(Yicai) Nov. 28 — China’s cross-border e-commerce platforms and livestreaming agencies have been quite busy during the Black Friday promotion season this year, as they have teamed up with overseas influencers for livestreaming events to attract more consumers for merchants.
The penetration rate of overseas livestreaming e-commerce is lower than in China, but user habits are being rapidly cultivated, especially during major promotional events like Black Friday, when the conversion efficiency of livestreaming has already been preliminarily verified, Zhang Zhouping, executive director of Bense Think Tank, told Yicai.
The overseas livestreaming e-commerce market is still on the eve of a boom and has huge growth potential, Zhang noted. The active layout of e-commerce platforms, such as AliExpress and TikTok, coupled with the rapid advancement of livestreaming agencies like Yowant, confirms overseas customers’ acceptance of the “content + e-commerce” sales model, he added.
Most of the players in the livestreaming e-commerce market in North America are Chinese, mainly because they have developed a complete business promotion model through fierce competition in the Chinese market, and their competitiveness is now better than local institutions that are new to the business, Fu She, merchandise planning operator at Chinese livestreaming service firm Yowant, told Yicai.
Yowant has established an offline livestreaming base in Los Angeles and arranged 25 offline and 150 online livestreaming events for Black Friday this year, much more than the same period last year, Fu said. Sales during many livestreaming events have exceeded expectations, he noted.
The number of influencers in the United Kingdom and the United States working with Yowant has increased to nearly 10,000 this year from over 4,000 last year, while that of merchants in North America cooperating with Yowant has jumped to about 1,000 from over 100, Fu said.
Overseas brands are also eyeing sales growth opportunities brought by collaborating with content e-commerce platforms for livestreaming sales. For example, UK retail brand Marks & Spencer said earlier this month that it will launch on TikTok Shop and hold livestreaming shopping events on the short-video site, allowing customers to see the product effects in real time and interact with the merchants live.
Alibaba Group Holding’s cross-border e-commerce platform AliExpress has arranged exclusive livestreaming sales for computer, communication, and consumer electronics, and outdoor sports brands, such as Baseus, Xtep China, and Kailas, during the Black Friday promotion season this year, Yicai learned.
With technological upgrades, such as virtual live streaming and localized operations, smooth interconnection of payment and logistics chains, and more brands entering the field, live-streaming sales targeting overseas consumers are expected to become a regular operational method for e-commerce, Zhang believes.
TikTok’s e-commerce model, which deeply integrates content and shopping, has great growth potential in Europe and America, a Chinese clothing and accessories merchant who has been doing business overseas for years told Yicai about how livestreaming helps boost sales in overseas markets.
Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione
