Live shopping is growing up in the U.S. and getting its own conference

According to a report from eMarketer, social commerce will be a $100 billion business 

in the United States by 2025. To make sense of that booming industry, ecommerce bigwigs will gather in Los Angeles this October for the inaugural SoCom conference.

SoCom will kick off on October 17 at the Audrey Irmas Pavillion in L.A.’s Koreatown neighborhood. The schedule will include typical conference fare like panels and keynotes as well as installations that will take attendees inside the ecommerce world. More than 300 creators, for example, are expected to show up at an “on-site gifting suite” that will feature a shoppable live stream.

The SoCom agenda will reach all corners of the ecommerce industry, covering topics like technology, creator strategies, and brand integrations. The conference was conceived by Max Benator, the longtime creator economy operative who currently serves as the Co-Founder and CEO of Orca, an ecommerce firm that serves as the official TikTok Shop sales partner for brands like e.l.f. and Estée Lauder.

Benator is part of a SoCom advisory board that counts several social commerce innovators among its members. The advisors include e.l.f. Chief Digital Officer Ekta Chopra, Select Management Group Partner Amy Neben, and Tubefilter‘s own Drew Baldwin. Pinterest Chief Content Officer Malik Ducard, meanwhile, will expound on his company’s ecommerce strategy in SoCom’s first-ever keynote address.

“How we shop online is changing rapidly, for the better! Product pages can now come to life through livestreams, creators, short video, and AI-powered chatbots. We can now have an interactive shopping experience with a live host, just as if we’re shopping IRL,” Benator said in a statement. “There is so much opportunity in social commerce and along with that, new learnings, technologies, and relationships that will help early-movers gain an edge. We’re thrilled to bring the definitive social commerce conference in the US to life; to help brands, platforms, agencies and creators build for the future.”

SoCom is produced by Sami Kriegstein. Additional speakers will be added to the conference lineup “soon.” For now, a number of $299 early bird tickets are available through the SoCom website.