Don’t underestimate the value of Apple Live

At 7pm on May 31, Apple's Tmall flagship store started live streaming. This was also Apple's first official live streaming worldwide, and it sold quite well. However, the reviews of this Apple premiere were quite polarized. In the end, was this an awkward follow-up by Apple in the guise of live streaming, or was it an attempt to maintain the brand tone and try a new way of communicating with domestic users? Let the author of this article answer your question.

There is no brand in China that does not broadcast live.

Even Apple, which has always been known for its "aloof style", is no exception.

At 7pm on May 31, Apple's Tmall flagship store started live streaming, which was also Apple's first official live streaming worldwide. According to data released by Taobao on June 1, nearly 1.3 million people watched the live streaming, and within one hour, the live streaming room received 300,000 likes, and many products were sold out.

This Apple premiere, which seemed to have achieved good sales results in the end, received polarized reviews from the outside world.

Some users believe that this live broadcast maintains Apple’s high-end and non-vulgar brand tone, and that “no marketing is the best marketing.”

However, some users believe that "it mainly focuses on explaining functions, without directly selling products or issuing coupons, which is not what they expected."

Although it seems to cater to the domestic live streaming trend, Apple's first broadcast does not contain so many sales-style sensationalism and live streaming-exclusive discounts.

In the end, is this an awkward follow-up by Apple in the guise of live streaming, or is it an attempt to find new ways of communicating with domestic users while maintaining the brand tone?

Judging from the current global shipment trends of smart hardware products, challenges and opportunities coexist.

IDC data shows that global smartphone shipments in 2022 will be 1.21 billion units, down 11.3% year-on-year. At the same time, Apple CEO Cook recently said in an interview that iPhone sales in the second fiscal quarter of 2023 set a record.

Obviously, a reshuffle may be underway in the hardware market.

Behind this global premiere, there may be more breakthroughs and attempts based on Apple's analysis of the industry's general trend and its own situation.

Especially in the current environment where China's Internet consumption is booming but the user dividend is gradually disappearing, Apple is also trying to keep up with the pace and directly reach users in new ways. This can also explain why it is live streaming on the Tmall flagship store - as the core platform for Apple's fan operations in China, the Tmall flagship store with more than 25 million fans is undoubtedly the core position for Apple to accumulate store assets and serve users.

Regardless of whether this live broadcast sold goods or not, for consumers who are familiar with the thousands of ways and routines of live broadcast sales, this unique attempt has opened up a new path. It still has multiple reference significance for many internationally renowned brands that have not yet put down their airs or are about to do so.

After all, live streaming should never be just about “selling goods”.

As live streaming becomes increasingly tied to “selling goods”, Apple’s live streaming may be telling us that live streaming should have more possibilities.

01 What does the live broadcast without selling goods do?

For users who are familiar with domestic live-streaming sales, Apple’s global premiere was a very abnormal “Buddhist” live broadcast.

On the evening of May 31, Apple held a live broadcast at its official flagship store on Tmall. Until five minutes before the live broadcast began, the customer service of the official flagship store on Tmall still said, "Because this is also Apple's first live broadcast, we have not received any live broadcast event content yet." They were unable to respond to questions such as whether there would be any promotional activities during the live broadcast.

There wasn’t even a traditional livestreaming sales segment. The livestream started at 7pm, and just when you thought you were finally ready to grab the products, four staff members in blue Apple T-shirts showed up, without the usual “3, 2, 1, link!” sales method.

Image source: Screenshot of Apple Live

Rather than saying that these four staff members are live streamers, it would be more accurate to say that they are Apple's product experts. They have been demonstrating to users how to use iPhone to shoot movies with cinematic effects, how to use Apple Watch to record sports activities, etc. Not a single word was mentioned about "placing an order or adding to cart". Every sentence was about the product itself and how to use it.

Unlike most live-streaming hosts and brands that are accustomed to live-streaming sales, Apple’s live broadcast did not even have a coupon session in the live-streaming room to increase sales.

However, careful consumers still found that there were actually 24 links to Apple products in the live broadcast room, and the details page showed information about interest-free installments, official price cuts, and cross-platform discounts for the 618 event. It seems that this live broadcast is not unrelated to Apple's 618 event, but selling products is not the focus of this live broadcast.

There were no exclusive discounts for live broadcasts, no hawking - this Buddhist live broadcast made the audience, who were accustomed to receiving coupons in the live broadcast room, buying products at lower prices, and watching the on-site anchor's improvisational interaction and entertainment, somewhat anxious.

