Discussion keeps the worldturning.
This isRoundtable.Hello, welcome toRoundtable, where we serve up piping hot debates on the issues that Sizu in China andbeyond.
I'm youronly. Comingup, we're zero in on the intersection ofculture,language, and commerce in China's cross-border e-commerceexplosion.
Discover how young talents leverage their multilingual skills to gain a unique place in thisindustry.
It's not just about sellingglobally, it's about the power of speaking to your customersheart.
For today'sshow, I'm joined by Li Yi andDingheng.
Now grab your virtual compass and follow us to the heart of thediscussion.
Data show that China's cross-border e-commerce import and export reached to over 570 billionyuan, which is a most $80 billion USdollars, only in the first quarter of thisyear, which is an increase of10% year onyear.
As businesses spring towards globalmarkets, we ponder the implications of this rapidexpansion, the human element in digital commerce and the cultural bridges being built by multilingualtalents.
Thesedays, a cross-border e-commerce live streamer went viral on theinternet, both home andabroad.
Let's start today's discussion with his successstory.
Yeah,actually, this is a lead from GuangdongProvince, and he has been super popular on short media platforms likeTikTok, and he's being famous for introducing the products of hiscompany, which is actually a LED lightcompany.
Soundsboring.Yes, but he really introduces the products in a quite interesting way that he can not only introduce the products inEnglish, but also English with differentaccents, like New Yorkaccent, Indianaccent, BritishEnglish, and even Frenchaccent.
And the thing is that he is so popular on TikTok so that the official account of his company has gained 1.2 millionlikes.
And I actually checked those videos he published on the official account of hiscompany, and he's called really positive comments fromconsumers, where either audiences from all over theworld.
Some people just say this guy can do numerous accents almost flawlessly and give that man a cowboyhat.
Andalso, people are making requirements saying that can you do a New Yorkaccent, a Valley Girlaccent, Paris Englishaccent, and South Africanaccent.
So this is becoming superfun.
And people are saying that because of his way of introducing the product in a quite fun and engagingway, people who don't really have the need for the light product actually want to buy the product of hiscompany.
So it's become a really popular thing for social mediaplatforms.
Allright. So hearing isbelieving.
I believe our listeners have the right to be the judge to see whether or not he's really thisgood.
Hello, how areyou? It'sTony.
How can you make people remember yourstore?
Ofcourse, the first step is to provide guests with a memorypoint.
Check out these new light books ofours.
It can change many colors that design is veryhuman.
And the surface is water waveacrylic, awesome texture made from acrylicmaterial.
Does it look extraordinary at eyecatching?
Hieveryone, I'mTony. Many friends have asked me where can I please an order and what the priceis.
Please click the website link in my bio for product details andprices.
We are a 13 year Chinese light boxfactory.
The products we sell are not limited to ultra thin lightboxes.
Welcome to Ask for Prices withPictures.
This is a 180 degree neon lightbox.
Do you think a sign like this would beexpensive?
Let me tell you asecret.
A sign like this would be very close to the fact that you can even be shipped to NorthAmerica, Europe andAustralia.
This side was sold through the UnitedStates.
It was very popular rightthere.
We also haveU.L. certification and the minimum three years ofwarranty.
So this type ofsignage, proud orusing.
What kind of business will you use for such a cost effectivesign?
Let me know in thecomments.
We also supportcustomization.
I have to say it's reallygood.
Yeah. And according to what I have read about in newsreports, this is a way of talking about a guy who has never spent a long time living in a broadsrise.
So my wild guess is that he is an English language insi-di-ast and he isvery, very talented in terms of learning and mastering foreignlanguages.
Andyeah, that's reallyamazing.
I can't imagine another scenario the other way around if we are talking about a westernphased, awar, alife-streamer, talking in shanhai-nis and talking in the Dongbei dialect of Chinese orwhatever, whatever version of the Chineselanguage.
I wouldreally, really find this guy to bevery, veryinteresting.
On top ofit. That's a common feeling that you can connect withpeople.
Yeah, understand the sentiment aswell.
Learning them in time if you take a closer listen to the clip was justplayed.
Actually he is quite good at introducing hisproduct.
