One sector that significantly benefits from online traffic growth is China’s “live-streaming eCommerce”. Relatively small in western economies, live-streaming eCommerce (think of an online streaming version of QVC) has become a big hit in China. According to iiMedia Research, the GMV for live-streaming eCommerce is projected to reach 961 billion RMB in 2020, doubled from 2019. We think there is a large addressable market for live-streaming eCommerce as it still accounts for a very small slice of the overall Chinese eCommerce market, despite fast growth (hint: Alibaba alone achieved 6.65 trillion RMB GMV on its platform in FY 2020).

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The leading player in live-streaming eCommerce is Alibaba. The company essentially pioneered this new concept by leveraging its robust cloud infrastructure and massive mobile user base. Back in November 2019, Alibaba management said that live-streaming eCommerce GMV surpassed 100 billion RMB over the year. In the 2019 Double Eleven event, Alibaba’s live-streaming eCommerce GMV crossed 20 billion RMB or 7.5% of its total GMV. The number of concurrent users for one of its live streamers peaked at ~43 million during the event. To put things in perspective, the total number of 2019 Super Bowl viewers is 98.2 million.

Short-format video platforms such as Kuaishou and Douyin are also strong players in this relatively new market, with top live-eCommerce streamers amassing tens of millions of followers. On April 2nd, Luo Yonghao, a former English-teacher-turned-entrepreneur and now an online celebrity, debut his first live streaming sales event on Douyin. Luo and his team sold over 110 million products during a three-hour live streaming show. Among the 23 products that include HD projector, robot cleaner, and even crayfish, 7 products are from Xiaomi or its ecosystem partners. The broadcast attracted 48 million viewers and Luo is rumored to have earned RMB 15-30 million commission. 

"LAO LUO" Live Streaming

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"LAO LUO" Live Streaming