Live e-commerce is being reshaped by content logic

Livestreaming e-commerce is undergoing a transformation driven by content logic. Brands and merchants use innovative livestreaming scenarios and models to focus on the outdoors and source factories to attract and retain users. This article will explore how this content ecosystem renewal changes the operational logic of livestreaming e-commerce, and analyze the strategies and innovations behind successful cases.

Before opening the live broadcast room of Luolai Home Textiles, many people did not expect that they would be able to see the scenery of "Golden Mountain in the Sunlight" in the live broadcast room of Douyin.

Luolai Home Textiles, which specializes in bedding, has always pursued the soft touch of yarn, so it has opened some cotton bases at the foot of Tianshan Mountain in Xinjiang. In September this year, Luolai brought the camera of the live broadcast studio into the cotton fields at the foot of Tianshan Mountain. Users can not only clearly see the texture of the bedding under natural light, but also appreciate the charm of "Sunshine Tianshan Mountain" at different times.

This live broadcast at the foot of the Tianshan Mountains is just a small "slice" of Luolai Home Textiles' traceability to Xinjiang; in September this year, Luolai Home Textiles' traceability to Xinjiang series special event brought the brand a transaction volume of 30.8 million yuan.

Image source: Screenshot from TikTok

"Fun Business" observed that not only Luolai Home Textiles, but many Douyin merchants are trying to expand the scenes and modes of live broadcasts, focusing the camera on the outdoors or their own source factories, and adding to the content attributes of the venue. The renewal of the content ecology is also subtly changing the operating logic of live broadcast e-commerce.

1. Outdoor tracing, a highly visible visual feast

The live broadcast room is not just a bright exhibition hall, but also has grasslands, sheep and the vast distance. If you open the ERDOS Douyin live broadcast room in October this year, you can sit at home and watch the autumn in Ordos in real time, how "the wind blows the grass and sees cattle and sheep".

ERDOS is a fashion brand under the Ordos Group, using high-quality cashmere as raw material. On the ranch, snow-white lambs often break into ERDOS's camera; during the days when ERDOS live broadcasts the source ranch, consumers come to the live broadcast room almost every day to "raise sheep online".

ERDOS started live broadcasting the source of Ordos Ranch last year. As one of the few clothing brands in China that has both "ranch" and "market" construction capabilities, ERDOS has long wanted to take consumers to the source ranch for a look.

Cheng Ai, deputy general manager of the brand business unit and director of the e-commerce department of Inner Mongolia Ordos Cashmere Group, said that the previous failure to carry out the event was due to limitations on tools and poor interactivity of visual presentation; "The emergence of live streaming makes it easier for us to get closer to consumers, and everyone can feel in the video what good cashmere, a gift from nature, should look like."

When tracing back to the source, ERDOS starts broadcasting every day with the sunrise on the grassland, without adding any additional scenery or lighting, presenting the natural flow of flowers, grass and sheep on the grassland at all times of the day.

Image source: Screenshot from TikTok

Cheng Ai mentioned that when live streaming on the grassland, there is no need to worry about the location selection, as every scene in the grassland in autumn is beautiful. "Compared with daily live streaming, source-tracing live streaming pays more attention to the matching of products with the scene. Users can clearly see the dressing effect under natural light, and brands can also provide users with dressing suggestions for going out and traveling more easily."

Compared with the first time it came to the grassland, ERDOS's live broadcast of traceability this year is more efficient; Cheng Ai said that the matching degree between people, goods and venues is better this year than last year. "This year's traceability has basically doubled the number of viewers, and sales during the Double 11 period increased by 50% year-on-year."

ERDOS said that it will continue to do ranch traceability on Douyin next year. In Cheng Ai's view, Douyin is the most popular short video platform for young people, with the most active and young users. At the same time, the environment for interest e-commerce is also quite friendly. Douyin can not only sell goods, but users are also willing to listen to the brand's story and proposition.

"ERDOS is a brand that grew out of the grassland. The endless vitality of the grassland has given the brand vitality. We trace the source of the pasture to let everyone feel our persistence in the concept of sustainable environmental protection. If you love nature, nature will give you better cashmere in return."

Image source: Screenshot from TikTok

The innovation of outdoor traceability in scenes brings visual freshness and satisfaction. Users are willing to stay a little longer for the "beauty", and the brand and product stories have more opportunities to be heard.

"Fun Business" learned that compared with daily indoor live broadcasts, outdoor live broadcasts have better click-through rates and retention rates. Cheng Ai believes that this is mainly due to the richer interactive materials outdoors. A bouquet of flowers, a sheep, and even the weather can become topics for user interaction.

This year, many brands are trying to innovate the form of outdoor live broadcasting. In late September, fast luxury fashion brand UR chose to launch new autumn and winter products in the live broadcast room. UR joined hands with Douyin Mall Super Brand Day and fashion media "Bazaar" to move the fashion show to the live broadcast camera. Mobile carriage stage, supermodel catwalk, trend interpretation by big names... Although there was no "123 link" promotion, the show with practical goods and fashion still "hard controlled" many consumers who were ready to buy autumn and winter clothes, and the total number of viewers for the entire live broadcast was nearly one million.

