Alibaba Cloud launched a host of cloud products as it is expanding its network across Asia. They announced the opening of a new data center by the end of 2021 and a third center in Indonesia. In addition, they debuted a live stream shopping online feature which has gained immense popularity in China. It is the largest cloud market vendor in the Asia-Pacific region and is looking to expand its reach.
But livestreaming, as a tool, can grant a sense of democracy to the industry, which is refreshing to see. However, for luxury brands, who normally like to control every aspect of their brand image, livestreaming this can be a difficult tool to control. Adding that in China, livestreaming is transaction-driven, and synonymous with “cheap goods” or “eager to sell ” — the exact opposite of how luxury brands want to be perceived. For this reason, the screen can’t deliver the same sense of discovery and experience that an in-person store visit can. So is livestreaming still for luxury brands?
The live stream shopping feature on Alibaba website or apps will allow e-commerce companies to broadcast their product live. These live streams would feature live hosts who talk about the products to online customers who can directly buy the advertised products through the live broadcast.
Live streaming has been a popular way to sell e-commerce products and it has been popular and successful method of shopping in China, increasing sales. Alibaba wants to bank on these increased sales outside China and hopes to make an impact on shoppers and lure customers away from rivals including Microsoft and Amazon.
Alibaba’s cloud services are seeing increasing competition from home grown tech giants including Tencent and Huawei. It needs to step up its cloud services to compete both locally and globally.
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