In 2024, who will still be shopping in the live broadcast rooms of big anchors?

This year, the popularity of major live-streaming e-commerce platforms seems to be not as high as in previous years. Major e-commerce anchors have retreated to the background, and even major promotional events such as 618 have failed to create much ripples. People can't help but wonder: Who is still spending recklessly in the live-streaming room?

As live streaming e-commerce enters the second half, those once dazzling big anchors have become much dimmer. Even during the 618 promotion, the big anchors began to become low-key.

Since the beginning of this year, Simba and Xiao Yangge have reduced the frequency of broadcasting, gradually retreated behind the scenes, and let their apprentices support the front. Dong Yuhui did not do anything special during the 618 period, but carried out the live broadcast step by step.

In contrast, Li Jiaqi seems to be working extra hard. He did not forget his job when participating in "Brother Overcoming Troubles" and moved the live broadcast room directly to the show. During the show, Li Jiaqi became a "walking grass-planting machine", once again showing his strong ability to bring goods.

As a product of the times, big anchors once stood at the top of traffic and had a decisive voice in the industry. With the rise of store broadcasts and vertical anchors, consumers have more choices, big anchors are gradually losing their irreplaceability, and the industry ecology is developing towards diversification. Why do users no longer believe in the "only big anchors" theory? Who is still sticking to the big anchors' live broadcast rooms now?

1. After losing the lowest price on the entire network, users began to disenchant with big anchors

In the past, big anchors were proud of their "lowest prices on the Internet". A big anchor once said during a live broadcast that many merchants were squatting in the live broadcast room to buy, and regarded it as a source of goods. And many consumers also regarded the live broadcast room of big anchors as their first choice for shopping.

As the negative impact of the "big anchor effect" gradually exposed, the industry entered a reshuffle period, store broadcasters came to the fore, mid-level anchors were seen by more people, and the voice of big anchors was gradually weakened. And there were counter-examples that broke the consumer's filter of "the lowest price on the entire network" for big anchors.

For example, not long ago, a Roborock P10S PRO sweeping robot was put on sale in Li Jiaqi's live broadcast room. Consumers paid about 4,200 yuan for the product. Less than a month later, some consumers found that the price of the same product in the "Rock Flagship Store" on JD.com was about 3,400 yuan after purchasing it with coupons.

Image source: Weibo screenshot

Li Jiaqi's explanation for this was that "the price was abnormally low due to system reasons and the small quantity of goods", which was equivalent to "flash sale". He believed that comparing the prices of the two was "not so fair" and stressed that "price comparison should still be compared with the Tmall store."

When consumers wanted to apply for a price difference refund from Tmall, they were told that the order itself did not include the price guarantee service and the price difference could not be refunded, which caused dissatisfaction and complaints from consumers. Later, according to feedback from many consumers, Li Jiaqi's live broadcast room returned 800 yuan in live broadcast room red envelopes to consumers.

In fact, this is not an isolated case. For example, a TCL 98T8H TV model was sold at a price of 11,399 yuan in Li Jiaqi's live broadcast room during the 618 shopping festival, while during the same period of JD.com's promotion, the price of this product was 10,999 yuan, a difference of 400 yuan.

There is also the Beurer N5mini shoulder and neck massager, which is priced at 389 yuan in Li Jiaqi's live broadcast room, and 338.8 yuan in JD's flagship store after participating in cross-store discounts.

Image source: Xiaohongshu screenshot

Similar things have happened to other big anchors. For example, Jia Nailiang, the new Douyin "top influencer", once put an AMIRO beauty instrument on the shelves. The estimated price displayed in the live broadcast room was 4,599 yuan, but the daily selling price in offline Sam's Club was only 2,999 yuan. The huge price difference caused strong dissatisfaction among consumers, and Jia Nailiang himself was also suspected of "scamming".

However, the brand later came out and said that the product that Jia Nailiang promoted was an upgraded version, which was obviously different from the Sam's Club version. This calmed the anger of the consumers.

Image source: Weibo screenshot

In addition, the products such as yam spicy sticks, soapberry laundry detergent and Jinfang softener launched in Xiao Yangge’s live broadcast room are relatively priced higher than similar products on other e-commerce platforms in the market.

From the consumer side, the user mentality of big anchors offering the “lowest price on the entire network” is gradually disintegrating, and users are no longer obsessed with shopping with a certain big anchor. Linglong is an Internet practitioner, and she said, “Now some brands will set up differentiated gift mechanisms in different anchors’ live broadcast rooms to prevent consumers from comparing prices with each other.”

For example, during last year's Double Eleven, the price of Proya Ruby Eye Cream 20g (version 2.0) in Li Jiaqi's live broadcast room was 289 yuan, and the gifts were 5 4g samples of the same eye cream and 5 ruby ​​masks. The price of the Xianggulai live broadcast room is the same as that of Li Jiaqi's live broadcast room, and the gifts are two masks replaced with ruby ​​lotion samples, and the rest are the same.

Image source: Xiaohongshu screenshot

Linglong was originally a fan of Li Jiaqi, but since she failed to grab the product in Li Jiaqi’s live broadcast room, she placed an order in Xianggulai’s live broadcast room. “Anyway, the price is the same, and although the gifts are not exactly the same, they are almost the same,” she said.

In addition to losing the advantage of "the lowest price on the entire network", the "failure" of bringing goods is also affecting the reputation and image of big anchors. Last year, the "79 yuan eyebrow pencil" incident of Li Jiaqi plunged him into a public opinion crisis. Even though he apologized quickly, many netizens still did not buy it. Until now, the "hard work" joke about eyebrow pencils is still circulating on major social platforms.

