The live streaming rooms are getting more and more expensive. Are “Li Jiaqi” abandoning the working people?

With the development of the live broadcast e-commerce industry, top anchors such as Li Jiaqi and Dong Yuhui have begun to introduce more high-priced brands and items, and the prices of goods in the live broadcast room have risen sharply. This change from "cost-effectiveness" to "quality-price ratio" is behind the live broadcast industry's reflection on the low-price strategy and the screening of high-spending customers. This article will explore the reasons behind the price increase in the live broadcast room and the impact of this change on consumers and the live broadcast industry ecosystem.

When the shopping craze of the "New Year Goods Festival" was set off, many workers could not help but sigh again after squatting in the live broadcast room, "Why is live broadcasting getting more and more expensive?"

Recently, Li Jiaqi responded to this question in an interview with the media: In the past few years, most of the live broadcasts were small brands, and the products were relatively cheap, with prices often ranging from 9.9 yuan, 29.9 yuan, 39.9 yuan, and 59.9 yuan, which were very cost-effective. However, with the development of the live broadcast e-commerce industry, more and more brands have entered the live broadcast sales track. As the products become more abundant, the corresponding prices will inevitably change, from a few yuan to more than ten yuan, to hundreds of yuan, and even to thousands or tens of thousands.

In short, the live streaming track that has made a name for itself by relying on "cost-effectiveness" and "the lowest price on the entire network" has changed its direction. Behind the transformation from "cost-effectiveness" to "quality-price ratio" is not only the abandonment of the sales logic of "trading price for volume", but also the gradual screening out of customers with higher consumption power.

1. From “the lowest price on the entire network” to secretly raising prices

Going back to a few years ago, when you open the live broadcast rooms, you can often hear slogans such as "super low price", "lowest price on the Internet" and "only single digits". The most classic "famous scene" is Li Jiaqi holding a lipstick and shouting "Buy it!"

At that time, "lowest price" was one of the core advantages of the top anchors, so much so that when it was challenged, a "low price defense war" would be staged. For example, according to a previous report by Jiemian News, on Double 11 in 2019, the Pechoin product that was originally scheduled to appear in Li Jiaqi's live broadcast was temporarily cancelled, and then this product appeared in Wei Ya's live broadcast room. Li Jiaqi later said in the live broadcast room, "If we want to do it, we will offer the lowest price. If we don't, we won't participate." He blacklisted Pechoin.

But just a few years later, it is difficult for consumers to hear the "lowest price" in the live broadcast room. Instead, it is not difficult to notice that the top anchors are gradually raising the prices of goods in the live broadcast room. The price increase is usually divided into two forms: increasing the price of a single product; choosing more high-priced items and brands.

Examples of increasing the price of a single product are not uncommon. Taking the recent example, on social platforms, many netizens pointed out that "Qier's live broadcast room is getting more and more expensive". Qi'er was once the assistant of the top anchor Wei Ya, and started selling goods on Douyin live broadcast in 2022. Among them, some netizens recently posted that the experience of this year's New Year's Festival in Qi'er's live broadcast room was very poor. "I bought three boxes of Chunzhen yogurt before, and I got more than 70 yuan. Today, even if there is a red envelope, it will cost more than 80 yuan; this sock was directly 34.9 (yuan) before, and today the original price is 39.9 yuan, and it is only 34.9 yuan after receiving the red envelope..." And in the comment area under this post, many people also said that "each one is so expensive."

Image source: Xiaohongshu

In addition, another netizen mentioned that he had bought the same goose down jacket in 2023, and it was "about 310 yuan at that time". This year, Qi'er's live broadcast room also put this 2023 goose down jacket on sale, "It's actually selling for 440. The one I bought when it was first released a year ago was cheaper than what you are selling now."