While browsing this live broadcast, we counted and found that within one minute, the audience collectively posted 186 comments about "price reduction", and the word "coupon" dominated the screen in the live broadcast room.

Judging from the current domestic live streaming e-commerce ecosystem with infinite internal competition, Apple's live streaming appears to be quite unique.

One netizen jokingly summed up Apple’s global live broadcast debut, “The most Buddhist live broadcast sold the most goods. In the face of absolute strength, all skills are nothing.”

02 What does Apple want?

It seems that Apple's global premiere did not promote products through live sales, coupon distribution, and transaction completion.

But if it doesn’t want to sell products, why would Apple try to premiere globally on Taobao and Tmall?

In my opinion, the reason why Apple’s first broadcast was not conducted in the live streaming sales format that is familiar in China is because its ultimate goal may be to sell goods.

Not every brand is suitable for the hypermarket-like promotion. At least it is not suitable for Apple at all.

Whether it is to warm up the marketing of Apple products in the upcoming 618 promotion, or to explore suitable paths and accumulate rich experience for Apple's possible ongoing live broadcast activities in the long run, this live broadcast by Apple will obviously not be an unprepared decision made on the spur of the moment.

Perhaps in Apple's view, trying various new strategies and methods to narrow the distance with consumers, within the scope allowed by its tone, is an indispensable exploration path, just like innovative technological iterations.

In fact, in recent years, Apple has begun to adapt to the wave of Internet consumption in China and started to participate in the main activities of Tmall's 618 consumer promotion, stimulating user purchases through various means such as coupons.

Apple's Tmall official flagship homepage shows that from 20:00 on May 31 to June 3, you can enjoy surprise coupons, including store coupons, Apple mobile phone coupons, Apple digital shopping coupons, AppleCare+ service plan coupons, etc. Among them, the maximum discount for iPhone phones is 1,700 yuan. Last year's 618, the maximum discount for iPhone phones in Apple's Tmall official flagship store was 1,600 yuan.

Coupons available for iPhone 14 Pro Max

Image source: Taobao screenshot

In addition, various smart accessories and peripherals such as notebooks, computers, smart watches, etc. are participating in the promotion.

Previously, Apple CEO Cook said, "June 18 is an important shopping day in China, and we have achieved strong results before that."

Last year’s Double 11, Apple’s promotions on Tmall already brought it great rewards; in February of this year, Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro series reduced prices in online stores in the Chinese market and official online channels such as Tmall; in March, Apple launched another wave of price reduction promotions in China on "Goddess Day".

Obviously, Apple has been thoroughly integrated into various major consumer promotion festivals in China, and is also familiar with the country's online and offline marketing strategies and various price reduction methods.

Through big promotions, Apple can stimulate a wave of old customers to repurchase, while also reaching some new users and bringing in a wave of hesitant customers who are relatively sensitive to prices to try out new purchases.

I think live streaming should be another solution provided by Apple besides the big promotion. After all, compared with the wider coverage of big promotion, live streaming can allow companies and products to reach more consumers at a higher frequency.

Judging from Apple's previous style, Apple's brand tone has long been high-end, and apart from the sales link in brand stores, the company has not had much direct communication with users. Faced with the new situation and new consumption trends in China, Apple also needs to update the way it communicates with its own users.

Live streaming, as an efficient and multi-dimensional form of interaction, can not only stimulate old users and increase repeat purchases through repeated and frequent communication operations and brand solidification, but also reach new users and effectively break the circle through multi-dimensional marketing strategies.

A merchant case I studied before, Huadian, started live streaming on Taobao in mid-to-late April this year. The team has 3 anchors, and the average daily live streaming time is 10 hours. Currently, the store has nearly one million fans, ranking among the top ten in the industry.

This store will plan products for the live broadcast room, adjust the main products according to different stages, and launch popular seasonal flowers. It will set exclusive prices for fans, provide exclusive rights for live broadcasts, and continue to operate live broadcasts and reach users.

They have introduced that although flower live streaming is a niche business, the number of fans gained in a single live broadcast room is generally two to three hundred, and there are times when the number of fans increased by more than 500. The conversion rate of some items through live streaming exceeds 5%.

This is the value of live streaming for merchants and stores. In the context of no growth in overall traffic, through sophisticated and effective live streaming, they can reach new users and increase followers, stimulate existing users to repurchase, and also reap development dividends.

