Wuhan media firm rises to prominence in livestreaming

A host promotes smart home appliances at the live broadcasting base of Wuhan Qishi Media Co. [Photo/WeChat account of Optics Valley of China]

On Jan 31, enthusiastic hosts filled nearly 20 carefully arranged livestreaming rooms at the live broadcasting base of Wuhan Qishi Media Co, located in the East Lake High-tech Development Zone, which is also known as the Optics Valley of China (OVC) in Wuhan, Hubei Province. These hosts promoted various smart home products in front of the cameras.

Established for over four years, Qishi Media focuses on operating livestreaming rooms and online shop accounts for over 10 home appliance brands on short video platforms. It has become a leading service provider in the national ranking of large home appliances on online platforms.

However, at the beginning of the business, the company's founder, Wang Qinghai, once considered giving up. "Home appliances are different from fast-moving consumer goods. They belong to high-value and durable consumer goods, with high thresholds, slow transactions, and low repurchase rates," admitted Wang Qinghai. In early 2021, the team started experimenting with livestreaming, but only made one sale in the first seven days.

In March 2023, the Wuhan government issued proposals on building itself into an international consumer center, promoting the construction of e-commerce livestreaming clusters, and nurturing over 10 e-commerce livestreaming bases. Currently, there are nearly 2,000 companies in the city involved in e-commerce livestreaming, with over 200,000 employees.

"E-commerce livestreaming provides customers with services similar to offline shopping guidance and face-to-face Q&A 24 hours a day, which traditional e-commerce does not have," said Wang. Incentivized by various provincial and municipal policies, the company has targeted the smart home field, forming a team of over 300 people with clear division of labor.

In 2023, the company's livestreaming e-commerce transaction volume reached 1.5 billion ($208.95 million) yuan, more than double the previous year.

Last year, Wuhan issued a total of 61 million yuan in online home appliance consumption vouchers, which cumulatively drove consumption to over 970 million yuan.