How E-commerce Booming the Economy: Double 11 Inspiration

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the global digital economy has made rapid growth. When one of the world's largest shopping events Double 11 comes around (China's Single's Day sale that takes place annually online on November 11), it generates a flurry of e-commerce activities as merchants scramble to maximize sales. The event could also be seen as a yardstick of consumer sentiment in the pandemic era.

Doble 11 sales hit a new high

Some experts and media predicted that this year's Double 11 sales would likely surpass that of last year as consumers choose online shopping as their major buying channel due to the effects of COVID-19.

AlixPartner, an American consulting company, conducted a survey on Double 11 sales with more than 2,000 consumers from across China on October 28. The report shows that about 39 percent of people surveyed plan to spend more money than last year.

Notably, the survey also points out that livestreaming is the preferred shopping channel, with only 19 percent of consumers not planning to do their shopping via live-streaming during the promotion period. Most Chinese consumers expressed their willingness to buy goods via livestreaming, with the "most popular reasons for this being the good discounts on offer (38 percent) "and the "instant and easily accessible information available through livestreaming (37 percent)."

China's online sales, especially Double 11 sales, continue to grow year by year

The East Asia Forum, an online research platform, gave out its answer in an article titled What is Driving China's E-commerce Growth, there were three reasons driving the economic rise.

First, China has the largest online buyer and seller population, and its population of online consumers has reached 782 million. For example, both Alibaba and Jingdong (JD.com), China's two largest e-commerce platforms, have millions of users in the country.

Second, China has constantly improved its online sales platform. Its e-commerce market is "not only large but diverse," with multiple choices for a wide selection of brands. Although cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou contribute more to the e-commerce market, smaller cities are the main drivers of growth.

Third, China's e-commerce is well supported by mobile payments.In China, more than 90 percent of e-commerce sales are done through mobile devices, as compared to 43 percent in the U.S. More broadly, China has 932 million mobile Internet users representing 99.2 percent of the mobile Internet.

Also, the government sees e-commerce as a key driver of economic growth. Many of these factors have been nurtured and supported by the government at various stages of development.

As one of the most effective ways to improve sales on platforms, livestreaming, together with short videos, social networking and other innovative methods is benefiting the economy.

Li Jiaqi, one of China's top live-streamers, who mostly sells cosmetics online, said on Weibo (China's Twitter), "We used to get about 20 million people watching our show per day, and today (October 20) it's 250 million people joining the presale (of Double 11)."

With Li's livestream, the brands he sells make huge economic gains. According to Verdict (a news website which covers topics surrounding global technology, business and innovation) on October 20, L'Oréal reported an estimated gross merchandise value (GMV) of 726 million RMB (114 million USD), resulting directly from Li's live broadcast. Shiseido and Estée Lauder's GMV reportedly reached 508 million RMB (79 million USD) and 368 million RMB (58 million USD) respectively.

China's livestreaming experience worthing sharing

Luke Gowland, an analyst at GlobalData and e-commerce specialist, said there is enough evidence from China's e-commerce methods to be replicated elsewhere.

"I don't think there's any doubt that with the success of livestream e-commerce in China, brands in the West will start to experiment more with celebrity live- streaming, adapting it for the Western consumer. Influencer marketing is now a mainstream form of online marketing, and celebrity live-streaming seems like a natural next step," said Gowland.