Apple to sell products via live streaming on Alibaba platform during midyear online shopping festival
- Apple’s move is timed with China’s annual ‘618’ shopping festival, the second most important e-commerce event in the country after Singles’ Day
- For the Greater China region, the US tech giant reported revenue of US$17.8 billion in the first quarter, nearly 3 per cent down from a year before
US tech giant Apple will host its first live-shopping event on China’s Tmall marketplace this week, embracing a sales practice that has drawn more than 500 million users in the world’s largest internet market.
Apple’s official store on Alibaba Group Holding’s Tmall posted a teaser about its first live streaming-shopping event, which kicks of at 7pm local time on Wednesday, saying it will include products such as iPhone 14 and iWatch. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.
Chinese internet platforms, from short video app Douyin to e-commerce giants like JD.com, regularly sell products through live-streamed video, where shoppers interact with the brand and place orders in real-time.
This year’s JD.com and Tmall 618 campaigns began last week, when customers were able to pay a deposit to secure the goods they wanted.
Apple’s Tmall store has cut the price of an iPhone 14 Pro with 128-gigabyte storage to 6,499 yuan (US$917), from the original 7,999 yuan, with the offer available Wednesday night, while its JD.com store is offering the same model for 6,498 yuan, valid until Thursday.
Apple is seeking to boost sales in a market where its foothold has been slipping. For the Greater China region, which includes mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, the company reported revenue of US$17.8 billion in the first quarter, nearly 3 per cent down from a year before.