Live streaming sales reached trillion GMV in two years, now hourly wages have dropped to RMB 20.

@Xinshang Original

Author: Gu Er | Editor: Jiuli

Four years ago, entrepreneurs could rely on entering the live streaming sales industry to repay debts of 600 million yuan; three years ago, comedic bloggers transformed into leading Douyin influencers; two years ago, teachers from education and training institutions transformed into Douyin sellers and became national favorites.

Behind the legend of life reversal achieved through live streaming sales is the skyrocketing GMV of Douyin e-commerce.

In 2020, the GMV of Douyin e-commerce exceeded 500 billion yuan, tripling; in 2021, the media disclosed that under the broad definition of Douyin e-commerce, the GMV had approached a trillion, while Taobao Live's GMV had just exceeded 500 billion. Simply put, in the race of live streaming sales, Douyin caught up with Taobao Live, which had been developing for four years, in one year, and then doubled and surpassed it in another year.

However, as of today, if we calculate from the time when Luo Yonghao entered the Douyin live streaming sales market in 2020, igniting the Douyin live streaming e-commerce craze, Douyin e-commerce, which is now four years old, is also facing a problem of slowing growth.

The GMV of top influencers has declined, and the interest in super influencers has also waned. Bottom-tier influencers earn as little as RMB 20 per hour, becoming the first to perceive the warmth of the ecosystem as the closest to the frontline.

01 The decline of live streaming sales is evident

Pinduoduo, which took four years to break through the trillion GMV threshold, is still in its prime, while Douyin, which achieved the trillion GMV in just two years, has already shown signs of decline.

Taking Douyin's important beauty and cosmetics business segment as an example, according to the Information Daily, Feigua data shows that the same-period turnover of "Guangdong Couple" was 450 million yuan last year, but this year it is only 61.14 million yuan, a year-on-year decline of 86.4%. "Pan Yurun" had 29.529 million yuan last year, but this year it is 6.748 million yuan, a drop of 77%. "Qi'er" had 111 million yuan last year, but this year it is only 12.923 million yuan, a drop of 88.46%.

Top influencers' sales have declined, and super influencers have also begun to stay out of the 618 shopping festival. During this year's 618 promotion, Luo Yonghao, who once owed 600 million yuan in debt, has also stepped out of the live streaming room after more than two years of selling goods and repaying the debt. Until the evening of May 24, Luo Yonghao only briefly appeared in the "Jiaogepengyou" Douyin live streaming room.

Dong Yuhui, a national favorite influencer, also seems to be distancing himself from the promotional sales. The longest recent live broadcast, a Shenzhen special, lasted only four hours. Although it received nearly 10,000 orders and sales exceeded 120 million yuan within 20 minutes of starting, according to publicly available market statistics, Dong Yuhui only participated in less than 10 live broadcasts during the entire 618 period.

This year's 618 is the first major promotion since he founded Hui Tongxing. In the three to four months before the promotion, the live streaming room was the top of Douyin's influ