Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com will partner with short video platform Kuaishou to boost its presence in live streaming as a growing number of traditional merchants move sales online following the countrywide lockdowns imposed during the coronavirus pandemic.
The partnership comes ahead of China’s annual midyear 618 shopping festival and could give Beijing-based JD.com and Kuaishou a significant boost in sales from live-streaming to help them compete with e-commerce juggernaut Alibaba, which saw gross merchandise volume (GMV) generated from live-streaming soar 100 per cent year on year in the first quarter.