For better or worse, Whatnot is bringing livestream shopping into the US mainstream, blending entertainment, community, and rapid-fire auctions into a fast-growing social commerce platform attracting consumers, sellers, and major investors alike.
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Whatnot Has Americans Hooked on Livestream Shopping
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While still a novelty in the US, livestream shopping has been deeply entrenched in Asia for years. In China, sales via livestream apps accounted for roughly 60% of the e-commerce market in 2024, compared with just 5% in the US, according to the investment management firm ARK Invest. Whatnot, where sellers operating from the crammed aisles of warehouses or makeshift studios in their bedrooms hawk everything from sports cards to fresh seafood, is one of the first such apps to gain traction in the US. As of April it was the second-most-downloaded shopping app in Apple’s App Store in the US, above e-commerce giants including Amazon.com and eBay. Whatnot Inc., the Los Angeles-based startup behind the app, has raised almost $1 billion in capital from prominent investors such as Sequoia Capital, Andreessen H...
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