From a warehouse just north of Chicago, Sarah Potempa – celebrity hairstylist and CEO of the viral Beachwaver hair curling iron – keeps thousands of viewers hooked for hours selling products on TikTok live.
This kind of livestream shopping, which has boomed in China over the past decade, is building momentum in the U.S. thanks to social media giant TikTok and live commerce platform Whatnot, which just reached a $20 billion valuation.
Beachwaver did about $8,000 in sales during the first four 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 products; and promised viewers she would shave her brother-in-law's head live on camera if they sold 500 orders.
It was one of hundreds of livestreamed shows that Beachwaver does each year. About a quarter of its $1 million in TikTok Shop sales so far in 2026 originated from livestreams, where the company hosts its own selling shows and works with affiliate creators on the popular social media app.
Reminiscent of the QVC craze of the past few decades, livestream shopping puts consumers in front of hosts who sell products in real time.
Now, QVC is live on TikTok for more than 200 hours per week across seven channels, according to the company, as it prioritizes digital after recently emerging from bankruptcy.
"QVC is a great example of a large established retailer that might have been seen as a competitor to TikTok shop … but in fact they have turned out to be a really successful merchant," said Patrick Nommensen, president of strategic initiatives for TikTok Shop in the Americas.
Beachwaver got its start on QVC. TikTok and Whatnot have reinvented the wheel.
"Nobody is saying, OK, you have 10 minutes at 7 p.m. and get ready and here's your 10 minutes and you're done," said Potempa. "You definitely need to be on longer on a digital platform, but you really are more in control of the revenue."
The U.S. live shopping industry is forecasted to reach nearly $20 billion in sales in 2026, about 35% higher year-over-year, according to eMarketer industry estimates.
Still, it's a far cry from the rapid growth that live shopping experienced in China.
Alibaba introduced Taobao Live in China in 2016. Within five years, the market crossed $50 billion, and it's projected to top $1.1 trillion in 2026, according to eMarketer.
Live shopping has been increasingly integrated into Chinese "super apps," which are utilized by millions of users and combine features like social media and messaging in the case of WeChat or AI assistance, food delivery and travel booking on Alibaba's Qwen.
"[Chinese consumers] still like stores, but they use the livestream part of the digital experience as the entertainment, the engagement, the inspiration," said Globaldata managing director Neil Saunders. "In the U.S., we've tended to rely traditionally more on stores to fulfill that role."
Saunders said that's changing now as younger consumers lean more into live commerce to discover products.
TikTok Shop launched in 2023. The company shared exclusively with CNBC that live shopping sales more than doubled in the first half of 2026 compared to the same timeframe in 2025.
The number of live shopping sessions increased by more than 60% during the same period, TikTok said, and total Live hours grew by more than 80%.
Founded in 2019, Whatnot built its audience on novelties and collectibles. It's grown rapidly over the past year, doubling its valuation since October. Whatnot ranked No. 8 on this year's CNBC Disruptor 50 list, which identifies the most promising venture-backed companies.
Whatnot says it's the largest live shopping platform in the U.S. but declined to share its domestic sales figures. The company told CNBC that a majority of the $8 billion in global sales it reported for 2025 were in the U.S.
"You can have [5,000], 10,000 people on Whatnot or TikTok watching your show at one time," said Eric Pagan, who sells for brands on both platforms, during an interview in mid-August. "I did a show on TikTok this weekend that was well into six figures … I think what brands are not aware of yet is that that exists."
Whatnot's core focus is auctions, where viewers can bid on products in real time. TikTok rolled out live auctions in January.
"It feels like things are really, really clicking and live shopping is becoming a bit more mainstream," said Whatnot's Chief Revenue Officer Armand Wilson. "In year one, it was largely all collectibles … Now pretty much anyone can download Whatnot and find something for them."
Legacy online marketplaces like Amazon, Walmart and eBay also have native platforms for sellers to host live shopping streams, though those platforms aren't as inherently video-first as social media sites.
Amazon and Walmart declined to comment about their live shopping businesses, while a representative for eBay Live described the offering as making shopping "more human." All three companies declined to share livestream sales figures with CNBC.
Mark Yuan, a former business development lead for eBay's live shopping division and now the owner of e-commerce consulting company And Luxe, said legacy marketplaces benefit from the consumer trust that comes with how long they have been around.
"Those are the things you can't buy with money, but unfortunately, what gives them the advantage also might be their barriers as well," he said. "Structurally it's very hard to transform themselves into a discovery-first or content-first [platform]."
Where newer entrants are succeeding is in creating forums for like-minded consumers.
Whatnot, which is especially popular for collectibles, says it prioritizes community and has seen success in areas like Funko Pop figurines, Pokemon cards, sneakers and fashion.
"Going into a community, really deeply understanding their problems and building a product around them has been the ethos that I think has gotten us to where we are today and what really differentiates us" said Wilson.
Pagan, the livestream host, said without the trust of your viewers, "there is no point in even being live."
"Those people are my friends," he added. "I believe that they know things about me that a normal person on the street wouldn't know. And we had those conversations on a livestream."
Marshal Cohen, chief retail analyst at Circana, said livestream shopping helps to bridge the gap between e-commerce and traditional retail.
"You can't touch and feel the product, but you can hear from others what they think about it," said Cohen. "[Live shopping] bridges that shortfall of the inability to touch and feel. And that's always been online's biggest challenge."
But the platforms have their own set of challenges. Whatnot and TikTok have had to contend with issues of counterfeit and stolen goods.
For the sellers, leveraging a large platform comes at a cost: Whatnot takes a commission fee of between 4% and 8% of sales depending on the product, and TikTok takes 6% — plus additional payment processing fees.
And, the growing popularity of live shopping has made it harder to compete for eyeballs.
"The biggest challenge really is visibility," said Globaldata's Saunders. "You have to make sure that your feed is aligned with the algorithm and that it's putting you in front of the right people."