Interest in e-commerce, interest comes before e-commerce. Many merchants who have made achievements in live e-commerce have said that the first step to attract customers in online business is actually content. Only by truly attracting users into the business field can the brand have the opportunity to convert with products. Nowadays, e-commerce has entered the era of inventory. It is difficult to gain traffic advantages by relying solely on "goods". Only by creating content that users like to see and hear can we have the opportunity to hold the right to speak for traffic in our own hands.

2. Good ideas: how to connect content and transactions?

During the Paris Olympics this summer, a Spanish reporter was photographed by passers-by still carrying the backpack he had worn at the Beijing Olympics. This "reporter bag" became an instant hit, and many people got to know the old domestic brand "Xiangxing Luggage" from Fuqing, Fujian, behind this backpack.

Taking advantage of the Olympic Games, Xiangxing Luggage also used Douyin live broadcast to quickly open up the growth space of traffic and conversion. There are many domestic products that have become popular for a while, but not many can continuously convert "traffic" into "retention"; after the Olympic Games, the traffic of Xiangxing Luggage's live broadcast room has not only not dropped, but also relied on the "whole life" of refurbishing, still attracting a steady stream of new users to interact and place orders.

Image source: Screenshot from TikTok

In the early days of the Olympic traffic influx, Xiangxing's live broadcasts were mainly focused on product introductions in the exhibition hall. However, as the age and interest groups in the live broadcast room became more and more diverse, in order to allow users to more intuitively feel why "Xiangxing-made" has been carried by overseas journalists for 16 years, Xiangxing began to turn to the outdoors and directly conduct sports challenges and waterproof tests on backpacks in the live broadcast room.

Therefore, we can often see Xiangxing anchors using backpacks as weightlifting equipment, sitting on backpacks to be lifted, or putting water dispensers in handbags to "train arm strength" at the foot of the beautiful mountains and the vast coast of Fujian. Many new users in the live broadcast room are amazed, "You Xiangxing people are really hardworking."

Image source: Screenshot from TikTok

As the most interactive online sales scene, the live broadcast room also leaves the most creative space for brands. While Xiangxing has enhanced the fun of live broadcasts through the "sports meeting", it has also completed the selling point of the product's durability and large capacity. According to "Fun Business", as of now, the sales of Xiangxing's main backpack on Douyin have exceeded 330,000.

In addition, the "CEO" and "wife" often appear in Xiangxing's live broadcast room. The boss lady of Xiangxing is the designer of the "Olympic bag". She looks like Sandra Ng and behaves in a socially anxious manner in front of the camera, which is very contrasting. In order to relieve the boss lady's nervousness in front of the camera, many users will "support" the boss lady in the comment area.

In addition to the boss lady, the business leaders of Xiangxing also often interact with live broadcast fans with benefits. In the eyes of Xiangxing Group, live broadcast is not only a channel for shipping; CEO Ye Qi said frankly that he hopes that users who come to the live broadcast room can "ask questions, talk about life, and talk about ideals", and the chat does not have to be limited to products.

Image source: Screenshot from TikTok

The live broadcast content is planned and led by the anchor, but the anchor is also the content itself. When entrepreneurs lose their serious and cold aura and start to talk about topics with users at the center, it means that the right to speak is handed over to users. Consumers feel respected and valued, and naturally want to stay in the live broadcast room and become "loyal fans" of the anchor and the brand.

"Huoli 28" is an old Chinese brand that was revived by a group of loyal fans. As an old brand selling laundry detergent, Huoli 28 had originally faded out of consumers' sight, but last year it became a favorite of many consumers again thanks to the "liveliness" of three uncles in the live broadcast room.

Looking at the entire Douyin, it is probably difficult to find three "old anchors" of such high age in the "Vitality 28" live broadcast room. Netizens affectionately call them "Uncle with Glasses", "Uncle with Bald Head" and "Handsome Uncle". The three uncles speak in a slightly funny Trump accent and introduce laundry detergent with a sincere but slightly clumsy look.

The uncles don’t know much about the Internet, but they are willing to dance the “Three Little Swans” and “walk the runway” with brand logos in the live broadcast room, and try their best to meet all the “talent shows” requested by consumers.

Last year, thanks to the real money support from Douyin netizens, Vitality 28 gradually retreated from the brink of bankruptcy and liquidation. Vitality 28 therefore also called its consumers "cloud shareholders". In the daily updates of the account, Vitality 28 will regularly report to cloud shareholders, disclose the use of rewards, and changes in workers' living welfare; it will also use abstract and playful ways to teach cloud shareholders how to avoid "Vitality 2B" and "Huodao 28" and other counterfeit goods.

