Livestream revives traditional home textile industry

Livestreaming has contributed to the upgrading and transformation of the home textile industry in Chuanjiang town, Tongzhou district, Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province.

Chuanjiang is home to more than 3,000 home textile enterprises, making it one of the largest home textile hubs in China.

"The town's home textile industry has experienced a period of wholesale and retail, e-commerce, microsupply markets and now livestreaming, an inevitable trend in economic and social development," said Chen Qian, director of the Nantong home textile intellectual property rights protection center.

He added that an increasing number of local home textile enterprises have been actively adapting to the new development trend.

More than 500 local enterprises and over 5,000 people are currently engaged in livestreaming, and there are nearly 20 large livestreaming bases in Chuanjiang.

Nantong Yousheng Textile Products Co Ltd, for example, has set up six livestreaming rooms and cultivated 10 livestream hosts over the past two years. Each of the livestreams by Yousheng was watched by more than 150,000 people.

The annual sales revenue generated by livestreams has accounted for more than 70 percent of the company's total, according to Xu Jinbao, who is in charge of Yousheng.

He noted that livestreaming has not only expanded the company's sales, but also promoted upgrading and transformation.

In 2022, Tongzhou district rolled out policies to support livestreaming and e-commerce, and the district supported local enterprises in the construction of home textile livestreaming bases.

Enterprises that build livestreaming industrial parks, introduce multi-channel network institutions, and carry out livestreams will receive subsidies ranging from 30,000 yuan ($4,395.56) to 2 million yuan from the local government.

Chuanjiang will further increase its support for livestreaming in the home textile industry and strive to form strategic cooperation with livestream platforms such as Taobao, Douyin, and Kuaishou, said Chen.