Short video platform Kuaishou unveils ambitious new e-commerce targets amid live-streaming boom

Kuaishou plans to incubate 100,000 businesses and help them achieve US$146,000 in annual sales within the year
It also wants to groom 10,000 live-streamers and host over 1 million e-commerce live-streaming sessions during this period

China technology

Jane Zhang

Published: 6:15am, 1 Sep 2020

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Chinese short video app Kuaishou on Saturday launched an ambitious new plan to expand its e-commerce presence, as live-streaming becomes a major sales channel in China.

In the coming year, Kuaishou plans to incubate 100,000 businesses and help them achieve 1 million yuan (US$146,000) in annual sales, the Tencent Holdings-backed platform said in a press release.

The Beijing-based company is also going to build over 100 industrial bases around the country, groom 10,000 live-streamers and host over 1 million e-commerce live-streaming sessions during this period, it added.

China’s live-streaming e-commerce market was estimated to be worth 433.9 billion yuan in 2019, and is expected to reach 961 billion yuan this year amid a surge in online activity during the coronavirus pandemic, according to data from market research firm iiMedia Research.

There were over 10 million e-commerce live-streaming sessions in China attracting more than 50 billion views in just the first half of the year, according to China’s Ministry of Commerce.

E-commerce, live-streaming are bright spots in China’s retail scene

Kuaishou first attempted to squeeze into the already competitive e-commerce market in China two years ago with the launch of Kuaishou Shop, a sales platform within the short video app. Currently, there are over 100 million daily active users for its e-commerce services, with those from first and second-tier cities accounting for 45 per cent, the company said in the press release.

Kuaishou and fellow Chinese short video app Bytedance’s Douyin – the Chinese version of global short video sensation TikTok – have also been teaming up with online sales platforms to broaden their e-commerce reach.

Douyin and online retailer Suning.com announced a collaboration last month to promote the latter’s products, while Kuaishou partnered up with JD.com, the country’s second-largest e-commerce platform, ahead of China’s annual midyear 618 shopping festival to boost both platforms’ sales.

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While their roles in these partnerships have primarily been as sales channels allowing short video app users to purchase products from e-commerce platforms without leaving the apps, Douyin and Kuaishou have both been moving to expand into the lucrative business.

Douyin announced last week that it would be tightening its e-commerce policies to ban links to third-party websites on its live-streaming channels, effectively preventing merchants from directing traffic to popular e-commerce websites like JD.com and Alibaba Group Holding’s Taobao.

(Alibaba is the parent company of the Post.)

Kuaishou also said in June that it was investing 3 billion yuan to build a live-streaming ecosystem in Chengdu, capital of southwestern China‘s Sichuan province.

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