Compared with direct price increases, top anchors such as Li Jiaqi have actually chosen to expand high-priced categories and choose high-priced brands. For example, choose high-priced brands among products in the same category. Taking the Mother and Baby Festival special in Li Jiaqi's live broadcast room in December every year as an example, according to the "Alphabet List", on the 22nd Mother and Baby Day, Li Jiaqi's live broadcast room mainly promoted Aveeno baby massage oil, which was priced at 87 yuan per 100 ml, while the 24th live broadcast room mainly promoted Evereden massage oil, which was priced at 165 yuan per 118 ml; the BabyCare bottles promoted in 21 and 22 were priced at 148-218 yuan and 148-168 yuan respectively according to different milliliters, and the hegen bottles promoted on the 24th Mother and Baby Day were priced at 338 yuan.

Li Jiaqi responded to the issue of "getting more and more expensive" in an interview with The Paper

Another typical example is Dong Yuhui. At the beginning of the independence of "Traveling with Hui", the common categories in his live broadcast room were still agricultural products and food. But gradually, high-priced products such as cowhide sofas priced at 5,599 yuan, spring mattresses priced at 2,549 yuan, and Armani watches priced at 1,290 yuan also poured into the live broadcast room and display windows. Among them, in March last year, Dong Yuhui also brought goods to Huawei's special event, and the Mate 60 Pro mobile phone priced at 6,999 yuan was sold out. The total sales volume exceeded 100 million yuan.

Coincidentally, in October last year, Simba, who started his business with low-priced products, also began to introduce a large number of high-priced products into the live broadcast room, including the 1,360 yuan Whoo Weather Dan set, the 1,399 yuan Honor X60 mobile phone, and the 6,299 yuan Xiaomi MIX Fold3 mobile phone.

Low price tags and grassroots fans abandoned by big anchors

2. Why should we abandon the “low price tag”?

One important reason is that selling low-priced products has gradually become a thankless task.

First of all, the logic behind the low prices in live broadcast rooms is often "price for volume". However, in recent years, with the various changes in the live broadcast environment, the more realistic result is often that even if the price goes down, GMV is difficult to reach expectations.

We can get a glimpse of this from Douyin. According to an exclusive report by LatePost, in March and April 2024, Douyin's e-commerce sales growth slowed down for the first time, with the year-on-year sales growth rate falling below 40% for two consecutive months; by May, it had fallen to less than 30%. In 2023, Douyin's e-commerce sales growth rate remained above 50% per month.

In addition, looking back at the various "crash" incidents in the live broadcast track in 2024, from Xiao Yangge selling 3 boxes of Meicheng mooncakes for 99 yuan and being accused of false advertising, to Northeast Yujie selling sweet potato vermicelli at 5 yuan per catty and being punished for selling counterfeit goods, all of them are related to low-priced products.

Northeast Rain Sister's previous statement

Even Dong Yuhui once made mistakes in the low-priced goods area. In January this year, Zizibang reported that on social platforms, many consumers complained that some products in the "Traveling with Hui" live broadcast room were of poor quality, such as seaweed priced at 18.8 yuan and dried persimmons priced at 32.8 yuan. For example, in the purchase comment area of ​​the Bibi Miao nuts in the live broadcast room, many consumers reported that they bought them through the "Traveling with Hui" live broadcast room, but the quality was not good, and they hoped that the team could strictly control the quality.

Against this background, it is not difficult to understand why the top anchors have begun to quietly transform and want to get rid of the shackles of low prices. Of course, the gradually rising price threshold has also changed the audience of the live broadcast room. In January of this year, the proportion of users from fourth-tier cities in Dong Yuhui's live broadcast room reached 40%, and now the proportion of users from third-tier cities and above is nearly 80%. According to the eight major consumer groups, now, Dong Yuhui's live broadcast room's new white-collar workers, senior middle-class, and exquisite mothers account for a total of 60%. These people have strong consumption power, and most of the users in the live broadcast room have a customer unit price level of 100-200 yuan, of which more than 100 yuan accounts for 51%.

Li Jiaqi also said when explaining the price increase of products, "In our live broadcast room, there will be a group of sisters or girls with a financial budget, including many girls who bring their mothers to watch our live broadcast. As a result, some aunts will definitely come to me to buy some things that their age group needs."

But is it because of the change in consumer demand that forced the change in the categories of live broadcast rooms, or is it because the higher prices gradually screened out the first generation of fans who came for the "wool"? Perhaps, there is still a question mark.

Written by Li Xuanqi Edited by Li Ji