Live Streaming eCommerce

While there’s nothing quite like the experience of going shopping in person, for many consumers and especially during the pandemic live streaming has quickly become the next best thing especially for ecommerce marketers.

Live streaming for e-commerce is simply the broadcasting of live video in real time via the internet to promote and sell goods or services. Though this may need seem to be that revolutionary as we have seen it all on traditional TV with online live streaming, brands are spared the airtime and production costs of TV broadcasting and instead can use their existing social media channels to reach a global audience.

For most brands this will be an entirely new initiative, exposing their products & services to a live audience where anything can go wrong and sometimes does. This aspect though of live streaming is what makes it feel more natural and real to potential customers. So the net result is that it has proven to for msot brands to be a successful sales channel.

eCommerce Live Streaming Video Has Exploded in China!

The world’s largest consumer market is now China and so trends happening there are being watched closer than ever as they are indicating what may happen globally.

While live streaming video platforms in Western countries are mostly focused on gaming and entertainment, in China livestreaming is gaining huge popularity as a way of buying and selling products, fueling the Chinese eCommerce market

Chinese consumers are shopping more and more through live streaming and video apps — a new trend that’s grabbing a slice of the massive market traditionally dominated by e-commerce giant Alibaba. If you are a brand and serious about selling online in China, you most likely have a sizable marketing department dedicated solely to live streaming.

Popular live streaming and short video apps became significant marketing channels during 2020, generating billions in merchant sales by connecting viewers to existing e-commerce sites, or their own. This trend is now exploding and gaining more traction daily.

While the number of online shoppers in China climbed to 782 million (more than twice the total population of the US) by December, the country had even more internet users watching videos, at 927 million, according to China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC). So match those two statistics together, and you have a potential tidal wave of livestreaming online video shopping. And that is exactly what is happening. Live streaming e-commerce users surged by 123 million between March and December in 2020, for a total of 388 million. About two-thirds of these users have made a purchase while watching a livestream, the report said.

Let’s take a quick look at 3 Top eCommerce Live streaming Platforms in China

Taobao Live

Alibaba’s Taobao Live is the current leader China’s eCommerce Live streamingwith 79% market share. The dedicated livestreaming channel launched by E-commerce giant Alibaba in 2016, generated amazing sales of 20 billion yuan ($2.85 billion) during Alibaba’s Singles’ Day shopping holiday on November 11, that accounted for around 7.5% of the company’s total sales roughly equaling 268.4 billion yuan ($38.4 billion). In line with its “See Now, Buy Now” slogan, Taobao Live allows users to watch live streams and shop at the same time. Broadcasters work with a variety of brands to give their users coupons or discounts directly (somewhat similar to televised shopping channels like QVC), and encourage consumers to shop. Some famous live streamers or KOLs, can sell millions of goods overnight. Viya, Taobao’s hottest broadcaster, sold over $45 million worth of goods on Single’s Day, most of it in the first two hours of her 15-hour marathon livestream. Kim Kardashian has appeared on Viya’s livestream to promote her signature KKW fragrances. Taobao Live generated over 400 billion yuan in GMV for 2020, according to the latest earnings report. But the company’s GMV for the Nov. 1 to 11 shopping holiday alone was 498 billion yuan.

Douyin (TikTok)

Despite trailing behind Taobao Live in e-commerce live streaming, Douyin takes the second place in China with 13% of the market. Douyin, China’s counterpart to TikTok, backed by tech giant ByteDance, is currently the hottest short video app in China (and in most of the world), with more than 400 million daily active users (DAUs). The COVID-19 epidemic helped kick start the live streaming boom on Douyin. On April 1st, Luo Yonghao, founder of Smartisan, and one of “China’s first-generation internet celebrities” went live on Douyin. During his 3-hour livestream, he gathered 48 million viewers and generated over 110 million yuan (about $15.5 million) in revenue. Douyin saw its eCommerce transactions triple last year to 500 billion yuan in GMV. Its live streaming eCommerce market share is gaining almost daily on Tabao Live, so it will be interesting to see where the numbers are a year from now. With its massive user-base, Douyin/TikTok has become the next big thing in China’s e-commerce.

Kuaishou (Kwai)

China’s second hottest short video app Kuaishou has more than 200 million daily active users (DAUs) and holds an 8% share of the e-commerce livestreaming market in China placing it third behind Tabao Live and Douyin (TikTok). Kuaishou’s revenue from livestreaming reached 30 billion yuan in 2019 and its earnings from gaming and e-commerce totals several billions of yuan. Users on Kwai are mostly from lower-tier cities and towns. The app has a very special or “homie economy”. Livestreamers on Kuaishou refer to their audience as “老铁,” or “homies” in English, to create a sense of familiarity with their buyers. Sellers on Kuaishou are focused on down-to-earth content and simple goods. If you want to know more about Kuaishou’s livestreaming and e-commerce business. Kuaishou, recently raised more than $5 billion in Hong Kong’s biggest IPO since the coronavirus pandemic. Kuaishou’s gross merchandise volume (GMV) for the 11 months through November grew nearly eight times from a year ago to 332.68 billion yuan ($51.44 billion), Kuaishou said in its prospectus.

Live streaming eCommerce is definitely going to continue to grow in China. New players such as WeChat, China’s No. 1 app with over a billion users is also joining the fray. So it will be interesting to see how it plays out and Fresh Video will give you an update sometime in the future. What we will keep our eye on now is how the trend grows from a global perspective. What are your thoughts on it?

Video Fresh specializes in creating video content for eCommerce brands that drives conversions. We would love to chat with you about your eCommerce video content strategy.  

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