Coresight Research has estimated the livestreaming market in China will bring in about $125 billion in sales this year, up from $63 billion in 2019.
This form of marketing will be on full display with live streaming taking center stage at Alibaba’s Singles Day shopping event on Wednesday. Key opinion leaders will try to pique customer curiosity and drive a large percentage of revenue from e-commerce.
This year marks the 11th edition of the annual Singles Day event, which is also called the shopping festival Double 11 since it falls on Nov. 11, but some U.S. companies are going to make a debut and advertise their items using live streaming.
Yuan said Within five years in America, if you don’t do live streaming, your business is only going to vanish and get left behind.” “If you’re a company right now you have a website. In the future, if you’re a retail company, you’re going to do live streaming.
The importance of live streaming is already seen by brands looking to expand in China and the boost it can offer to a business. According to an AlixPartners survey of 2,029 adults conducted from Sept. 30 to Oct. 6, two-thirds of Chinese consumers said they have purchased products through live streaming in the past 12 months.
Just 19 percent of those polled said they did not plan to shop during Wednesday’s event via live streaming. High-income consumers said that this year they plan to complete a higher percentage of their purchases by live streaming.
Two of the biggest reasons people cited for turning towards live streaming during the event are deep discounts and “instant data”.
Coresight Research forecasts that live streaming in China this year will produce revenue of about $125 billion, up from $63 billion in 2019. This year the staggering gains were driven by Chinese consumers turning to their smartphones during pandemic lockdowns to shop. According to Coresight, the U.S. market is estimated at just around $5 billion.
“In China, shopping is a sport,” said Deborah Weinswig, CEO of Coresight. “And this is a customer who until they buy anything, prides himself on testing.”
Chinese customers are motivated to turn to experts by the need for good advice. In China, Weinswig said even farmers have become influencers.’ “People would purchase their groceries on a Livestream from a farmer.”
During this year’s Singles Day according to Alibaba, as many as 400 business executives and 300 celebrities are keeping live streams. Last weekend ahead of Singles Day, pop singer Taylor Swift joined Chinese live streaming megastar Huang Wei for a Livestream.
Wei, known as Viya, used Taobao earlier this year to sell a commercial rocket for 40 million yuan, or $5.6 million. After the incredible feat, the hashtag #WeiYaSellsARocket went viral on Weibo, the Chinese social network.
As Chinese customers recover from coronavirus pandemic shutdowns, spending total during Singles Day is projected to eclipse previous records. In 2019, the event received revenue of more than $38 billion.
During China’s coronavirus-influenced spring hiring season, college graduates who majored in tech-related disciplines and those with Livestream-suited abilities became the most in-demand recruits, although many of them have reservations about operating in the hot streaming region.
According to a study released on Wednesday by Chinese hiring app operator Boss Zhipin, computer engineering and science majors made up 20 of the 30 most-wanted majors for domestic jobs this year. It also noticed that college graduates who majored in film making, journalism, and broadcast communications, propelled by China’s live-streaming boom, had become in high demand.
In the medical and health care, internet technology, online education, short video, and live-streaming sectors,” the report said that new opportunities are developing. That is in sharp contrast to the “grim condition” in conventional fields such as tourism, offline education, and finance for work applicants.
