Influencers on steroids: Live-streaming salespeople are the future of social media
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Looking to make money from product recommendations and peer pressure, social media platforms from Twitter to Douyin are gradually reshaping their platforms around shopping. Taobaoโs live-streamed Singlesโ Day shopping event this week offered eye-opening proof that it works:
- Star salesman Lว Jiฤqรญ ๆไฝณ็ฆ sold $1.7 billion in products in just four hours, as people rushed to treat themselves weeks ahead of the November 11 consumption festival.
- Li has the process down to a science, along with second-place streamer Viya. He talked up 252 products, or one every 57 seconds; Viya got to 341 by introducing something new every 42 seconds.
The context: Live-streamed shopping events are a recent phenomenon that exploded in 2018:
- 55,000 of the 58,000 Chinese companies engaged in the business were born after 2016.
- Theyโve grown incredibly fast since: over 200 million viewers tuned into this weekโs Taobao stream.
Why it matters: If you wonโt buy from Li Jiaqi, thereโs a good chance youโd buy from someone you know. Imagine the profit potential if both platforms and amateur streamers could replicate just a fraction of Liโs magic: thatโs an opportunity commerce-curious companies are unlikely to pass up.