The features of theproduct, whether or not you might needcustomization, whether or not you can get certain products that you want and also where to getthem.
So it's very informative what he is trying toconvey.
And that is also a very important trait for someone who's selling you whether or not in reality oronline.
Yeah, actually that's why some customers or some life streaming short-video platform users are saying that this boy is super genius being that he can really capture the attention of different customers from different cultural backgrounds with his unique accent and to really advertise theproduct.
And it's also a quite effective way to retain thiscommercial, to keep attracting new people all thetime.
And this is like amarketing, quite genius or smart marketingstrategy.
And actually you are writing home with yourguest.
This boy hasn't really any experience of living abroad or studyingabroad.
He basically studied business English in vocational college and he has been doing a job related to English training or videoediting.
And somehow he got this chance to get into these e-commerce and particularly cross-border e-commerceindustry.
And he somehow can use his talents and his previous working experience like making short videos and doing this lifestreaming.
And he has attracted business orders from all around the worldactually.
And according to thisboy, he thinks that to express where to introduce the products of his company in different accents is just a fun and engaging way to tell the actual advantage of theirproducts.
And it is actually the real power of their company's products that introduced different customers instead of actually this fun and amusingperformance.
It's just a part of their marketingstrategy.
It makes a lot of sense because if you think about online life streaming as a way to sell yourproduct, the reason we're doing this is to bridge the gap between the consumer and the seller is to providing them with the info they need and to be interactive so that if they have anyquestions, there would besomeone, a real someone to answer these questions and address theproblems.
Which is why the live streamers as the face of the company of the product that are being sold can be very vital in thisprocess.
If we take a look at the bigger picture in2023, the total export value of China's cross-border e-commerce exceeded 1.8 trillionyuan.
That is almost 250 billion USdollars.
And if we also take a look at the amount of companies that are doing cross-border e-commercebusinesses, there are actually over 19,000 of those companies of which more than 810 were newly registered from January to February2024.
So with a lot of new players getting into theindustry, no wonder this newoperation.
E-commerce cross-border live streamers are getting a lot of attention and becoming this hot spot that many people can actually gointo.
But is it really that easy to become a e-commerce cross-border e-commerce livestreamer?
Well, I think the short answer is that it'snot.
I would assume it's prettychallenging.
I have read about caseswhere, ofcourse, some collegestudents, forexample, university students act as cross-border e-commerce live streaming hosts oranchors.
Andinitially, they are pretty successful in terms of winning the hearts of consumers from the UnitedStates,UK,Malaysia,Singapore,etc.,etc.
But I guess for a college ofstudents, if we are talking about this agecohort, I hope they are not distracted from their academicstudies.
But on the otherhand, especially for students that's majoring in theindustry, they're majoring international trade or economics orbusiness, that's actually a good opportunity for them to gain a better understanding of their own major because cross-border e-commerce is really a growing pillar in the internationaltrade.
That's forsure. But I would say challengesremain, forexample, they need to deal with the languageproficiency.
That's the one issue because cross-border e-commerce live streaming anchors orhosts, they not only need to have languageproficiency, but also they need skills in terms of managerialissues, productspromotion, logisticalissues, operationalissues.
The need to answer all these questions if consumers haveany.
Yeah. And I guess on the otherhand, just like those live streaming anchors focus on China's domesticmarkets, they also need to face this tremendous challenge in terms of attracting internet traffic at the verybeginning.
And there is also the time differenceissue.
And because of thisissue, Iguess, according to some reports I have read about those cross-border live streaminganchors, they usually need to start working very late in the evening and they need to finish atmidnight.
Oh, graveyardshift. So it'schallenging.
Yeah,yeah,yeah. It can be quite exhausting if you have two live streaming events everyday.
Everyday, youknow, it's noteasy.
Yeah,definitely. Andalso, I just want to provide anotherexample, youknow,Iwu, right here inChina, it's a city in EastChina, it's really famous for being the world'slargest, the small commodity tradinghub.
And some people even call it as the world'ssupermarket.
And some people even say that Iwu is really the parameters for China's exports because when you look at those localcities, like the total import and export value of this city reached about $78 billion in2023.
