More than one million Chinese across at least 10 platforms have made the live commerce host one of the hottest professions these days in the world's second-largest economy.

The fastest-growing online business in China has boosted e-commerce, particularly livestreaming businesses. Aside from various celebrities and even government officials, many ordinary people are "hawking" on the screen to draw more consumers.

Wang Yingchuan and her husband Li Yongqiang have been running a wholesale business in the clothing industry for almost two decades. They began "transforming" the model in late 2019, even Wang doubted the internet would be effective at the very beginning.

"Sales at our brick-and-mortar stores were pretty good," she said. "My husband encouraged me: Give it a try! So when I sold a few online, I was surprised and excited, and eventually learned the ropes."

The 35-year-old feels like something would be missing if she doesn't live stream for a day.

Having carefully picked a set of women's clothes, Wang can turn the space above a one-square-meter wooden platform into an online big box store with its highest daily sales at two million yuan during 16-hour live streaming. That's almost 300,000 U.S. dollars.

"The essence of this model is – charge less, which sells more," she added.
Li said their retailers are also considering doing livestreams.

"More people are joining the livestreaming economy, and therefore there is more competition," the husband said. "So, what we've focused on is guaranteeing the quality."

The first half of 2020, impacted by COVID-19, has seen more live commerce hosts swarming into the e-commerce industry, doubling the total sales of the previous year to almost one trillion yuan. 

However, the host is not the only deciding factor in a business's performance.

Many behind-the-scene factors, such as planning, back-end supply chain, and advertising, are way important, experts say. Li said the popularity of live commerce would recede.

"One day, there will be an industrial integration in which live commerce is a standard feature of virtual and physical stores," said Li Feng, director of the e-commerce training center of Business Management Secondary Vocational School in Zhengzhou City, central China's Henan Province.

This school will enroll 500 more students in its e-commerce class during the fall semester. They will learn how to become a successful host, and also gain knowledge of network marketing, shipment, and sales evaluation.

Li said the popularity of live commerce will become "democratized and likely usher in new VA/AR methods".

Experts also believe the fundamental thing about the model is to "replicate the experience that people used to."

"The boundary between going to a physical store and vis-à-vis visiting a website store is going to get increasingly blurred," asserted John Gong, professor at the University of International Business and Economics. "I'm pretty sure that there will be more enticing, interesting, and effective models replacing this somewhere down the road."

For the couple, they have already gotten through the toughest part, which is the period when starting to build what is now a 450,000-follower fan base from scratch.

Now, the daily livestreaming gives her plenty of reasons to smile.

"All worries disappear when I walk into that space and talk to my followers," Wang said.

Several of Wang's followers have joined her team, some dropped by and delivered her throat-protection medicine and cosmetics.

"She has made many friends," her husband grinned. "Hundreds of thousands of followers all count as her friends."