How does Live Streaming Accelerate E-commerce Sales in China?

Live streaming has taken off as one of the most popular online social entertainment activities since late 2015 or early 2016 in China. In recent years, the number of people using live streaming services in China is growing at a fast rate. The spread of COVID-19 and strict movement measures have given rise to more instances of online shopping and spurred further growth in e-commerce in Mainland China. In particular, live streaming has gained prominence in recent years as a viable way to market, communicate, and sell products online. Chinese consumers are increasingly shifting away from traditional mass media and looking to mobile and electronic devices for information and entertainment.

Live streaming accounts for 10% of Chinese e-commerce revenue, according to the management consultancy firm McKinsey. It now underpins retail campaigns such as 618 and Double 11 – annual shopping festivals that eclipse the US Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. In 2020, the industry had an merchandise value of $171bn (￡140bn). TThis growth spurt has been intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic, and Chinese sales are expected to reach $423 billion by the end of 2022.

Why does Live Streaming e-commerce Popular in China?

One big attraction of live streaming e-commerce is that it all happens on a single mobile shopping app interface – shoppers can watch, ask questions and click to purchase all on the same page during the live streaming, which greatly speeds up the transaction speed.

Live streaming e-commerce is not a separate sales event now. Live streaming platforms, e-commerce platforms, and social media platforms that support people or streamers have been connected and operated into a system. Today, there are hundreds of streaming platforms in China, including both pure live streaming players like Yizhibo, Meipai, Huajiao Live, Kuaishou, as well as Alibaba’s e-commerce sites Tmall and Taobao. China-based blogger incubator Ruhan enables live streamers to monetize on their fan base by offering help with the manufacture of goods, social media marketing, and building Taobao stores. Zhang Dayi is the poster child for this business model, with her store reportedly pulling in $46 million in 2016, slightly surpassing Kim Kardashian’s earnings ($45.5 million).

How to Grow Your Business in China through Live Streaming?

In terms of demographics, Generation Z and millennials dominate, although live commerce is starting to attract middle-aged and more-senior consumers. By March 2020, live commerce was used by 265 million people—almost 30 percent of Chinese Internet users. Therefore, the content design and operation form of live streaming e-commerce should take into account the interests and hobbies of this group of people.

1. Live e-commerce in China: How-Tos

A great live stream marketing engagement idea is creating a tutorial. A how-to live streaming can be a fun and interactive outreach. Taking cotton pads as an example, the content of the live streaming can be: tutorials on how to use cotton pads to use toner, how to use cotton pads to remove makeup correctly... There are countless ways to participate in any business type. This live streaming strategy. If your creativity runs out, check out YouTube for any of the daily tutorials for inspiration.

2. KOL on social media is the single biggest influence on Gen Z consumers.

To set up a live streaming e-commerce event, companies typically engage a key opinion leader (KOL) or key opinion consumer (KOC) to host the show, introduce the product, and interact with the audience to trigger sales. Taking sanitary pads as an example, many brands will invite celebrities or KOLs as product spokespersons. In the livestream e-commerce event, invite them to the scene to exchange some stories related to the usage feeling and brand, and the participation in the livestream event will be greatly improved. Regardless of format, many successful events feature interactive elements such as games, quizzes, and giveaways to keep viewers engaged and entertained. They maintain high production values in photography, location, lighting, and sound and ensure that scripts are not overly focused on the product.

3. Measuring the results of your live streaming effort

Just because it's livestream doesn't mean you get away without measuring your success. Livestreaming for marketing is the same as any other tactic: You'll win some and you'll lose some, and figuring that out helps you pinpoint which methods will work best for your brand's sales. Popular metrics companies usually use are the number of viewers, the number of engagements (like/ comment/ share/sales/gift-giving… In addition, we suggest also looking at these four key analytics when gauging the success of a live streaming hosts effort: watch time, call to action responses, quality of service metrics, average minute audience.