So it's really a base for international trade ofChina.
And when you look at thisplace, it's actually also been developing its e-commerce business in recentyears.
And ofcourse, with manyinitiatives.
And one of the major efforts is to collaborate with schools and colleges to cultivate cross-border e-commercehosts.
And one example is a young lady from the school of foreign studies ofIwu, industrial and commercialcollege.
And she's doing an intern job as a cross-border live streaming host at the Iwu International TradeMarket.
Andactually, according toherself, she doesn't really consider herself as a young person who is so good at speakingEnglish.
And she isn't really confident about her speakingEnglish, spoken Englishskills.
Yet, she was recommended and encouraged by her teachers to get involved in thisindustry, to get involved in thejob.
And she findsthat, youknow, for cross-border live streamingstudios, it's quite different from those we observedomestically, which quite relyon, youknow, the host to really introduce the products in quite a fancy way to use different solvingtechniques.
This is the best foundation I've everseen.
So smooth to have them on yourskin.
I feel like ahorse-a-lean.
Yes, youknow, when you look at those domestic live streamingstudios, usually it really expects the host to be soencouraging,encouraging, and can talk and thenstop.
And ofcourse, for thislady, she worried that it's also the case for cross-border live streamingstudios.
However,after, youknow, getting involved in a job for awhile, she found that it's quite different because one is that sometimesfor, youknow,smaller, live cross-border live streamingstudios, they don't already haveso,like, such a large number of customerbase, which means that you can really offer one to one customer service when you're engaging with those livestreaming.
And she finds that language is not really the most importantthing, as long as you can offer them the most candid details of yourproducts.
And you can answer the questionstimely.
Andactually, thoseconsumers, customers from overseas are quite tolerant about your English level or English skills when it comes to a Chinese person speaking in front ofthem.
So that's why she also findsher, it's like a new career path in thissector.
So I think from thisexample, you see that when it comes to cross-border live streaminghosts, as Ding Hansaid, language isimportant,however, it's not really the most importantthing.
Andalso, when it comesto, youknow, the biggerpicture, sometimes to provide opportunities and provide platforms to cultivate this talents can be more importantto, youknow, have this channel for this young person to get involved in business and to learn about this business is more important aswell.
To grow on thejob.Yes.Yeah.
Soreally, I think the core spirit is that you needto, youknow, encourage yourself and really giving it atry, youknow, like 20 yearsago, 10 yearsago, I wouldn't imagine that one day I would be sitting in front of the microphone talking to radioaudiences,right?
Definitely. So language skill is really onelayer.
Now I guess the problem right now is that most of thosee-commerce, cross-border e-commerce are orientedenterprises, maybe when they're looking for the so-calledtalents, their primary focus is how they can find people with excellent capabilities in terms of speaking a foreignlanguage, includingEnglish.
But I guess one thing they tend to neglect is that when we talk about live streaminganchors, they also need to have a strong sense to express themselves in front of thecamera.
That'simportant. That's even very much related to the how you train a TVanchor,right?
Yeah. The TVindustry. You need to have the enthusiasm as well as the talent to actually connect with whoever'swatching.
On top ofthat, there is another type that we might not be that familiar with that is the 2B kind of sellingplatforms.
That is the kind of companies that are selling their products to other companies instead of actual users orcustomers.
And forthem, they do need to do some one-to-one service because maybe one order your viewer place would be the kind of money that can fed your company for threemonths.
Ithappens. So forthem, for those kind of cross-border e-commerce livestreamers, what they need to do is what they need to have is the abundant and comprehensive knowledge about the instant outs of theirbusiness, about not only theproduct, but also the kind of service they canprovide, about the logisticssituations, about whether or not you can arrange your product in aship, in acontainer, and then it can be transported to a certainposition, and then can directly go to the consumer companies or the other companies that you're selling to to their storageplaces.
So these are all the info that the precise live streamer wouldneed.
But thoseskills, in myopinion, are more like salespersons.
Yeah.Yeah. I feel like the distinction between these B2C to B2B businessmodels, and the business model isreally, reallyobvious, because in the case of live streaming targetingconsumers, like a namelyB2C, I guess consumers would of course care about this so-called anchors appearance andlook.
