Chinese Short Video Platform Kuaishou Increases Livestreaming E-Commerce Investment with Massive Incubation Plan

TikTok rival Kuaishou is upping the ante in plans to boost its booming e-commerce business, as a growing number of people cash in on livestreaming to sell products on the Chinese short video platform.

In the following year, Kuaishou will launch an “incubation project” to help more than 100,000 new businesses achieve annual sales of 1 million yuan ($146,000) on its platform, according to a statement sent to Caixin on Monday.

The Beijing-based company will also build over 100 related industrial bases across China, train over 10,000 livestreamers and host more than 1 million e-commerce livestreaming sessions during the period, the statement said.

The new investment could be seen as the latest example of Kuaishou’s bet on the livestreaming e-commerce sector that has taken off during the Covid-19 pandemic. In June, Kuaishou announced plans to invest 3 billion yuan to build a livestreaming e-commerce headquarters in the western Chinese city of Chengdu, which the company said will be home to “multi-channel networks (MCNs), online celebrities and brand owners.”

Kuaishou is also considering how advanced technologies could help it boost its livestreaming e-commerce presence. Speaking at a conference over the weekend, Zhang Yipeng, head of Kuaishou’s e-commerce marketing center, underscored the key role of 5G technology, augmented reality, virtual reality and big data-driven algorithms in improving the quality of e-commerce livestreaming sessions.

He added that people from remote areas will be the potential users of Kuaishou’s e-commerce services in the future with the development of logistics and digital payment systems.

Kuaishou claims to have more than 100 million daily active users for its e-commerce services, nearly 45% of whom are based in the first- and second-tier cities.

 

– This article originally appeared on Caixin Global.