China’s record Singles’ Day offers glimpse of future shopping trends as buyers embrace live streaming
- ‘Live streaming is popular as it plays on the long-popular theme of TV shopping, but in a much more interactive and entertaining way,’ analyst says
He Hai opens more than a thousand clams in front of the camera every day. As the owner of an online jewellery shop on Taobao, he showcases fresh pearls for his customers who watch the live streaming and place orders right away.
Growth in live-streaming shopping now contributes 80 per cent of revenue at his UU Pearl store. On the day of the Double 11 shopping festival, the store generated 100,000 yuan (US$14,289) in sales, mostly from live streaming, three times the normal daily volume.
Having dived into the new form of e-commerce two years ago, He said it enabled merchants to introduce products in a more accurate, detailed and interactive way. His store has three people take turns to live broadcast for 16 hours a day, the maximum stipulated by Taobao. “If not for the rules, we would definitely do it 24/7,” said He, who is 23.
Alibaba is the owner of the South China Morning Post.
“Live streaming is popular as it plays on the long-popular theme of TV shopping, but in a much more interactive and entertaining way,” said Mark Tanner, founder and managing director of Shanghai-based consultancy China Skinny.