--- **Does the e-commerce platform still hold new possibilities today?** We have observed that after the initial stage dominated by professional merchants and big-name live streamers, the role of platform architects is shifting towards more ordinary individuals. The interplay between the unique skills of ordinary creators and the personalized demands of niche user groups has given rise to an increasing number of creative, scenario-based, and non-standard products and services on e-commerce platforms. This, in turn, continuously generates new transaction scenarios and consumption demands. This trend is particularly evident on e-commerce platforms that primarily utilize short videos and live streaming, possibly due to the more intuitive and trustworthy connections and interactions facilitated by video content. Taking Douyin E-commerce as an example, an electrician from Qingdao garnered 8 million views by posting short videos about circuit repairs. He single-handedly sold out the manufacturer's inventory of analog meters and has shipped over a million power tools. Li Yuanyuan, a former world champion and disabled athlete who became an "unknown figure" after retirement, found a new livelihood by selling seafood back in her hometown, leading her disabled teammates to new opportunities. Ren Hailong, who unexpectedly gained fame with his sunny smile and claim of earning 300 yuan daily, turned to carefully selected fruits to reward his fans, successfully reversing his popularity decline through word-of-mouth despite losing half a million followers. Yang Guomin, a programmer who returned to his hometown in Inner Mongolia to inherit his father's business, transformed sheep manure, originally intended for large-scale farming, into a niche "hit" product for balcony gardening, selling 300 tons in a month. According to data from Douyin E-commerce's "Find Fellow Travelers" "New Income, New Consumption" theme sharing session, the platform added 5.28 million new live streamers over the past year, a year-on-year increase of 74%. Among those with annual sales between 500,000 and 5 million yuan, 30% had fewer than 10,000 followers, and 51% had between 10,000 and 100,000 followers. As ordinary people represented by small and medium-sized influencers become the backbone of e-commerce, the depth and breadth of platform value are being redefined. --- **01** **The Era of Monetizing Special Skills** **Small and Medium-sized Influencers Become the Backbone of E-commerce** For a long time, Li Yuanyuan's video introductions were the same: "I'm the least popular world champion on Douyin." At 39, her main occupation is selling aquatic products. After losing her leg in a car accident as a child, she became a disabled cyclist, setting two world records and winning three world championships over 11 years, collecting 46 medals from domestic and international competitions. After retirement, her past glories vanished. She tried various jobs, including sales, insurance, and odd jobs, but faced many challenges due to her education and physical limitations. When her child fell ill, leaving the family with 300,000 yuan in debt, she returned to her hometown of Lianyungang to sell seafood, documenting her daily work and struggles on Douyin. Li's first live stream sold just over 200 orders, a meager achievement compared to big-name live streamers but a significant confidence boost for her. After three years of persistence, the family debts were gradually repaid. Now, under her guidance and organization, six champion athletes facing difficult circumstances have ventured into Douyin E-commerce. At the "New Income, New Consumption" sharing session, Li Yuanyuan advised similarly situated disabled individuals seeking help to join Douyin E-commerce: "I think this platform is friendly to disabled entrepreneurs. You can try earning money without traveling far or facing异样目光. As long as you're willing to work hard, you don't need many connections; everyone has the same opportunities." When live streaming e-commerce first emerged, the halo of top live streamers and low prices attracted a significant portion of traffic. Since 2022, the industry has entered a content-driven stable development phase, with a more equitable distribution of traffic. People have realized that as long as one has a unique skill in a niche area, top, mid-tier, and small-to-medium influencers can all find their comfort zones within their respective segments using content as a probe. A recent report by Renmin University, "Creator Economy: The Rise of China's New Digital Occupations," revealed that creators in short videos, live streaming, and e-commerce have emerged as a new digital occupation, continuously upgrading and reshaping traditional professions, with increasing levels of professionalization. The rise of the creator economy has also led to "online live streamer" being added as a new national occupation by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. According to the "China Online Audio-Visual Development Research Report (2024)," as of December 2023, there were 1.55 billion short video accounts across the internet, with 15.08 million professional live streamers. Behind these vast numbers lie new possibilities for ordinary people's lives. Many "unknown figures" like Li Yuanyuan have found new career directions through e-commerce entrepreneurship. Wang Jiansheng, an electrician from Chengyang, Qingdao, worked默默无闻 for nearly 20 years until he turned circuit repair processes into suspenseful short films, selling over a million units of niche electrical tools. Now, he still accepts on-site repair jobs, but symbolically charges only to gather case studies, with Douyin E-commerce becoming his primary field. Yang Guomin, the "second-generation factory owner" of an Inner Mongolia sheep manure fertilizer factory, carved out a niche market on Douyin E-commerce – sheep manure fertilizer. While common in Inner Mongolia's grasslands, this eco-friendly fertilizer is popular among bulk customers. While his father sold 80-jin bags to farming bases, Yang developed small, odorless packages suitable for home gardening, attracting over 320,000 orders, 70% of which came from young, adventurous customers. Today, the factory's sales have grown more than fivefold since his father's time. The "second-generation" Yang has opened up a new business and finally earned his father's recognition. From the types of small and medium-sized influencers who have stood out on Douyin E-commerce in recent years, whether showcasing daily work as a frequency converter repairman, teaching mushroom cultivation with corncobs, or advising on gardening, ordinary individuals can find value and generate new income as long as they possess a unique skill or deep involvement in a niche area. The era of monetizing special skills has quietly arrived. Industry insiders analyze