Ecommerce in China: 3 Trends to Watch in 2020

This article was originally released by CHARGED RETAIL. 

Chinese livestreamer Viya generated 353 million RMB, around 49 million GBP, in sales through livestreaming. In one single day.

Viya is the most successful live streamer of 2019 as she has continuously broken her own records. And livestreaming or live selling is definitely the most popular of all trends in China at the moment. And it will continue to thrive in 2020. But it is not the only trends in China’s complex and fast-changing eCommerce market. The expansion of online shopping into China’s rural areas with the help of eCommerce as well as the connection of online and offline shopping characterizes Chinese eCommerce market.

Elena Gatti, Managing Director Europe of Shenzhen-based Azoya, gives a brief overview of these major trends, which will continue and further consolidate in 2020.

1.Livestreaming conquers Chinese mobile phones

Livestreaming has taken on completely new dimensions in China in 2019: The format live streaming has been around for a while but has only taken off as a new sales channel probably during summer of last year. To give you an insight into the dimensions, let me give you a concrete example: From 17 August to 17 September 2019, almost 35 million people watched live streaming on Chinese eCommerce platform Taobao, according to Chinese KOL Marketing Agency Parklu. During the Singles’ Day shopping festival live streaming on Alibaba’s Taobao live streaming platform generated $2.85 billion in sales — around 7.5 percent of the day’s total sales. This was the manifestation that live streaming has come to stay.

Alibaba’s Taobao live streaming platform is clearly the leader in live streaming eCommerce and has built a strong base of powerful live streaming hosts in recent years.  Although the most successful one is previously mentioned Viya, who also gained international awareness through a joint session with Kim Kardashian ...

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