When e-commerce anchors become professional

The rapid development of e-commerce live streaming is driving the professionalization of this industry. The participation of more and more highly educated anchors has improved the professionalism and credibility of the market, while also driving employment and local economic development.

｜GUIDE｜

• Is live streaming e-commerce becoming professional?
• How do online anchors drive employment?
• How does the platform help the creator economy?

Malanhua, who graduated from Tsinghua University, once worked for an equity investment company and was an enviable financial white-collar worker.

But in 2020, her life was completely changed by a parenting video she posted on TikTok. The video quickly became popular on the Internet, and her Tsinghua degree and unique parenting views quickly earned her millions of fans.

Therefore, Malanhua chose to resign and give up her high-paying job and became a book live streaming anchor @清华妈妈马兰花.

Malanhua’s decision was not understood by others. At that time, being an online anchor was considered a job with a low threshold and even sensationalism. The topic of “Is it a waste to be an anchor with a high degree of education?” was once very popular.

However, she clearly believed that her identity as a Tsinghua graduate was not a mental barrier for her, but rather the confidence she had in making her choice.

Douyin e-commerce creator @Tsinghua Mom Malanhua

In fact, in the year when she chose to resign and focus on Douyin, her identity as an online anchor had already been initially recognized by the country.

In February 2020, "omni-media operator" was included in the national occupational classification catalog as a new occupation. In July 2020, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, together with the State Administration for Market Regulation and the National Bureau of Statistics, released 9 new occupations, including "Internet marketing specialist", under which the "live broadcast salesperson" occupation was added. This means that e-commerce live broadcasters have become a formal occupation.

This year, online anchor officially became a new profession and obtained national certification.

On July 31, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the State Administration for Market Regulation, and the National Bureau of Statistics jointly released 19 new occupations, and the professional identity of internet anchors was established for the first time in the "Nationally Determined Occupational Classification".

In the past few years, there have been more and more creators like Malanhua who have high academic qualifications and are working as anchors. Their joining also means that online anchors are moving towards specialization, standardization and professionalization, and are gradually forming a creator economy.

Today, the creator economy is constantly upgrading and reorganizing old occupations, and continuously driving employment, becoming an indispensable force in promoting the interconnection between the digital economy and the real economy.

1. Professionalization of selling goods: When creators become a profession

From "crossing the river by feeling the stones" to "officially becoming a regular employee", online anchors have been recognized by the country. At the same time, the live streaming e-commerce market has also entered a stage of refined development.

In this sense, the professionalism and high education of the anchors have improved the credibility and professionalism of the live e-commerce market to a certain extent.

Take Malanhua for example. She knows that it is her parents' cultivation of her study habits that has made her what she is today. Her experience as a top student since childhood has also made her sharing of parenting experience unique, professional and serious.

She would carefully read and study every parenting book, and would only share with others those books that she was willing for her own children to read. She was even a little "nitpicky". She once consulted a friend who was a psychology major because she was not sure whether a word in a book was appropriate.

Today, she has recommended and sold more than 3.1 million products. The books she recommended have also received a lot of positive feedback, with many mothers sending private messages to Malanhua, saying that their children fell in love with reading because of her recommendations.

Tik Tok creator @李嗲Lydiaaa is also a highly educated anchor. She graduated from Renmin University of China and quickly became popular in the field of life sharing with her hardcore and professional evaluation of daily necessities.

Tik Tok e-commerce creator @李嗲Lydiaaa

This method of recommending products through evaluations wins the trust of users with a high degree of professionalism and responsibility, and has high commercial value. Li Dia believes that for a profession or even an industry to exist in the long term, it is inseparable from creating value in a more professional way. "Our rejection rate is as high as 95%, which means that we can only accept 5 out of 100 products that come to us for consultation and cooperation."

According to Li Dia, since she decided to transform into a review and promotion account, the update frequency of the account has dropped from 5-6 posts a month to 1 post a month or even 1 post every two months. The most energy spent on making videos is not shooting, editing, or scripting, but product review.

