Cross-border livestreaming gives a lift to Chinese factories

Visitors learn about bamboo and wood products at the 2023 China Cross-border E-commerce Trade Fair in Fuzhou, southeast China's Fujian Province, March 18, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]

HANGZHOU - Chinese exporters have found a new way to rev up sales by setting up livestreaming rooms within their factories, directly promoting a wide variety of products from garments to excavators and charging piles to global buyers.

Every Tuesday and Thursday, Yiwu O-Choice Import and Export, a leading supplier of silks and pillowcases, launches broadcasting sessions on Alibaba.com, an online business-to-business marketplace for global wholesalers.

Among the 60-plus members of the firm's foreign trade group, over 10 have turned themselves into livestreamers. During a recent one-hour session, its silk products sales reached $650,000, according to general manager Liu Mingyang.

"We started live streaming last year, and it has become part of our everyday work," Liu said, adding that cross-border livestreaming and short videos have greatly improved their transaction efficiency.

Yiwu O-Choice is among a number of Chinese export-oriented enterprises that are riding a new cross-border e-commerce wave to reach overseas buyers and boost their trade recovery.

Chinese sportswear maker Zhejiang Aidu Garments decided to dive head-first into livestream marketing in the second half of 2021. In the first quarter of this year, the company saw a 38 percent year-on-year rise in sales.

"By taking overseas buyers on a virtual tour of our office, R&D center and exhibition room, we have been able to land orders more quickly and efficiently," said Lai Guorong, general manager of Aidu.

The businesses' turn to livestreaming is being accelerated by the efforts of Alibaba.com.

Since it launched the cross-border livestreaming service two years ago, more than 40,000 businesses have tried the new approach, with an average of 5,000 to 6,000 broadcast sessions held each day, according to Zhang Kuo, President of Alibaba.com.

Data showed that from January to March, the number of overseas livestreaming viewers on Alibaba.com increased by 198 percent year on year.

Economists believe that live broadcast e-commerce has bolstered the recovery of trade in China during its digitalization wave.

China's foreign trade got off to a steady start in 2023, as total goods imports and exports expanded 4.8 percent year on year in the first quarter, reversing a decline of 0.8 percent in the first two months of the year, official data showed.

In the first three months, exports grew 8.4 percent year on year to 5.65 trillion yuan (about $816 billion) while imports rose 0.2 percent to 4.24 trillion yuan, bringing the total trade to 9.89 trillion yuan.

According to a State Council meeting held in early April, China will make more efforts to implement a policy mix to maintain the stability of foreign trade and help enterprises secure orders and expand the market.

"Cross-border livestreaming can help buyers and sellers establish trust quickly. The new approach will have huge potential in the future," Liu said.