China Switched To Livestream Sales Using AI And Virtual Characters
It’s past midnight, but sales are still going strong on a Chinese e-commerce platform. The number of buyers continues to increase when a virtual character is livestreaming, selling cosmetics and skin care products at extremely low prices.
Viewers watched in amazement, wondering how they could receive a bottle of body cream with a pleasant fragrance that was offered for sale for only 69 yuan (US$11). However, they did not receive enthusiastic advice from the seller, who is just a auburn-haired virtual character, because these sales ads just repeat boringly in a loop that has been repeated. pre-programmed.
“Aren’t you tempted by this sale ?” the AI-generated character in a pink floral dress still said in a monotone, “Bring this bottle home and your bed will smell nice.”
Switch to virtual livestream after the sweep
Virtual livestreams may lack human presence and contact, but the servers are making a splash in China’s booming online sales market. Retail websites in the country are looking for cost-effective ways to maintain sales, and virtual salespeople are not in trouble for tax evasion or any other tricks.
The online retail market, with massive bargains from many social media influencers (KOLs), has exploded in popularity in recent years. Especially since the Covid-19 pandemic occurred at the beginning of 2020, many people with shopping needs were stuck at home.
Some estimates have put the value of the online sales market in China at more than 1 trillion yuan by 2021. While a joint report by KPMG and Alibaba Group Holding estimates, the number has up to 2 trillion yuan. This vibrant field at the same time creates a large class of people, having influence in many businesses such as transportation, beauty cosmetics, … At the same time, turning them into millionaires, even some people become a billionaire overnight.
However, it is this change that has attracted the attention of the Beijing government in the context of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s call to promote a ” common prosperity “, namely stricter control. For online sellers, selling via livestream. The most famous is probably Vy A, an influencer on Alibaba’s Taobao Live platform, dubbed the ” streaming queen “. She was hit with a record 1.34 billion yuan in tax fines last month, seen as China’s toughest handling in the field.
Wang Zhenxing, brand manager at Hualian Digital, a Hangzhou-based facial recognition payments company that has turned to virtual machine sales, says the network maintains its visual influence. corporate image under pressure to force more influencers to leave the business.
“When top influencers are penalized, some will disappear from the social network entirely, and then traffic will be transferred to other streamers including presenters,” said Wang . this growing virtual program”.
The software cost required to maintain a virtual sales promoter image is only about $8 a day. While top influencers can claim a commission of up to 40{9fa2ae831048424756faedea87f44870cd2ea6d09bcfab62eb5dabc6b233e172} of live streaming sales, charge a daily service fee of up to 500,000 yuan.
Cheng Weizhong, founder and CEO of Deep Science, a Chinese startup engaged in AI livestreaming technology, said, “Virtual servers will become more popular because of too much reliance on people. influence is unsustainable, the market demand is still very strong.”
Still need a lot of time
The business generates about 30 percent of Deep Science’s revenue, which also raised 100 million yuan in funding last year. However, not all direct sales are suitable for virtual machines, it will be more suitable for established retail sites with stable loyal customers like Taobao and JD.com. And recently livestreamed video sites like ByteDance’s Kuaishou and Douyin still claim to have honed sales tricks from influencers to build a step-by-step image for their businesses.
Dreamland Maker Technology in Guangzhou is also raising funds to transition from virtual reality to virtual live streaming. Brand manager Peng Mengyu said “Virtual server creation is a good area for us to expand our business, the majority of young people are fans of anime and manga culture, and so the Meeting the needs of young consumers will benefit us.” However, achieving the success that influencers have created will not be easy.
During last year’s Singles Day online shopping festival, the total revenue of Ly Giai Ky (the lipstick king) and Vy A (the livestream queen) – who are famous sales streamers on Taobao – were 41 billion people. bad, thanks to the long-established value and influence.
A contractor specializing in running livestream sales for dozens of businesses, said: “The biggest advantage of virtual streamers is that they can work 24/7. Our customers don’t care if we use the transmitter. live or virtual, as long as we hit their monthly sales target.”
