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4. COST EFFICIENT:

The value of the worldwide live streaming

market will surpass USD 50 billion in 2020.
Alibaba's Taobao was the first to combine

Livestream with shopping in 2016. These
platforms for online shopping in China have

undergone this metamorphosis in less than five

years. Figure 4. Cost effective live streaming

The first livestream shopping website, (D’Henry, n.d.)
Taobao Live, was launched in April 2016. It seeks to provide clients with additional information

and turns standard 2-D online shopping into a multi-dimensional experience. The first live
channels on Taobao concentrate on apparel for women.

On the Chinese mainstream live shopping channels, there are three typical types of hosts.

Noted professional hosts like Viya and Li Jiaqi are currently the leading forces of the Taobao
platform. These hosts have a group of loyal customers as well as suppliers. Suppliers will

occasionally invite their brand spokesperson to the channel, creating a new form of celebrity
endorsement.

Fake products, unqualified product control, and false marketing are all complaints from

customers about the Livestream experience. To lower the price of the products, some hosts or

suppliers may adulterate unqualified materials to save on costs. These actions were not monitored
by the government in the first few years. However, more detailed and stricter regulations are

coming, and disclosure is also used for supervision to defend the rights and interests of customers.

During the COVID pandemic, suppliers, and factories in many regions of China were forced
to stop production and sales activities. Local governments took the lead in launching the "anti-

epidemic special program" to help suppliers solve inventory problems by using Livestream.

Similar periodic programs have become popular on all platforms, and all the servers are coming
up with better themes to attract customers (3rd International Conference on Economic..., Q Chen-

2021, 2021).

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