Live streaming sales are a new and unique way of doing jewelry business in China, even fine jewelry. This digital tool enables customers to discover the products in action and place orders during the live streaming. This business model is currently working wildly in China among different categories of products, being especially strong in the jewelry industry. The biggest platforms for live streaming sales are Taobao, Douyin, and Kuaishou. Other social media such as Xiaohongshu are also implementing such a function and have the potential to grow in the following years.
Main Live Streaming Models for Jewelry in China
There are usually 2 ways of doing live-streaming sales:
- Influencer Live streaming: Cooperating with KOL or Influencer in live streaming to sell your products on their channels (usually a stock requirement, retainer fee from the KOL, and a commission on sales of 20%)
- Brand Live streaming: Launching your own live streaming on your official flagship store on Douyin (usually a stock requirement and a premium setup with a team of 3-4 people to manage the live streaming)
Top 10 Jewelry Live Streamers in China (January to April 2022)
The following list is the Top 10 Live Streamers in China ranked by their sales volume in 2022, from January to April. The following ranking is based on their sales volume in billion RMB.
On average, their sales volume is high thanks to their personal influence and their large fan base. While Chinese consumers may not connect on your live streaming if you are a new entrant, they set up special alarms for KOLs they love following.
Take the 10th place, 董先生珠宝 (Mr. Dong Jewelry) as an example. He is a live-streamer who mainly sells jewelry (but also other items such as cosmetics and fashion), with 28.5 million followers on Douyin which led to generating 1.76 Billion RMB in sales revenue in 4 months.
Brands, factories, and workshops also have their channels on different platforms selling different kinds of jewelry at different prices, but mainly fine jewelry only. Depending on their size, their frequency of doing live streaming might vary from 24/7 to once a week or be irregular with forecast posts.
GMA Analysis on Live-streaming Sales:
- The nature of live-streaming commerce is to use discounts, word expressions, promotions, visuals, and others to drive the emotion of the customers and result in impulsive purchases
- KOLs live-streaming is better for branding purposes since it will drive high traffic and exposure to your brand but reduce your margin due to high commissions (the buzz titles like “Austin Li promoted product was out of stock in 5 minutes” is great for your brand attractivity but when you deduct the retainer fee and the KOL commission your revenue is not that high)
- Brand live-streaming for sales purposes since you will get your full retail price (lower sales volume but higher margin and revenue)
- Jewelry products sold on live-streaming need a large or relatively large stock volume which explains why jewelry live-streamers usually have their own factory or source fine jewelry and accessories
- Live-streaming sales have a higher refund rate than regular sales since many people are disappointed by the quality after their impulsive purchase
GMA is the expert in digital marketing in China, with more than 10 years of experience, and is trusted by hundreds of brands. Feel free to contact us if you are willing to let us support your China project and the ambition to grow your business in the great market.
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