Shanghai to boost livestreaming economy

Shanghai is ramping up efforts to further develop its livestreaming economy and expand retail sales in the sector to 600 billion yuan ($84.3 billion) by 2026, according to a three-year action plan unveiled by the government last week.

The city will strive to build 10 major, globally competitive livestreaming platforms, as per the plan.

The action plan was jointly published by the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce, the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization and the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism.

It outlined 20 measures in five categories, such as quickly nurturing more livestreaming platforms, organizations and brands, optimizing the sector and enhancing support in infrastructure, talent and policy.

Shanghai's online consumer market size was 1.59 trillion yuan in 2023, an increase of 8.5 percent year-on-year. Retail sales via livestreaming surged 20.9 percent to 437.1 billion yuan, according to the Consumer Market Big Data Laboratory (Shanghai).

As of August, more than 25,000 enterprises in Shanghai were engaged in livestreaming, of which 7,000 were set up between January and August this year, the institute said.

As a major player taking up 10.7 percent of the nation's livestreaming retail sales, Shanghai has many advantages in developing a robust livestreaming economy, such as its role as a global consumption hub and its edge in the digital economy.

However, experts said the city is in urgent need of a multichannel network and talent-nurturing institutions to further promote the sector's development, and faces issues such as high operating costs.

"Based on Shanghai's advantages, the action plan has tailor-made measures for nurturing business entities, an optimized industry ecosystem and development of the sector, laying a solid foundation for the high-quality development of its livestreaming economy," said Cao Yuanhao, secretary-general of the Shanghai Livestreaming E-commerce Alliance.

"Many Shanghai enterprises will take the lead," said Zhou Huijie, a researcher at online travel agency Trip.com, which has been involved in the livestreaming market since 2020.

With a total livestreaming duration of over 10,000 hours since 2020, Trip.com has offered more than 56,000 high-end hotel products via livestreaming this year, covering over 800 destinations at home and abroad, and reaching a presale gross merchandise volume exceeding 17.8 billion yuan.

The company plans to further expand its livestreaming market to more Southeast Asian and other destinations soon, Zhou added.