Live Streaming E-commerce Turbocharges A Shopping Craze in China

Livestreaming E-Commerce is promoting and selling goods through influencer streams on their own social media channels, most often housed on China’s online shopping malls. But how it works? These influencers display items for purchase for 3-5 hours during each show. Customers click the link on their phone screen to buy as they watch the much-beloved models or shopping guides testing out products or trying on garments.

China’s Live Streaming E-Commerce Is A Billion-dollar Market

An overwhelming majority of live-stream shoppers are female ages 18 to 35. Highly popular foreign products marketed and sold through live streaming, regardless of their price points, are primarily in the lifestyle, fashion, and beauty space.

Alibaba’s Taobao Marketplace, the biggest live stream platform and e-commerce site in China, generated more than $15B in sales volume through live streaming sessions in 2018, soaring nearly fourfold from 2017.

Apart from Alibaba’s Tmall Live and Taobao Live, another bourgeoning live-stream shopping platform is Xiaohongshu, which is one of China’s fastest-growing social media and e-commerce applications for luxury fashion and beauty products from overseas.

Products featured are primarily cosmetics and beauty aids, fashion, and food.  Livestreaming is another way for brands to gain awareness, move excess inventory, and for small local businesses from craft artisans to independent farmers, to reach customers: all the more important in light of this year’s COVID lockdown restrictions.  Taobao Live is a virtual shopping mall where customers can shop and be entertained at the same time.

Many Brands Have Been Winning Players after Embracing Live Streaming

Now if consumers click into the official online Tmall store of any major brand (from clothing to cosmetics), they’re likely to see a banner for the brand’s livestreaming on the front page. People who sell the brands in physical store are encouraged to do livestreaming, trying on products themselves for viewers. Highlights of the livestreams are then made into video clips and added to the product introduction page on its website. These livestreams don’t necessarily have professional lighting or great resolution, and the livestreamers are not celebrities or models, but customers enjoy their authenticity. When customers click the link on the product or estore, they can browse pictures, watch try-on videos, or catch livestreams, so they now have more ways to interact with brands and are engaged for longer periods of time.

Most importantly, live streaming allows brands to be introduced to consumers through a richer experience. Demonstrations allow for a dialogue that can cover the more complex subject matter. It’s no wonder automakers have been using live streaming to launch new models. Perhaps the biggest group to adopt the practice is the beauty industry.

Major international luxury brands, like Lancôme and Yves Saint Laurent, are more likely to launch live-stream campaigns on Tmall Live. This is because they already have their own official stores on the Tmall marketplace. Conglomerates with deep pockets can invite big-name celebrities to appear on elaborate promotional campaigns syndicated on e-commerce and social media platforms. The celebrities often trigger a surge in sales in a matter of a few hours

Some New Trends

Male Consumers Loosen Their Wallets

Taobao Live witnessed massive growth among male customers since 2018, and Tao Charts claimed that the number of male shoppers dramatically increased by 205.4% YoY in 2020. Furthermore, despite consistent growth over the past several years, CBNDATA concluded that ‘male spending’ still had vast untapped opportunity in e-commerce livestreaming as the percentage of male consumers that purchase through e-commerce livestreaming still trails far behind the relative percentage of male netizens to total e-commerce livestream viewers.

Spending Grows Among China’s Greying Population

Additionally, CBNDATA disclosed that customers over the age of 50 were likely to record a higher average order amount than the general market. Notably, as the pandemic pushed consumers towards online shopping, many silver-haired consumers picked up e-commerce for the first time. While in-person shopping has since largely returned to normal, many in China’s greying population have already adapted to the new wave of online buying.

Going forward, there will be significant opportunity for product livestreaming that targets both the male and greying populations.

Bright future of live-streaming E-commerce in China

Firstly, It gives more people a platform where they can instantly voice and interact with others, and the quality and scope of information delivery is excellent. This is the greatest thing about live streaming. Newspapers, TV, magazines, portals, forums, microblogs, video sites can not do like this.

Secondly, in China, live-streamig provides massive employment opportunities. You can show your talent to get cooperation, to promote, to sell, and to do many things through live streaming. With the development of the times, the trend of globalization is getting stronger, live streaming will become a very good tool and work platform.

Thirdly, At present, live streaming is still only an entertainment tool and it is far from enough. It should be towards the application of the future. It is an application platform, not just an entertainment platform. In the future, live-streaming platform is like a TV station, each live room is a TV station. When new products come out, they can be released here. When new movies come out, they can be promoted here. When new events happen, everyone can watch reports here, the audience can enjoy their views.

Last Thoughts

Live-stream shopping opens a new route into the Chinese market for foreign brands, proving that brands can monetize in China without having a physical store. Even if a brand is already successful in China, live-stream shopping is a powerful way to generate fast sales and pique brand awareness. However, brands must remember to engage their audience, work with the right KOLs on the right platforms, and make waves without breaking any governmental rules.