Friday, January 22, 2021

Livestream E-Commerce in China

The rapid development of livestream e-commerce in China shocks people all over the world. Sales from live streams are expected to grow more than 100% in 2020 vs. 2019 to almost 9% of all online retail sales. It is well-known that China has the highest rate of e-commerce of any country which is over 35% of total retail sales (according to eMarketer). The emergence of live shopping has further improved the customer’s online shopping experience.

Take Austin for example, who is the most popular livestreamer in China, also known as “Lipstick King”. He has 6.5 million followers for his livestream in Taobao Live, and a nightly audience of 2 million viewers. Most of his followers are among 20-29, living in rich provinces, such as Guangdong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang. They love fancy things and keep up with times and pay great attention to cosmetic, food, travel, fashion.

One of the reason why they enjoy watching influencers' livestream to shop might be that it is a good way to know new and high-quality products’ real look, how they are used and also they can buy them at a large discount. Moreover, it is also interesting to listen to livestreamers chatting with celebrities in the spare time, which help them kill time when there are not many entertainment activities to join.

Most livestreamers have the characteristics of affinity, generosity and leadership. For instance, they will chat with celebrities they invite to build a relaxing atmosphere and they also can empathize with consumers and know what the customers like and dislike. Occasionally, they will send gifts to customers and negotiate with brands for larger discounts in live stream to establish the image of being generous.

An interesting fact - in Double Eleven Carnival Austin‘s Livestream there are impactful images and sounds stimulating consumers to make impulse purchases, such as beating gongs and drums and showing couplets with content like “come on”. (as the pictures show)

Note: Double Eleven Carnival is Chinese shopping festival, merchants will give a lot of discounts, just like Black Friday.





Article referenced: https://www.forbes.com/sites/michellegreenwald/2020/12/10/live-streaming-e-commerce-is-the-rage-in-china-is-the-us-next/?sh=75438bb96535

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