Butyeah, for those B2B live streaming performances targetingenterprises, like youmentioned, I feel like your understanding of the industry and professionalism is probably moreimportant.
Now I'mhere. I'm not denying that the importance of look stillmatters.
Yes.Yes. And on top ofthat, if we're talking about cross-border e-commerceplatforms, then definitely they are not only doing live streamingservices, they are also providing different shortvideos, and even if it's just livestreaming, not only anchors are the talent inneed.
We also neededitors. We need cameraperson.
We need someone who know how to arrangelight, not only for theanchors, but also for theproducts.
So a lot of different talents are inneed, which is why currently over 16 universities across China have launched undergraduate programs in cross-bordere-commerce, and the cross-border e-commerce industry has become a new hotspot to foremployment.
Andalso, besides how to sell yourproducts, we value the talents and skills of thosehosts, how to present yourproduct, specifically how to take pictures is alsoimportant.
Oh,yes. So that's why you see when it comes toe-commerce, the city also establishes its first e-commerce photographybase, meaning that it's a dedicated photography space catering to e-commerce versions and contentcreators, offering really specialized services inscenarios, and the base can really provide services related to makeup, how to set up thescene, and how to offer D or to dress up in suitablecostumes.
So these are all very important things when it comes to getting your products or getting your business intoonline, especially when it comes to cross-bordere-commerce, because every detail matters in thisbusiness.
For those of you who are interested in getting into theproduct, actually not only can you join a certain company like the successful story we talked about in the very beginning of our conversation and become the designated anchor of thatcompany, another thing you can do is join these e-commerce or cross-border e-commerceplatforms, and according to data provided by Ali Baba's Internationalsite, the daily number of overseas buyers watching cross-border broadcasts in 2023 has increased by over120%, bringing 150 increase in business opportunities for freeing trademerchants, and data from Pinduoduo states that since its launch in September2022, the Matt 2 platform has expanded its operations to over 40 countries across thecontinents, which is why many different celebrities and e-commerce sellers are looking to expand into overseasmarkets.
Forexample, wehave, Zhao Yiu has incubated local companies in Indonesia creating a Southeast Asian KPLL matrix and established a company in the USA in2020, and DongfangJunshuan, which is another domestic sellingplatform, is also recruiting TikTok hosts to push into cross-border lifecommerce, and you get to see all these different platforms or all these different majorcompanies, MCN companies are eyeing the industry and recruitingtalents.
So for those of you who are listening no matter if you're speaking English or if you're listeningoverseas, because we do have some foreign experts working as e-commerce cross-border e-commerce life streamers here in China aswell.
I feel like going back to a point raised by Li Yiearlier, really the core issue here is still abouttalents, I mean talents from differentareas, multipleareas, because new business models like this kind of cross-border e-commerce lifestreaming, or instant retail for thatmatter, are really the main areas forgrowth, for the demands for thetalents.
In ameantime, we don't deny there is really a significant talent gap in areas like life streaming e-commerce and cross-bordere-commerce.
Somepeople, I have seen areport, I believe it was released by an institution affiliated with China's CommerceMinistry, according to thisreport, this talent gap in the cross-border e-commerce is currently asked to be estimated somewhere around 15 millionpeople.
In the case of this year's Spring recruitmentseason, shortly after the end of the Chinese Lunar NewYear, there was really a so-called competition for talent in those cross-border e-commerceindustry, according to data from a job huntingwebsite, cross-border e-commerceoperations, foreign tradespecialists, or assistants were ranking seconds and thirds respectively in the first week after the Chinese New Yearholiday, compared to the situation about a yearago, there was a significantgrowth.
We have seen some announcements by the CommerceMinistry, forexample, a senior Commerce Ministry official announcementstage.
We are trying to what atrain, howmany, I forget anumber, but over the course of thisyear.
I feel like the government forces alone is really not theanswer.
Corporate forces and social forces need to join thecalls.
Universities really need to pursue closer connections and partnership withenterprises, because even universities for those kind of majors andtraining, their knowledge is stilllimited,currently.
