China's livestreaming e-commerce to enter period of sustained, healthy development

China's livestreaming e-commerce industry will enter a period of sustained and healthy development, as the country improves policies supporting the sector and tightens its regulations, according to a blue paper recently issued by the National Institute of Metrology of China.

In recent years, livestreaming e-commerce, a new business model, has played a positive role in boosting employment, expanding domestic demand, and promoting the development of the digital economy.

A saleswoman promotes stuffed toys via livestreaming at an international trading center in Baigou New Township, Baoding City of north China's Hebei Province, Feb. 2, 2021. (Xinhua/Feng Yun)

The blue paper said livestreaming e-commerce is creating many new jobs. By the end of 2021, over 1.23 million people had engaged in the livestreaming e-commerce sector, the blue paper said, citing data from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. The number of people now working in the industry had increased at a rate of 8.8 percent each month, while the number of livestreaming e-commerce users had exceeded 800 million.

Last year, China's total retail sales of consumer goods exceeded 44 trillion yuan (about $6.13 trillion), about 5 percent of which were from the livestreaming e-commerce sector, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The blue paper pointed out that livestreaming e-commerce has played a vital role in driving the development of China's homegrown brands, many of which have seen sales growth through livestreaming e-commerce.

Chinese beauty brand Forest Cabin (Linqingxuan) has reported steady sales growth since the beginning of this year, in which livestreaming e-commerce has played an irreplaceable role. The company's sales personnel began to sell products through livestreaming sessions in the first half of this year. The company's online and offline sales increased by 12 percent and 15.9 percent year on year in April and May, respectively, according to Sun Laichun, founder of Forest Cabin.

The livestreaming e-commerce sector has entered a new stage featuring regulated development thanks to the joint efforts of relevant watchdogs, industry associations, and livestreaming platforms.

The China Advertising Association has launched a standard for the selection of products for livestreaming marketing. The Cyberspace Administration of China and six other government departments issued a trial regulation on the management of livestreaming marketing.

Last year, several livestreaming e-commerce platforms upgraded their rules and launched detailed measures, such as management specifications and blacklist systems, to enhance various parties' operations in accordance with the law. Some platforms launched special campaigns focusing on illegal activities such as false advertising and using vulgar content, accelerating the regulated development of the livestreaming e-commerce industry.

Since the beginning of this year, multiple localities, including east China's Jiangxi Province and Zhejiang Province, have continued their special campaigns to promote the regulated development of the livestreaming e-commerce industry.

To regulate the development of the industry, the mechanisms for protecting the rights and interests of consumers should be further improved, said Li Yongjian, a researcher at the National Academy of Economic Strategy under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Li suggested that livestreaming e-commerce platforms establish efficient mechanisms for the protection of online consumers' rights and interests and earnestly implement relevant policies to introduce specifications regarding livestreaming teams as soon as possible.