Live stream shopping

In China, rural live-streaming initiatives have become a new norm and mainstream trend that created more than 900 live-streaming platforms. During the lockdown, flower farmers have been struggling with thousands of blossoms waiting in storage to be sold. To prevent waste and boost their sales, e-commerce giants used the opportunity to bring the agricultural sector online. For example, JD.com managed to help farmers use live-streaming to reach consumers by showing different products and answering questions from potential buyers.

The concept of entertainmerce (e-commerce + entertainment) influenced the growth of live streaming in China in 2016. However, the number of users declined in 2017. Nowadays, people switched the focus from streamers who sing and dance to more unconventional streamers such as farmers. The ‘‘live shopping‘‘ could create new industries and drive the local development as well.

In the pre-pandemic time, agriculture represented a sector that was not disrupted by the internet. This year, Taobao, the world’s biggest e-commerce website, aims to generate $2.1 billion in agricultural sales using live streaming. The pandemic has been a natural catalyst in creating solutions around farmers who were in need of new sales channels and consumers who were forced to shop online. In addition to that, live streaming provides people in big cities to see where their produce comes from and it addresses the concerns over food safety in China. This could be a great marketing tool that would boost transparency, small businesses, and bring consumers closer to manufacturing and overall brand core identity.