Celebrities Yang Mi, Li Xiaolu and Chen He sold face masks and lipstick with TikTok and Taobao during coronavirus –what next for e-commerce in China?
Stars like Yang Mi, Li Xiaolu, Li Xiang and Michelle Ye Xuan all host live streams on Taobao, Douyin, Pinduoduo and Kuaishou during lockdown, while top tier actors Liu Shishi, Jing Boran and Liu Tao collaborated with celebrity seller Li Jiaqi – how will celebrities and brands react to the new normal?
The line between Chinese celebrities and live streamers continues to blur these days. Luxury brands are expanding their pool of friend-of-the-brand endorsements with top live streamers – Louis Vuitton, for example, tapped both actress Song Jia and “lipstick king” live streamer Li Jiaqi for its much anticipated 520 Chinese Valentine’s Day campaign.
Celebrities, actors and singers are jumping on the bandwagon to test out their commercial values on e-commerce platforms, with Yang Mi, Li Xiaolu and Michelle Ye Xuan just a few of the screen stars moonlighting on live streaming portals including Taobao, TikTok and Red Book. So why are Chinese celebrities so eager to embrace the battlefield of live streaming e-commerce, and how are they getting on so far?
Too big a pie to ignore
According to iiMedia Research, live streaming e-commerce revenue will be worth an estimated 961 billion yuan (US$134 billion) this year. Following Taobao’s launch of e-commerce live streaming in 2016, both e-commerce and social media platforms have quickly jumped on the bandwagon, including TikTok, Pinduoduo and Kuaishou, to name just a few. The elevation of the product categories has quickly evolved from entry price necessities to luxury accessories, watches and even automobiles and properties – and on one rare occasion, a rocket launch service, too. Top live streamer Viya Huang set a jaw-dropping record last month by selling a rocket launch service for 40 million yuan through her live stream on Taobao (which is owned by the Alibaba Group, publisher of the South China Morning Post).
The new normal
With over 897 million people in China accessing the internet via a mobile device (according to Statista’s report), the country counts a strong mobile-first user base. Many users have been even more digitally engaged during quarantine, which has propelled the development of the e-commerce ecosystem. According to iiMedia, China’s live-streaming users will reach 524 million in 2020.
Catching the limelight