Livestreaming hosts promote products during the 2024 Shenzhen Livestreaming E-commerce Month event, which spanned from Aug. 23 to Oct. 31. The event yielded 40.8 billion yuan in online retail sales. Shenzhen Municipal Commerce Bureau's official Weibo account
Shenzhen ranked third nationwide in livestreaming events, retail sales, and the number of livestreaming hosts in the first 10 months of this year, statistics show.
According to big data service provider Inspur, nearly 2.9 million livestreaming events were conducted in the city between January and October, generating approximately 25.4 billion views.
Over 16,000 livestreaming hosts joined the events, which yielded a total of 167.8 billion yuan (US$23.13 billion) in online retail sales.
"The meteoric rise of livestreaming e-commerce in Shenzhen can be attributed to the city's robust fashion industry, which includes sectors like clothing, jewelry, and eyewear, as well as its pioneering electronic information industry cluster," said Cao Zhongxiong, assistant dean of the Shenzhen-based China Development Institute.
"Additionally, Shenzhen's early adoption of cross-border e-commerce has earned it a competitive edge," Cao added.
In Shenzhen, livestreaming bases with distinct industry characteristics are flourishing. For instance, Luohu District has focused on building the Shuibei gold jewelry livestreaming e-commerce cluster, while various e-commerce bases in Bao'an District help expand the district's e-commerce industry and influence.
Xiao Yong, president of the Shenzhen Livestreaming Association, emphasized the importance of integrating livestreaming with industrial clusters to foster the development of the city's competitive industries alongside e-commerce.
In March 2023, the Shenzhen Municipal Commerce Bureau issued a three-year action plan for promoting the development of livestreaming e-commerce.
According to the plan, Shenzhen aims to encourage over 50 influential and well-known livestreaming hosts to develop in Shenzhen and cultivate over 3,000 livestreaming e-commerce influencers and over 10,000 service professionals in livestreaming e-commerce.