that behind every niche market's entrepreneurial opportunities lies the fundamental architecture of interest-based e-commerce – topics. When digital technology aggregates user interests and concerns, niche categories can generate considerable exposure traffic based on a vast user base. According to Wang Yu, a member of Douyin E-commerce's author team, a "perfume enthusiast" topic received over 5 billion views, indicating that many niche areas can have significant market potential. Wang Yu confirmed this, noting that various industries have flourished on Douyin E-commerce in recent years. "Every user can find their interested niche, and each niche provides a new battlefield for a large number of small and medium-sized influencers, enabling them to obtain stable and continuous new income." In the first half of 2024, about 560,000 small and medium-sized influencers sold products daily on the platform, with order volume increasing by 65% year-on-year. "Where does the endogenous driving force for future business innovation come from? The key lies in igniting the enthusiasm of every ordinary worker and consumer," said Chen Duan, Director of the Digital Economy Integration and Innovation Development Center at Central University of Finance and Economics, at the sharing session. Many ordinary workers possess unique skills and entrepreneurial aspirations but lack the ability to rapidly productize and brand their skills. Platforms like Douyin E-commerce accelerate this process, facilitating supply-demand matches and helping individuals leverage their skills to drive business and income. --- **02** **How is New Consumption Stimulated Amid Cautious Spending Trends?** How are consumer needs stimulated within the niche supply-demand matching facilitated by e-commerce platforms? This question is particularly noteworthy given current global consumption trends. Prudent and frugal consumption is becoming the new norm, prompting adjustments across retail, catering, and e-commerce sectors. However, a Deloitte survey of 15,000 global consumers revealed another side of the story – people are still willing to spend on self-indulgence and rewards to alleviate the pressure of frugality. This personalized consumption expenditure is significant globally, with a median spend of $32 per respondent in the month prior to the survey. In other words, consumers eagerly anticipate a rich supply that meets their personalized needs, whether providing emotional value, self-identity, new experiences, or life inspiration. Consumption scenarios based on niche interests and content-driven recommendations benefit from this. For instance, a balcony gardener might not have heard of sheep manure fertilizer before but is likely to order it after learning about its advantages through professional content explanations and science popularization. A young person fond of quirky items might consider buying an "umbrella that rains" or a "laser umbrella," even if they already own an umbrella, upon seeing these unique products. Public reports show that Shaoxing's Feilian Umbrella Factory sold 1.2 million umbrellas on Douyin E-commerce in a year, quadrupling its business. Long-time followers of the "Sherlock Holmes of Electricians" might never have dealt with household circuit repairs but enjoy the entertaining content. Subconsciously influenced, they might suddenly realize the need for a simple test pen at home. This latent demand converged in Wang Jiansheng's short videos and live streams, helping him sell over 1,000 test pens in a single video. This echoes Steve Jobs' famous quote: "People rarely know what they want until you show it to them. Then, they realize, 'That's what I want!'" In the era of e-commerce saturation, it's the niches, not the masses, that retain untapped demand. Unlike traditional e-commerce's search logic, interest-based e-commerce follows a "seeding then converting" path, stimulating more new and unplanned consumption. This stimulation manifests differently at various stages: In the early days of live streaming e-commerce, big-name live streamers' "1, 2, 3, link up!" sales pitches were common, with high impulse buys but also high return rates. In contrast, professional content seeding requires building trust between influencers and users, with the influencer's IP, content quality, and product quality jointly determining the success of a new conversion. This explains why e-commerce platforms increasingly require vertical, professional, and diverse content. Small and medium-sized influencers' unique skills offer platform users a richer selection of non-standard products and personalized services, broadening consumer choices. In this supply-demand matching, e-commerce platforms aggregate users' long-tail needs, guiding numerous entrepreneurial individuals on the supply side and supporting them in productizing their skills. For instance, to attract more quality creators, Douyin E-commerce launched the "Find Fellow Travelers" program in 2022, offering special support through initiatives like "Promoting Rural Products," "Discovering Craftsmanship," and "Nationwide Book Plan," helping ordinary creators gain more attention and entrepreneurial opportunities.

▲ Wang Yu, the head of the Douyin e-commerce author team, introduced the author ecosystem of the past year

As Chen Duan, director of the Central University of Finance and Economics Digital Economy Integration Innovation and Development Center, said, for large internet platform enterprises, how to shift from selling products and logistics services to a deeper value co-creation model, Douyin e-commerce's exploration provides some inspiration for the industry. Platform enterprises have a large user base and influence, and their innovative technology support and data analysis capabilities exceed those of ordinary enterprises, making them capable of using data mining and policy guidance to form a clustering effect.

By providing more entrepreneurial opportunities on one end and stimulating more new consumption on the other, e-commerce enterprises not only draw growth momentum from it but also set an example for platform enterprises to promote social consumption. Dong Yuchen, the lead writer of "Creator Economy: The Rise of China's New Digital Professions," believes that based on short videos, live broadcasts, store visits, and other models, digital tools provide new opportunities for traditional physical industries to showcase their products and services, while also serving as an "amplifier" for offline economies.

Beyond commercial value, the more profound impact of the creator economy may lie in reshaping social perceptions: hobbies are not just a refuge in life; they could also be the button that restarts one's life. Encouraging more individuals to possess unique skills beyond the ordinary may lead to more positive societal feedback in the future.