Walk through Kathmandu’s boutique corridors any evening and the pattern repeats: a phone on a tripod, a seller holding kurtis to the camera, and comments flooding faster than anyone can read. Live commerce is Nepal’s highest-trust retail format — the customer sees the fabric move, hears the price spoken, and asks questions in real time. This playbook covers setup, broadcast format, ordering, payment capture and tracking. For the measurement half, pair it with the COD attribution playbook; for clip distribution, the Shorts ads guide.

1. Setup that survives a two-hour live

You do not need a studio. You need reliability:

• Phone + tripod + ring light as the baseline; a second phone logged into the business account for reading comments while the first films.
• Connection: wired Wi-Fi or a dedicated 4G device — never the same phone’s hotspot that is also filming. Test upload speed at the actual broadcast hour, not at noon.
• Sound: a basic lapel mic beats shouting across the room; viewers leave muffled lives in seconds.
• Backdrop and table: one clean surface, one price board, measuring tape visible for apparel. Chaos reads as untrustworthy on camera.
• Staffing: one presenter, one comment reader who confirms orders live (“BOOK red M — noted, check inbox!”), and post-live follow-up assigned before going live, not after.

2B. Going further with OBS Studio (optional, not required)

Phone-native lives built this entire market — do not buy complexity before the format converts. When weekly lives justify production value, OBS Studio (free, open-source) adds overlays a phone cannot:

• Scenes to build once and reuse: full-frame presenter, product close-up (USB document camera or second phone as source), and a price-board scene showing item codes, prices and the order cut-off the entire time.
• Lower-third overlays: current item code + price + size range burned in persistently, so late joiners and replayers convert without watching 40 minutes back.
• Comment overlay discipline: show selected comments (booking confirmations, answered questions) on screen; never show payment details, phone numbers or addresses — moderators hide those before they render.
• Stream targets: multistream to Facebook and TikTok only if you can staff both chats; an unanswered second chat loses more than simulcasting gains. Start single-platform until the comment reader role splits naturally.
• Rehearse the failure modes: dropped connection (pre-written “back in 2 minutes” slate), audio loss (monitor with earphones), and a clean end slate with next-live date instead of an abrupt cut.

Keep one phone-native live per month even after upgrading — it benchmarks whether the production actually lifts delivered orders or just looks better doing it.

2. Broadcast format that converts

Structure every live the same way so repeat viewers learn the rhythm:

1. First 5 minutes: greet, state the drop (e.g. “12 new kurti sets, sizes S–XL, COD available”), pin the rules comment (code + size + location, payment options, delivery window).
2. The walkthrough: one item at a time, held to camera, fabric close-up, price spoken and shown. Assign each a short code on screen.
3. Scarcity honestly: real stock counts only (“3 pieces in red M”). Fabricated urgency is exposed in comments within minutes and the screenshots travel.
4. Mid-live recap: re-show the top-commented items for late joiners; most viewers arrive after minute 20.
5. Close with mechanics: order cut-off time tonight, dispatch day, COD amount preparation, and when the next live runs. Regular slots (e.g. Tue/Fri 8pm) compound an audience; random lives do not.

Length: long enough to sell the drop, short enough to hold energy — most boutique lives land between 60 and 120 minutes. Watch your own retention curve, not someone else’s rule.

3. Ordering and payment capture during the live

The standard Nepali pattern, tightened:

• Comment codes: viewer comments “BOOK [code] [size] [location]”. Staff acknowledge each booking visibly in comments, then move details to inbox immediately — never collect phone numbers or payment info in public comments.
• Confirmation within the hour: inbox message restating item, size, total with delivery fee, and COD-or-wallet choice. Unconfirmed bookings get one reminder; then release the stock.
• Wallet capture: for eSewa/Khalti payers, send the payment link or QR in the same inbox thread and reconcile against callbacks per the COD playbook’s settlement routine.
• COD discipline: restate the exact amount to keep ready. Refusal-at-door is the margin killer; the confirmation message is where it is prevented.

4. The 48 hours after: follow-up closes the revenue

The live ends; the selling does not:

• Same night: confirm every booking, log status (confirmed / unreachable / cancelled) per viewer.
• Next day: WhatsApp the unconfirmed once with item photo attached; then release.
• Dispatch day: tracking references to confirmed buyers; pre-dispatch reminder with the COD total.
• Clip and redistribute: cut the 3–5 best item demos into vertical clips for Reels, Shorts and TikTok with the next live’s date burned in — the live’s content budget pays twice.

5. Track each live like a campaign

One row per live, same columns every time: date, duration, peak viewers, average viewers, comments, bookings, confirmed orders, delivered-paid orders, returns, gross collected, courier costs both ways, staff hours. Judge lives on delivered revenue minus full costs — and compare lives against each other monthly to find your best slot, category and presenter. Viewer counts are the input metric; delivered orders are the output.

What to do this week

1. Fix a weekly slot and announce it three days ahead, every week.
2. Script the pin comment, the code system and the confirmation message before the next live.
3. Run the per-live P&L on your last three lives from memory and messages — then decide whether frequency or format is the lever.

Related reading: COD attribution playbook, WhatsApp marketing automation, e-commerce marketing, honest cost guide, and hire a digital marketing expert.