Alibaba’s Taobao Live is making a significant push to enhance its livestream commerce platform and drive success for its merchants, brands, and influencers. This move is expected to create pressure on e-tailers worldwide to expand their livestreaming offerings. While livestream commerce is still in its early stages in Western markets, it has gained immense popularity in China, particularly during the pandemic.
To support its plans, Taobao Live is upgrading its platform tools and leveraging cutting-edge technologies to increase productivity and efficiency for its partners. The company has recently introduced two new tools for customer engagement and content marketing. A CRM tool allows sellers and influencers to manage livestream content, sales, products, and fan engagement through private domains at the store level. In addition, Taobao Live has launched an open and centralized portal that efficiently connects products, merchants, and livestreamers for business opportunities. Collaborating with DAMO Academy, Taobao Live is utilizing AI algorithms to provide accurate recommendations to customers and enhance user engagement with AI-powered virtual livestream hosting technology. Furthermore, the company is working on developing an intelligent livestreaming camera in partnership with DAMO Academy, which will offer hosts real-time feedback during broadcasts to enhance the livestream experience.
Taobao Live has become an essential component of merchants’ daily operations and marketing strategies, with over 60% of livestream sessions streamed from official brand and seller stores. In the past year, more than half of the 1,000 Taobao Live channels were operated by merchants on the platform, and over 90% of new brands have utilized the tool. As a result, the platform’s daily active users (DAU) have doubled, and the number of loyal users who watch livestream sessions at least six times a day and place more than 10 orders per month has increased by 150%. These loyal users have an average monthly spending of over CNY1,500 ($230).
With its continued investments and innovations in livestream commerce, Taobao Live is set to solidify its position as a leading platform in the industry. As livestreaming gains momentum globally, e-tailers will need to adapt and expand their livestreaming capabilities to meet consumer demand and remain competitive.
Useful links:
– Alibaba’s Taobao Live Helping Brands Succeed through Livestreaming
– Alibaba’s Taobao Live Sets New Livestreaming Records with Global Brands
