Live-stream shopping has become a new tool for business marketing in China. It is expected that live-streaming shows will drive a transaction volume of 500 billion yuan (about $71.4 billion) on Taobao, a Chinese online shopping website, in the next three years.

(Photo/Xinhua)

2019 is becoming known as the first year of live-streaming e-commerce in China. Major e-commerce platforms have launched live streaming shopping, attracting numerous curious customers.

According to data released by Taobao, more than 70,000 live-streaming shows helped increase the transaction volume by 160 percent on the Double 11 shopping spree day.

During that shopping festival a month ago, Taobao live-streaming shows contributed to a transaction volume of nearly 20 billion yuan. Out of all the shows, at least 10 helped boost sales by 100 million yuan and more than 100 by 10 million yuan.

As a new platform helping Chinese netizens shop online, live-stream shopping has become a new tool for business marketing and a driving force behind the growth of e-commerce sales.

It is not only changing the public’s consumption habits, but also becoming a new consumer culture in itself.

Some analysts believe that with the advent of the 5G era and the continuous development of 4K, VR and other technologies, live-streaming e-commerce will becoming increasingly close to the offline shopping experience, and there is still room for development dividends in the future.

In addition, live-stream shopping can help sellers, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, better understand the preferences of consumers, so as to make products that can meet their needs.