2. Have the big anchors really lost their appeal?

It is undeniable that the influence of big anchors has indeed declined today, but compared with brand-owned broadcasts and small and medium-sized anchors, big anchors still have strong appeal.

From a brand perspective, big anchors have a third-party perspective and can tell the brand story behind the product well. This makes it easier for consumers to have a favorable impression of the brand than for the brand to talk to itself.

At the same time, the more stringent product selection system of big anchors can provide platforms, endorsements, and promotions for brands, using a more professional content system to promote the brands. This is why some brands emphasize that it is "recommended by XX live broadcast room."

For users, the appeal of live broadcasts by big anchors is not simply the "lowest price on the entire network", but also the guarantee of carefully selected products. For example, the current commodities are dazzling, which makes it difficult for consumers to choose. Big anchors can recommend more suitable products according to the different needs of consumers, which not only solves consumers' choice difficulties, but also greatly saves consumers' time.

The "unique" niche products in the live broadcast room of big anchors can also attract some users. Grape said that she once bought two bottles of Fengtian shampoo in Li Jiaqi's live broadcast room for 128 yuan. When she wanted to buy it back during the non-promotion period, she found that she could only buy one bottle at the same price. The large price difference made her unacceptable and tried to find other purchase channels.

Image source: Tik Tok screenshot

"I wondered if this product would appear in other anchors' daily live broadcasts. After searching, I found that it seemed that only Li Jiaqi was selling this product. So I searched for this product on multiple platforms, and it turned out that it was relatively cheap only in an unnamed live broadcast room on Douyin, where two bottles cost 148 yuan," said Grape.

However, since there was no anchor on the live broadcast room, only one person was explaining the items in the shopping cart, and the number of followers of this account was only 5,811, Grape gave up the idea of ​​buying. "Although the product link comes from the official flagship store of Fengtian Douyin, considering that the price is not that cheap and I am not in a hurry to use it, I will wait and buy it," she said.

In addition, the live broadcast rooms of big anchors will now also have benefits such as new products and free trials, which is also attractive to some consumers.

Moreover, some big anchors are no longer just shopping guides, but have a certain star effect, providing emotional value for users. Even if some fans don’t want to buy anything, they will habitually watch live broadcasts to kill time and gain spiritual satisfaction.

For example, when Li Jiaqi participated in "Brother Who Overcomes Troubles" this time, some fans went to the scene to cheer him on, and his behavior of sending midnight snacks and bread also made many passers-by feel good about him.

Image source: Xiaohongshu screenshot

On Xiaohongshu, one can see notes such as "I'm really a fan of Li Jiaqi this time", "Sorry, I want to join Li Jiaqi's fan club", "My big star Li Jiaqi is starting to have baggage", and some netizens said "We also have Li Jiaqi as a connection in the entertainment industry", as if treating Li Jiaqi as an entertainment star.

3. After the peak, where should the big anchors go?

With the era of super-headliners gone forever, big anchors have started side businesses in search of diversified development.

Some of them intend to step back and let their apprentices take over. In early March this year, Brother Yang said during a Douyin live broadcast that there will be more entertainment live broadcasts in 2024, and the number of live broadcasts with goods will be reduced. Even if there are special live broadcasts with goods, they may choose to let their apprentices use their accounts with over 100 million fans to live broadcast.

Creating their own brands is basically a common choice for big anchors. As early as 2017, Simba began to develop his own brand and promoted the sanitary napkin brand Cotton Code in his live broadcast room in 2018. After six years on the market, the total sales of Cotton Code has reached 3 billion yuan.

Last year, Simba personally led the team to launch the food brand Jianfeng Shike, which received 975,000 orders for its first live streaming and achieved a GMV of 113 million yuan. It is reported that Xinxuan has launched dozens of self-operated brands, covering personal care and beauty, daily necessities, clothing, shoes and bags, and other categories, of which nearly 20 brands have sales exceeding 100 million yuan.

Brother Xiao Yang began to vigorously develop his own brand Xiao Yang Selection in 2023. Last year, he spent 30 million yuan on a concert, which increased the number of fans of Xiao Yang Selection by 4 million, and all the tickets for this year's electronic music festival were sold out.

Most of the products in Xiao Yang’s store are daily necessities, such as garbage bags, snacks, laundry detergent, etc. Among them, a garbage bag priced at 9.9 yuan has accumulated sales of over 10 million orders.

Image source: Douyin, Taobao screenshots

In contrast, Li Jiaqi was late in developing his own brand. In June this year, Mei ONE Select was officially launched on Tmall. In addition, Li Jiaqi also created the IP of Naiwa Family. In April this year, Naiwa Family and Bear Claw Coffee opened their first co-branded coffee shop in Shanghai - NEVER MIND CAFE.

On the opening day, Li Jiaqi appeared in the coffee shop and said that he "wanted to open 100 coffee shops", attracting many fans to check in and consume.

As the live streaming industry continues to develop, the halo of big anchors has faded. Although they no longer have a strong voice, their live streaming rooms still attract many users with their deep fan base and professional product selection capabilities. In the future, we will wait and see what new stories the big anchors can tell.

References:

1. Li Jiaqi overcame all difficulties, where will the big anchor go｜Internet Headlines

2. Big anchors are losing the low-price machete｜Titanium Media

3. Big anchors bid farewell to the lowest price on the Internet｜E-commerce News Pro

Author: Aries

Source: WeChat public account "TopKlout (ID: TopKlout)"