SKIMS Just Proved (Again) That Live Shopping Isn’t a Trend — It’s the Future. So Why Are We Still Dragging Our Feet?

Last week, SKIMS lit up the internet with a live shopping event that was chaotic, high-energy, brilliantly engineered, and (as expected) an instant conversion machine. It was everything live commerce is supposed to be: entertaining, unscripted, socially charged, and shoppable in real time.

And here’s the part that will send me into an early grave: we were talking about this exact thing this time last year. Remember the Inside Industry deep dive on live commerce in hair & beauty?(If not, here you go: “The Rise of Live Commerce in the Hair and Beauty Industry — Transforming the Way Clients Shop.”)

If I’m still writing about this a year from now and brands haven’t jumped onboard… I might genuinely pull my hair out.

What SKIMS Did — and Why It Worked

SKIMS didn’t start live commerce and online shopping - it's been very much alive since the TVSN days, but it's been kinda dated - until TikTok entered the chat. The thing that Kim Kardashian and co did do however, they've executed live shopping like professionals. Here's how:

1. Shoppable entertainment (not a sales pitch).

High-energy hosts (hello Snoop Dogg, Kathy Hilton and Nicolas Vansteenberghe) fun to watch sets, live tv chaos, relatable humour, and product demonstrations. It felt like FaceTime with your fun, slightly unhinged best friends who also happen to have a 12-million–follower audience.

2. Real-time social proof.

Live shopping is literally an adrenaline-based sales tool — and SKIMS leans into that every time. Comments were popping off in the chat between sizes selling out which all drove immediate urgency for watchers to buy into the frenzy.

3. Seamless platform integration.

The one thing that generally lets online shopping down is the friction of adding to cart - not for Skims however. They had product pinned for easy click to cart access, which was sat alongside an instant checkout. We know people should only require three clicks to checkout so the fact beauty brands spend $40k on product launches and still force people through seven clicks to buy a cleanser is a real lesson in shoppability.

4. A format designed for repeatability.

Live shopping isn’t a one-off stunt. It’s planning and programming. If SKIMS can do this quarterly, there's no reason why brands can too.

What This Means for Beauty & Aesthetic Brands

Let’s be brutally honest: professional beauty brands are 3–5 years behind consumer retail when it comes to content-meets-commerce.

Meanwhile:

• Clients are trained to shop through people, not platforms.

• Social selling behaviour is at an all-time high.

• Trust is being built visually, informally, and interactively.

• Education + entertainment + immediacy = the new sales funnel.
  

And yet, half the industry is still focused on perfect product flatlays and caption-heavy launch posts that nobody saves.

Live shopping is where visibility becomes velocity.

If SKIMS can sell 20,000 units in an hour, clinics can absolutely sell out a batch of 50 serums. If SKIMS can build community in real-time chaos, brands can build trust in a structured 20-minute live demo. If SKIMS can turn a livestream into an always-on sales channel, distributors can turn it into a national education and conversion pipeline.

The opportunity is right there.

Why Beauty Brands Are Hesitating — and Why They Shouldn’t Be

Let me guess:

• “We don’t have the tech.” You do. Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Shopify. Pick one.

• “We’re scared no one will show up.” Repurpose the replay and it still becomes an asset.

• “Our therapists won’t like it.” Therapists like sales they don’t have to make themselves.

• “It feels unprofessional.” This industry is built on trust, relationship, and real education — put those who have those three qualities in front of the camera.
  

If I Sound Frustrated, It’s Because I Am (Lovingly).

We’ve hit the point where:

• D2C brands are normalising live-format sales.

• Celebrities are normalising unfiltered, immediate retail experiences.

• Consumers expect real-time interaction.

• Platforms are rewarding brands who show up with this format.

And professional beauty brands are acting like live commerce is optional.

It’s not. It’s a distribution channel.I t’s an education tool. It’s community. It’s conversion. It’s literally free visibility.

If you want demand at the top of funnel, this is how you build it. If you want therapists to feel the lift in traffic and client interest, this is how you create it. If you want to future-proof your brand beyond 2025, this is where you start.

If SKIMS can throw together a live shopping event that breaks the internet…

Surely we can manage a ring light, a product lineup, and 30 minutes of human connection.

If we’re still having this conversation next year, I’ll be bald — and not in the chic, editorial way.