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Chinese live streamer does $2bn of sales in one day

bnnbloomberg.ca

62 points by hakanensari 4 years ago · 21 comments

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phillu 4 years ago

Crazy numbers. Is there something comparable in terms of show format in the US/Europe? Or is this something to swap over from China and which Amazon will pick up on in the next months/years?

  • dathinab 4 years ago

    Yes, live TV shopping channels had been a Long term stable in many (all?) EU countries and beyond.

    Moving from live TV to streaming allowed a bit more flexibility in being able to try it things and sales people in parallel.

    But this isn't the main point of why is so successful in China.

    The main point is potential reach, China has a population of 1411 million the US one of 333 million, and the EU is split in many countries and languages.

    Another factor is that at least in Germany most younger people grew up with live tele shopping being a thing, a thing which they are good it's a skam they should not bother watching.

    This had the effect that most of it still targets older generations.

    • shalmanese 4 years ago

      > The main point is potential reach, China has a population of 1411 million the US one of 333 million

      Yeah, but no US influencer has done half a billion in sales in a single day either. Even the Kardashians are only able to move $10s of millions of product over the course of an entire launch at their very peak.

    • dathinab 4 years ago

      What I failed to say with the last points is that in China a lot of people didn't grow up with a "live shopping is a skam" and "live shopping is for old people only" mentally.

      • oefrha 4 years ago

        Live shopping TV channels have been a thing in China for at least two decades. Beside dedicated channels, many small local stations are like 75% TV shopping/infomercials plus 25% programs.

  • moltar 4 years ago

    Amazon is getting in on this too.

    https://www.amazon.com/live

    • rdtwo 4 years ago

      Newegg too but they aren’t doing it right. They need to occasionally drop hard to get items like ps5 or gfx cards to get people to watch

    • mr2loco 4 years ago

      Did this just start? I see 3 people watching

  • mailbag 4 years ago

    A similar format has been running on cable television in the US for years as the Home Shopping Network or QVC.

    • blitzar 4 years ago

      Sounds like a mix of Amazon prime day (first day of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s annual shopping festival) with a QVC/Pop Idol/Superbowl Commercial/24 hour stream

      • phillu 4 years ago

        Exactly my thought. This in combination with a Twitch/YouTube influencer!?

jdhn 4 years ago

Is there an estimate as to how much of that $2 billion he saw as commissions? Even a 1% commission would $20 million.

mr2loco 4 years ago

The amounts of life ecommerce sales are staggering

hrbf 4 years ago

Late stage capitalism indeed.

LurkingPenguin 4 years ago

Coming soon: a 50 RMB tax on each livestream sale for "common prosperity". And by "common prosperity" I mean bail out Evergrande.

  • russli1993 4 years ago

    if you are going to talking about Chinese government policies, at least be accurate. Chinese government is not going to bail out Evergrande. If worst comes to worst, they will break up Evergrande's assets to pay consumers, contractors and investors. Chinese government doesn't side with big corporations. The Anbang story illustrated that. WSJ had a rumor that Chinese government asked Evergrande CEO to pay the company's debt with his own money. Of course legally that seems out of whack and I question WSJ's source. WSJ has a long track record of writing news about China that turn out is not true, and they justify authenticity under "A source close to the government", "a source close to the matter". Well, I can make up store and say "according to my source close to the government". Nevertheless, but principally I agree. Evergrande CEO pocketed tons of wealth by recklessly taking debt and expanding the company. This recklessness has now resulted in home buyers sinking their entire life savings into unrealized homes and construction contractors held on the books and going bankrupt. Who gained from all of this should pay right? And for common prosperity, there is already lot of work being done and talk about future plans, including health care, education, housing, creating jobs, foster the creation of companies and industries. Diverting resources in the society to undeveloped areas to provide more opportunities. Common prosperity is also not about taking from the rich and giving to the poor as an handouts. Though there will definitely be handouts. Primarily, wealth is still gained by doing hard work. So it is about giving an leveled playing field and more opportunities to go up the economic ladder, attempt to reduce the advantages the rich has over the poor.

    • LurkingPenguin 4 years ago

      > if you are going to talking about Chinese government policies, at least be accurate. Chinese government is not going to bail out Evergrande.

      Where did I say the Chinese government was going to bail out Evergrande? The people making purchases from live streamers are going to bail out Evergrande!

      Anyway, I find it curious that my sarcastic comment resulted in such a long rant.

      • alexk307 4 years ago

        Look at their comment history... Everything is defending China and the ccp

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