Why we buy together: Politics and the live commerce turn
When we think of the past, images of culture and innovation depicted across different forms of content define the tone of each period. From the moment Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone to Amazon's Alexa Super Bowl commercials. When we look back, 2025 and the years to come will be determined by the meteoric rise of live shopping and AI chatbot advertising, and by their innovative contributions to collective memory. Specifically, the ability to provide an illusory source of abundance to a global society is contributing to unprecedented income inequality. Despite knowing the detrimental environmental effects that over-consumption and, by design, over-production have, collective participation using these tools, which encourage more consumption, will increase. Not because we are necessarily self-destructive, but because we feel a growing need for belonging and the enfranchisement that capitalist culture provides. This need is a side effect of the growing inequality and the continued grievance politics that play out in dominant Western countries such as the U.S., the U.K., and Australia.
Having an attention economy allows us to distract from the growing pain of having to live with feelings of disenfranchisement, of hopelessness, and of fear. Having smaller lead times as a consumer from the discovery of a product, education of the product, and then delivery of the product, provides a sense of immediate gratification that increasingly intolerant societies are craving.
The success of such innovations in embedding themselves in modern consumption habits, most recently with live shopping and AI chatbot advertising, exemplifies the strong demand for these features. Last year, researchers found that having people engage with products in a live room enhanced consumers' interpersonal connection with them. Combined with the broadcast's time sensitivity, it encouraged consumer purchases. 1 The live element minimises the distance between the purchaser and the product, thereby enabling the consumer to place greater trust in the product. They even found that live broadcasting often outperforms e-commerce.
Grievance politics can be explained as politics in which individuals engage under the premise that they don't necessarily value a certain thing, instead leading with the knowledge that they don't value another thing. Grievance politics has dominated global political spaces, particularly in countries that were affected by the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. Since 2008, amid concern that things won’t return to what they once were in terms of financial and economic opportunity, the most illuminating aspect of our society has become that, above all, we do not want an uncomfortable life. Therefore, we value habits that encourage a more comfortable one.
The circumstances of recent years, particularly in countries affected by grievance politics, are characterised by a sense of material deprivation, a lack of control over one's future, and disaffection. These feelings are overwhelming. This is grievance-based politics, and the reason it isn’t easing is the continuation of these feelings across populations and the global cost-of-living crisis.
In response, we cling to any sense of relief in the moment, which, in an innovative attention economy, is at our fingertips. The shorter the attention needed, the better—live shopping, personalised AI shopping, chatbot relationships. Through an animalistic craving for interpersonal validation, we search for it in the quickest, least personal formats and, subsequently, in the least personal sources. One's absence of individual blame for our circumstance – technology.
The rise of the global live commerce market is coming fast, already anticipated by the market. It is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 39.9% from 2025 to 2033, reaching USD 2,469.06 billion by 2033. 2 At the same time, the Chatbot market size is expected to grow at a 29.6% CAGR, potentially reaching $28.95 billion in 2029. 3 By fulfilling our needs, AI chatbots immediately reduce friction in the shopping experience, delivering answers to consumer questions, and live shopping provides at least some level of emotional fulfilment and engagement above traditional e-commerce. These industries are projected to have a prevalent role in our daily lives in the near future.
Would we have raced to adopt these innovations so quickly without the pressures of the moment? Perhaps not. But the urge to indulge appears irresistible. In a capitalist society, we crave relief from our personal grievances by seeking the immediate rewards of consumption in our attention economy. It is these habits, however, which inherently serve our interests—instead, providing a distraction from the unwaveringly tense political circumstances.
References
1 Ling, S., C. Zheng, D. Cho, Y. Kim, and Q. Dong. "The Impact of Interpersonal Interaction on Purchase Intention in Livestreaming E-Commerce: A Moderated Mediation Model." Behavioral Sciences 14, no. 4 (April 12, 2024): 320. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs14040320.
2 Grand View Research. "Live Commerce Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report." Accessed December 20, 2024. https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/live-commerce-market-report.
3 DemandSage. "Latest Chatbot Statistics 2025 (Market Share & Trends)." Accessed December 20, 2024. https://www.demandsage.com/chatbot-statistics/.