For a well-known brand like Apple, it may be more important to stimulate existing users and fans through new communication methods such as live streaming, and to accumulate store assets through reasonable private domain operations.

One piece of data will tell you why. Currently, Apple has 14.09 million followers on Facebook, 9.22 million followers on Twitter, and 18.63 million followers on LinkedIn. The official Weibo account "Apple Support" launched by Apple in 2019 has 400,000 followers, and the official TikTok account launched in 2022 has 870,000 followers.

On Taobao, where the show premiered, Apple’s official flagship store has 23.53 million fans, making it one of Apple’s largest fan asset management platforms in China.

It is crucial for Apple to conduct effective fan and user operations here through live streaming and other means.

Obviously, Apple will not give up live streaming, and it is impossible for it to give up live streaming. As it has attracted users' attention in its first attempt, Apple should continue to move forward on the road of live streaming.

After all, in the era of inventory, the significance of user value exploration is far greater than finding new traffic depressions.

Even Taobao Tmall, the platform where this event premiered, emphasized at the 618 Merchant Conference that the first of the three directions of "transformation and innovation" for the Taobao Tmall platform is "user first."

Perhaps, tapping into user value and accumulating store assets is not only a problem that Apple needs to solve in the long run, but also a new topic for many well-known brands under the new situation.

03 Live streaming is not just about selling goods?

Through a live broadcast that is not perfect yet, Apple has taken the "first step" in a new way of communicating with users. Will other international brands follow suit? Do they need to follow suit?

As early as three years ago, when live streaming sales first became popular, the economic environment and online and offline consumption scenarios were different at that time, and the attitudes of many brands were completely different. Some big brands even held a resistance attitude. In the eyes of these brands, they either felt that live streaming sales had a large investment and too much profit, or that live streaming sales were too low-level and did not fit their own brand tone, not to mention brands like Apple broadcasting themselves.

To this day, many internationally renowned brands have not yet started experimenting with brand live streaming due to their own brand tone and fixed understanding of the live streaming format.

However, the possibilities of live streaming are not just about selling goods. Live streaming should be diverse, and brands with different tones should find a live streaming method that suits their own tones.

This may be the biggest revelation that Apple’s live broadcast has brought to the industry.

In the current context where user traffic dividends are no longer available, if a large group of fan members is left alone without effective operation and management, the fans will eventually become dead fans, and whether product repurchase and product sales growth can be achieved will depend entirely on luck. After all, in the current domestic consumption scene where various marketing methods are constantly changing, consumers' attention and brand perception need to be repeatedly stimulated.

Therefore, facing the current backdrop of sluggish consumption and the new trend of online user growth, it is crucial for brands, especially well-known brands with many fans, to attach importance to private domains and do a good job in operating the store's existing users.

Some brands have already taken the lead in attaching importance to private domain and store membership operations. For example, Estee Lauder, which has more than 28 million Tmall official flagship members, once mentioned that "membership is a very important part of our business on Tmall. For old customer members, we have also done a lot of tiered projects internally to provide more in-depth points benefits."

Membership has also brought substantial business growth. Data shows that during the promotion, Estee Lauder members accounted for more than 73% of the transactions, and the transaction volume of members also ranked first among Tmall beauty brands of the year.

Following the real and effective positive demonstration of some brands, more and more brands are beginning to pay attention to member operations and continuous and effective user interactions in the process of operating e-commerce platforms in order to accumulate brand assets.

More big brands should be brave enough to try and embrace sales methods like brand live streaming, which can adjust the type and method of live streaming according to the brand's own tone, and actively balance the brand tone, marketing strategy and user preferences.

For brands that are not lacking in popularity and user recognition, in the process of exploring a live broadcast method that suits them, they should find that unlike emerging brands that need the support of big anchors and require exaggerated prices and formats to attract users' attention, the live broadcasts of these well-known brands can be quiet, beautiful, or knowledgeable.

Even more, whether live streaming must bring goods and whether the sales data is good are no longer the only indicators. Especially for those companies that have gone through decades or hundreds of years of changes and cycles, sales data is certainly important, but the lasting brand value transmission may be more valuable.

Just like a busy market with a lot of traffic, there should be professional boutiques, small roadside stalls, dragon and lion dances and acrobatic performances. These activities may not directly generate large-scale transactions, but the lively atmosphere will attract more people to stop and stay, and naturally the shops and stalls will be crowded.

This is true for brands and live streaming as well.

Author: Wen Jin; Editor: Zhao

Source: Oddity (ID: jioupai)