“For example, when promoting a cosmetic product, you need to confirm whether the qualifications of the cooperating company are complete, whether the product is safe, whether the promotion is compliant, and also whether the product patents, literature, and core technologies are reliable.”

The professional development of online anchors means that the economic sophistication of creators is constantly deepening.

In a sense, the high education and specialization of online anchors, as well as the state's recognition of this profession, are in themselves a "two-way rush." ​​This also indicates that the creator economy may enter a new era of more standardized and prosperous development in the future.

2. The social value of traffic is enhanced: one person becomes an anchor, and a group of people are employed

@Gu Ge (Xu Zhixin) is one of them.

Many years ago, Xu Zhixin walked out of Yanwowan Village in Luotian County, Huanggang City, Hubei Province, and worked as a lawyer in Shenzhen and Beijing, served as a legal advisor for many listed companies, and also served as a part-time professor at the law schools of Tsinghua University and China University of Political Science and Law.

However, encouraged by the Huanggang Municipal Party Committee's "one assignment, two appointments" policy, Xu Zhixin chose to return to his hometown and became the first secretary of Yanwowan Village. He also founded Hubei Yanergu Ecological Sightseeing Agriculture Co., Ltd. to develop leisure agriculture, rural tourism and health care services.

In 2020, the number of tourists dropped sharply, and the villagers faced the dilemma of unsalable agricultural products. Xu Zhixin keenly perceived the potential of e-commerce live streaming and decided to break the situation by selling goods through live streaming. The following year, he established a 600-square-meter e-commerce live streaming base to help farmers and invited anchors to sell goods, but the effect was not good.

“Many anchors do not understand the stories behind local specialty agricultural products, nor are they familiar with the growth and quality of agricultural products. They just sell goods for the sake of selling them.” So, Xu Zhixin decided to become a Douyin anchor to help farmers.

With his in-depth understanding and explanation of his hometown's agricultural products, the variety of goods in Xu Zhixin's live broadcast room has increased from the original 7 to more than 100, and the highest sales of a single live broadcast has reached 500,000 yuan.

The villagers’ agricultural products are sold across the country through live broadcasts, and their income has increased accordingly.

Tik Tok e-commerce creator @GuGe (Xu Zhixin)

With the rapid development of Xu Zhixin's e-commerce live broadcast, a special packing team was set up in the local area. Many women here are unable to work full-time due to family responsibilities. However, the sorters in the packing team can find jobs right at their doorstep. This flexible type of work has helped to employ three to four hundred people in the village.

Working as a sorter here, the women are paid by the hour, 10 yuan an hour. They are reluctant to take a break and want to work more and earn more money.

Similar to @Gu Ge (Xu Zhixin), Liu Xiabing also experienced the transformation from "going out" to "coming back".

Liu Xiabing was born in Pingnan Town, Lingshan, Guangxi, in the 1990s. Her family made a living by weaving bamboo hats. When she was a child, her family was engaged in the foreign trade wholesale business of bamboo weaving, and they lived a comfortable life.

However, in recent years, the export volume of bamboo weaving has dropped sharply, and the bamboo weaving industry in Pingnan Town has gradually declined. Many craftsmen in the town have been forced to change their careers or even leave their hometown to make a living in other places. In 2015, there were only about 10 bamboo weaving families left out of the more than 2,000.

In 2016, Liu Xiabing quit her job in a big city and returned to her hometown to start a business. She began to find customers by opening an online store. But after ups and downs, her business went from booming to loss-making and in debt.

Until 2020, Liu Xiabing registered the Douyin account @刘家人竹编, and created a "hot-selling product" cat bed based on the suggestions of netizens. Since then, she has gradually launched double-layer cat bags, bamboo cat bags and other products around pet supplies, focusing on cat beds. Today, Liu Xiabing's Douyin e-commerce store has increased its annual sales sixfold.

Liu Xiabing's success in Douyin e-commerce has benefited many craftsmen in the town. They no longer have to leave their hometowns, can take care of their elderly, children and ancestral homes, and have income to support their families. As a result, those who left have gradually returned. Now, @刘家人竹织 has brought more than 600 local craftsmen to work.

