WASHINGTON, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- Livestreaming has been on full play during "China's Singles' Day" online shopping festival, leading to a sales lift in the annual event, according to U.S. television network CNBC.
CNBC quoted an estimate by U.S. retail and tech consultancy Coresight Research that the livestreaming market in China will bring in about 125 billion U.S. dollars in sales in 2020, compared with the 63-billion-dollar livestreaming sales of the previous year.
A survey of 2,029 Chinese consumers conducted by AlixPartners from Sept. 30 to Oct. 6 showed that two-thirds of respondents said they bought products via livestreaming, according to the report.
Brandon Kruse, co-founder of the retail tech platform CommentSold, said U.S. growth rates of retail sales from live broadcasts are "four to five years behind China."
"There's no true equivalent to Taobao Live in America, and so the United States is still playing catch-up," the report said.
According to the e-commerce giant Alibaba, as many as 400 company executives and 300 celebrities are holding livestream events during this year's "Double 11" shopping festival.
"Social media is popular everywhere," said Max Bissell, director of Bissell Homecare's Asian division. "But in China, they have figured out how to monetize that much quicker ... That's maybe the difference between Facebook and Instagram, versus some of the Chinese platforms."
"China is definitely in the lead," noted Bissell.