Image source: Screenshot from TikTok

The short videos of uncles’ daily life updated on the official account have been a good way to attract attention when the uncles are not in the live broadcast room. At the same time, it also provides consumers with a space to express their feelings and brand suggestions. The likes and comments of the "Huili 28 Clothing Cleaning Flagship Store" account are also much higher than those of ordinary store accounts. Nowadays, it is normal for uncles’ "life tidbits" to receive more than 10,000 likes, and the number of fans of the official account has soared to 11.73 million.

During this year's "Double 11", Huoli 28 ranked among the top 3 brands of personal care and household cleaning products; Xiangxing's main model of luggage also became a new "out-of-stock hot item" in the category. The new achievements of traditional domestic products have verified that content creativity is releasing new momentum for e-commerce growth.

Eye-catching content brings a steady stream of traffic, live broadcasts are handled by services, and stores provide long-tail transactions. The demand in the transaction pool may be limited, but "good content" that never expires can always bring interest and attention.

Many creators have experienced that their videos still receive comments written by fans many months or even a year after they were released. This is the long-lasting charm of good content. E-commerce authors who are good at content should consider how to cultivate the pallet and supply chain; and for merchants who already have "good prices and good products", if they want long-term growth, they will undoubtedly find the answer from the content ecosystem.

3. How to carry out global innovation?

According to the Star Chart Data's "2024 E-commerce Development Report", Douyin still ranks first in the market share of live e-commerce. Every day, 3.8 billion traffic enters Douyin's live broadcast room. For many consumers, "buying on Douyin" has become a part of their lives. Naturally, most merchants also regard Douyin as the first choice and key operating platform for new products.

For these businesses, it is no longer as simple as "posting a link" to accurately target the target group on an all-encompassing national platform. In order to give businesses more certainty of growth ideas, in September this year, Douyin upgraded its e-commerce author support policy and also announced a set of effective business methodologies.

Image source: Canned Image Library

To continue to break through the growth ceiling, merchants need to do a good job of "global content" on the basis of "good prices and full range of goods", while keeping up with the platform's marketing actions and trying their best to ensure every user's participation experience. In this methodology, "good prices and full range of goods" and "global content" are undoubtedly the most long-term planning and the most labor-intensive parts of the brand on a daily basis.

"Global content" includes live broadcasts and short videos. "Fun Business" observed that many domestic brands, such as Huoli 28 and Xiangxing Luggage, have global content planning and lineups from their own companies; however, some domestic brands choose to seek "foreign aid" and work with more professional vertical experts to achieve the effect of 1+1>2.

For example, when promoting "Redmi Note14 pro+", Xiaomi invited the popular sports expert "Tiedou" to take on multiple challenges of anti-fall, waterproof, and low-temperature resistance on the mobile phone.

Tiedou usually likes to update various extreme sports challenges on her account. Her appearance has also attracted the attention of many sports enthusiasts to Redmi's new products. Tiedou first hit the phone screen with camping nails and an electric drill in the live broadcast room, observed the change in power in the ice box, and then went to the outdoor swimming pool to test the underwater photography quality and waterproof effect. Despite Tiedou's various "difficulties", Xiaomi's mobile phone was not damaged at all.

Image source: Screenshot from TikTok

Tiedou's participation provided endorsement for the test, and also helped Xiaomi attract many users outside the digital circle; according to official data, the number of viewers of this live broadcast exceeded 3.44 million. During the test with Tiedou, the new users who flocked into the live broadcast room also invisibly established a sense of trust with Xiaomi.

This year, professional tour guides were invited to participate in the Jingdezhen special event of "See the World through Oriental Selection"; the tour guides, together with the host, introduced the colors of porcelain kiln changes and told how ant-sized words were fired onto porcelain.

The GMV of the Jingdezhen live broadcast exceeded 6 million, breaking the record of the Jingdezhen Ceramic Industry Belt's entire network special in 2024. The audience felt the charm and artistic value of porcelain making in advance in the interesting explanation, so that the related porcelain tableware was sold out as soon as it was put on the shelves before the explanation was finished.

Video is now the main carrier of information dissemination. According to a report released by China Media Research (CSM), the usage rate of short videos among netizens aged 10 and above has increased to 94.5%. The desire to shop is often hidden in an unconscious browsing or a live broadcast.

Image source: Screenshot from TikTok

The content ecosystem composed of short videos and live broadcasts still has countless potential demands waiting for merchants to tap into. This is why Douyin e-commerce will upgrade its traffic mechanism and emphasize to merchants that good content will become the primary productive force for business growth.

Creative, fresh, and thoughtful video content will eventually be reflected in the viewing time and interaction rate in the background. If businesses want to optimize their content, they cannot ignore the analysis of traffic fluctuations. Users cannot reject "good content", just as businesses that interact sincerely will always be accepted by fans.

In the future, on the Douyin platform, the content logic will inevitably reconnect people, goods, and places. It is worth continuing to pay attention to which new businesses and old brands can achieve new breakthroughs through content creativity.

Author | Zhang Hanjing Editor | Interesting Business Consumption Group