Livestreaming Pushes 618 Shopping Festival to Record Sales
Livestreaming Pushes 618 Shopping Festival to Record Sales
Plus: A Tencent/iQiyi super-platform, changing celebrity endorsements, and skateboarding in Beijing.
China’s first major shopping extravaganza of the post-coronavirus period showed that consumption is well on its way to recovery.
The two biggest e-commerce platforms, Alibaba and JD.com, reported a combined total of $136.5 billion in sales during the nearly three weeks of 618 promotions. By way of comparison, the two retail giants grossed just under $70 million in 24 hours during last year’s Singles’ Day, the world’s biggest shopping event.
Alibaba, which has not previously released 618 sales totals, said its gross merchandise volume was $98.5 billion, while JD’s $38 billion represented a 33.6% year-on-year increase in GMV.
As we’ve previously reported, the big e-commerce platforms leaned heavily on livestreaming this year to promote sales, combining star power with big discounts to keep consumers engaged. Alibaba’s Taobao Live boasted 300 celebrities in its line-up, including Kris Wu and Japanese virtual idol Hatsune Miku, while JD collaborated with more than 100 stars and announced a strategic partnership with Kuaishou to allow the short video platform’s influencers to sell products from JD within the Kuaishou app. Hundreds of CEOs, government officials, and even foreign ambassadors were recruited in the campaign to drum up sales via livestreaming.
Alibaba’s livestreaming sessions during the 618 event were reported to be up by more than 120% year-on-year. And while Alibaba’s platform Taobao Live has been an important driver of sales for Alibaba’s platforms for some time, livestreaming has only recently started to become a major area of focus for JD.com. This year, it hosted 300,000 live sales broadcasts, with 31 brands reporting more than RMB 100 million ($14 million) in sales from their JD livestream channels. On June 16, JD officially launched a partnership with Kuaishou by supporting the video platform’s own one-day sales event, featuring marathon livestreams by two leading Kuaishou sellers, actress Zhang Yuqi and influencer Xinba, which drew more than 25 million views and RMB 1.4 billion ($198 million) in sales.
In the final days of promotional activity leading up to June 18, Alibaba’s Tmall, Pinduoduo, and Suning Tesco each partnered with a major satellite TV network to broadcast star-studded gala shows promoting their sales. Instead of going the televised entertainment route, JD.com doubled down on its livestreaming content with a music festival, rock concerts, and a celebrity variety show. Read more in Chinese from SocialBeta.
Mentioned in today’s newsletter: Alibaba, Colgate, iQiyi, JD.com, Johnson & Johnson, Kuaishou, Tencent Video, Vans, Zynn.
Could a Tencent-iQiyi Merger Finally Bring Profitability to China's Streaming Video Market?
China’s contentious streaming video market attracted even more global attention last week amid Reuters reports that Tencent Holdings Ltd. is moving to become the largest shareholder in rival iQiyi in a bid to “lower costs and counter competition in a sector boosted by stay-at-home virus policies.”
A merger of these two streaming giants would, as Variety pointed out, create a platform comparable in scale to Netflix. While the reports remain speculative at this point, the idea of a Tencent/iQiyi super-platform is intriguing, to say the very least, from a content-commerce perspective.
Why Celebrity Endorsements Are Drastically Changing in China
Working with celebrities, as either brand ambassadors or spokespersons, has long been a surefire route for brands to connect with young Chinese consumers who make up the “fan economy,” an important sector that’s willing to spend to support their favorite actors and singers and ensure their commercial success.
But brand-celebrity relations are not static. The evolution of the digital landscape and the impact of the coronavirus on the fashion and beauty industries have seen the emergence of several new trends in celebrity marketing:
The roles of celebrities and influencers are merging. Celebrities have become more approachable via social media, sharing the types of content that influencers were best known for, just as influencers are becoming more professionalized, and some are now celebrities in their own right.
Brands are creating new categories of celebrity endorsements to both diversify their target audiences and to reduce reliance on a single star who may get caught up in a scandal or controversy.
Moving beyond “little fresh meat” idols, brands are looking to a broader range of talents and more distinct personalities to help them stand out from the crowd.
Read the full story on Jing Daily
Brand Film Pick: Vans Skates Across Generations in China
For the latest installment of its “This Is Off the Wall” series of brand films, the American sneaker brand Vans explores the place of skateboarding in three diverse communities: among young women, in Poland, and in China.
The short film “Skateboarding in Beijing” looks at how the scene has developed over the past three decades: from a tiny underground community that enjoyed little support to today’s flourishing growth. At the center of the story are some of China’s earliest skateboarders, Chen Long and Xiao Yao, along with members of the new generation of skaters, including Chen’s son Yuxuan. The film highlights the growing acceptance of skateboarding by parents such as Yuxuan’s mother, who seeks to balance the “aggressive” influence of the sport by enrolling him in calligraphy lessons.
The energy of China’s emerging skate culture is captured through fast-paced editing and frequent action shots of skateboarders past and present, and the film offers ample opportunity for brand placement through the logos on clothing and in the Vans signage that rings an indoor skate park in Beijing where the younger generation practices their tricks.
Vans has been in the Chinese market since 2008, and the brand has successfully expanded its appeal beyond the skateboarding subculture to reach a broader class of creatives and trendsetters. Its collaborations in China often tap deeper cultural roots, such as a recent edition of custom sneakers featuring Shanghai Animation Studio’s retro cartoon “Calabash Brothers” and online and offline partnerships with Tencent leveraging the IP of the internet giant’s Ipengoo penguin mascot.
News in English
Using content to build community, rather than simply drive sales, helps to build brand equity and forge deeper and more meaningful relationships with consumers. Parklu
Bytedance has established an e-commerce division, which may be part of an effort to boost shopping on its international short video platform TikTok. Yicai Global
Meanwhile, the malls-to-movies conglomerate Wanda is quietly shutting down its e-commerce platform. Week in China
China is becoming a lifeline for American affordable luxury and contemporary fashion brands that are struggling with their U.S. operations due to the coronavirus. Glossy
Partnering with Alibaba to do business in China has taught American brands such as Michael Kors and Allbirds lessons on digital transformation that they are applying back home. AdWeek
Zynn — aka Kuaishou’s answer to TikTok — is in trouble after being removed from both the Apple and Google’s app stores amid accusations of plagiarism. Sixth Tone
The success of this year’s 618 shopping festival helped push the Nasdaq-listed Pinduoduo’s market value past $100 billion, less than five years after the e-commerce platform was founded. Tech in Asia
618 has barely wrapped up, but the Alibaba-affiliated Alipay is already planning another round of discount-fueled consumption for “717” in July. KrAsia
Colgate will finally complete an overhaul of its racially insensitive Darlie toothpaste brand (formerly “Darkie” in English, and still known as “Black People Toothpaste” in Chinese). Radii
Brands are also grappling with how they cater to the Asian preference for pale skin: Johnson & Johnson has announced that it will no longer sell skin-whitening products. SCMP
A look at the enduring appeal of China’s idol “survival” shows that encourage fans to mint the stars of the hottest new boy bands and girl groups. What’s on Weibo
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Jing Daily: WeChat Makes a Grab at China’s MCN Industry
Jing Travel: Beyond the Gift Shop: Keys to Product Licensing Strategy
Thank you for reading! We will see you again this Thursday. Until then, reach out anytime if you have any questions, suggestions, or just want to say hello to our teams in the US, Europe, or China.