.
“You may’t contact and really feel the product, however you possibly can hear from others what they give it some thought,” stated Cohen. “[Live shopping] bridges that shortfall of the lack to the touch and really feel. And that is all the time been on-line’s largest problem.”
However the platforms have their very own set of challenges. Whatnot and TikTok have needed to take care of problems with counterfeit and stolen items.
For the sellers, leveraging a big platform comes at a value: Whatnot takes a fee price of between 4% and eight% of gross sales relying on the product, and TikTok takes 6% — plus extra fee processing charges.
And, the rising reputation of dwell purchasing has made it more durable to compete for eyeballs.
“The largest problem actually is visibility,” stated Globaldata’s Saunders. “It’s a must to guarantee that your feed is aligned with the algorithm and that it is placing you in entrance of the best folks.”