Liu Xiabing (right), an e-commerce creator on Douyin, broadcasts live via @刘家人竹编

There are many anchors like Xu Zhixin and Liu Xiabing who have excellent backgrounds, have studied and worked in first-tier cities, and then returned to their hometowns. They have brought a fresh force to the development of the rural economy.

In addition, there are many people whose lives are hindered by disabilities, and who have rekindled their hope in life by becoming creators.

For example, Li Yuanyuan was once a disabled cyclist. In her 11-year sports career, she broke the world record twice, stood on the world championship podium three times, and won gold medals in domestic competitions seven times.

However, in her post-retirement career, she encountered many setbacks in her job search due to her disability and academic qualifications. In order to make a living, she started selling local specialties and seafood through Douyin @不火的冠军李园园海洋海洋业务部 in 2019.

Through Douyin's e-commerce business, her life has gradually improved. By the end of 2021, she paid off her debts and helped other disabled athletes find jobs.

Netizens only see a creator who appears in front of the camera, but behind every person on camera is a group of people supporting them. According to calculations by the National Development and Strategy Institute of Renmin University of China, one anchor creates about four direct employment opportunities on average.

3. Digital and real integration: E-commerce creators become an important force in promoting the development of the retail industry

Live streaming e-commerce is no longer a so-called "trend", but has become an important economic form that connects many industries and drives employment. E-commerce creators have also become an important force in the retail industry. They jointly promote the interconnection between the digital economy and the real economy, and help the continuous development of production and consumption formats.

Chen Lifen, a researcher at the Institute of Market Economy of the Development Research Center of the State Council, pointed out that short videos, live broadcasts and other forms break through spatial limitations, connect producers, distributors and consumers across regions, and to a large extent drive production factors from inefficient sectors to efficient sectors;

It is conducive to reducing transaction costs, lowering information asymmetry, achieving economies of scale, and demonstrating strong consumer resource aggregation, consumer demand stimulation, and consumer trend leadership.

More and more creators are growing rapidly and becoming the backbone of live streaming sales. The 2024 Douyin E-commerce Talent Growth Report shows that in the past year, the total sales of Douyin e-commerce talents increased by 43% year-on-year, and the total live broadcast time increased by 40% year-on-year; 5.28 million new talents were added, a year-on-year increase of 74%.

Moreover, the creator ecosystem is becoming increasingly rich, just like the forest with tall trees, short shrubs, climbing vines, and tenacious weeds. The above report also shows that in the first half of 2024, the average daily number of small, medium, and top Douyin e-commerce users will exceed 560,000, 170,000, and 3,000, respectively.

Small businesses can also achieve big business. Among authors with annual sales of 500,000 to 5 million, 30% have fewer than 10,000 fans, while 51% have 10,000 to 100,000 fans.

This means that every creator has the potential to turn content into business. The key behind this is that the platform provides an environment suitable for the growth of creators. It is reported that Douyin e-commerce helps merchants and new farmers to operate with high quality through special assistance, training guidance, and long-term large-scale operations, thereby promoting the expansion of sales of high-quality mountain products.

"The endogenous driving force of future business innovation lies in how to inspire the enthusiasm of every ordinary worker and consumer, while empowering individuals with the power of the platform so that their skills can be released into new scenarios with the help of new online channels." said Chen Duan, director of the Center for Integrated Innovation and Development of Digital Economy at Central University of Finance and Economics.

Many ordinary people have a skill or a passion for content creation, but they often lack the ability to quickly commercialize their skills and promote their brands, as well as the ability to leverage content to drive business.

Platforms such as Douyin e-commerce allow content and commodity traffic to be interconnected, helping both supply and demand sides to achieve accurate matching of resources and capabilities. This mechanism has attracted more e-commerce creators to join, helping them leverage their content to generate business and earn income.

Author｜Xiang Qing Editor｜Xiao Peng This article is written by the author of Operation Party [Market Value List], WeChat public account: [Market Value List], original/authorized to be published on Operation Party, and any reproduction without permission is prohibited.

The title image is from Unsplash, based on the CC0 protocol.