Livestream economy booming

As more and more young people now are getting used to livestream shopping, the livestream e-commerce industry has gradually become a new consumption growth engine in Shenzhen, Shenzhen Evening News reported yesterday.

“It is very convenient to order online. Online shopping is very suitable for people like me who don’t like to go out shopping,” said a local named Lin Xin.

Staffers of a furniture company livestream to sell their products. Shenzhen Evening News

In the light of this new trend, more and more companies in the city have adjusted their operational models to promote online sales and organize promotional activities via online video streaming.

Many livestream scenarios are online shops offering customers immersive shopping experience. With this, customers no longer need to go to brick-and-mortar stores to learn about products’ detailed information.

In recent years, Shenzhen-based Rainbow department store chain has adopted the livestream business model. Almost every Rainbow shop in the city is organizing livestream activities via online platforms like WeChat miniprogram each Friday and Saturday.

“Customers can watch our livestream Friday and Saturday and then go to our physical stores to buy products,” said a staffer from Rainbow, adding that “livestream mainly offers a chance to recommend products to customers to gain their attention and interest while offline shops allow them to try on products. The two forms jointly meet customers’ needs.”

Walmart has also started its livestream business since 2020. It offers fast and convenient shopping services where customers could get their deliveries to their home address within an hour after they order online from a shop within 3 kilometers of their location.

Many businesses have seen a growth in sales by adopting a model combing e-commerce and livestreaming. A restaurant chain named Nonggengji, featuring Hunan cuisine, sold 400,000 yuan (US$57,480) worth of products in an hour when it held its first livestream in July last year, according to the report.

Since 2020, Shenzhen has issued several policies to boost consumption and support e-commerce businesses. In 2021, the Shenzhen Municipal Commerce Bureau released a circular to support the development of e-commerce businesses by offering a maximum subsidy of 3 million yuan.

An industry insider told the News that “Livestream e-commerce has become a new direction for many enterprises and a new growth engine for the city’s consumption. Efforts should be urged to support more livestream e-commerce businesses to inject new momentum into consumption growth.”