The trend of Double 11 is changing, with live streaming e-commerce shifting its focus from influencers to storefronts.

For over a decade, the carnival atmosphere created by platforms and live streamers has spurred countless impulsive purchases. However, this year's Double 11 presents a different picture. Consumers have transitioned from blindly pursuing low prices to making rational choices based on quality, posing unprecedented challenges even to Li Jiaqi, a superstar in the live streaming industry.

The era of platform excess is fading, giving way to a rational return of consumers.

Li Jiaqi, once known as the 'King of Low Prices,' has repeatedly failed in price competitions, gradually eroding trust in his live streams. In contrast, storefront live streams on major e-commerce platforms are rapidly rising, becoming consumers' new favorites due to their transparent pricing and straightforward promotions. Behind Double 11 lies the restructuring and evolution of the entire industry.

1. Has Li Jiaqi also hit a bump in the road?

Li Jiaqi was once a golden signboard in the live streaming industry, but this year, that signboard seems to have lost its luster. At the start of this year's Double 11, many consumers found that prices in Li Jiaqi's live stream were no longer competitive.

Some consumers have reported that Li Jiaqi's prices were not only not the lowest online but even higher than those on other platforms.

During this year's Double 11, one consumer complained on the Heimao Complaints platform about the high prices of products in Li Jiaqi's live stream.

This consumer purchased a Pioneer heater for 299 yuan in Li Jiaqi's live stream but discovered that the same model was only sold for over 110 yuan in JD.com's live stream, a price difference of nearly 180 yuan. The consumer stated that although the product in Li Jiaqi's live stream came with a clothes rack, they did not believe this additional feature was worth 180 yuan, questioning the rationality of the pricing in the live stream.

According to reports from CCIDNET, another consumer encountered a similar issue. She purchased the JOVS beauty device in Li Jiaqi's live stream for 3999 yuan, with a deposit of 100 yuan. The final payment was due at 8 PM on October 21st, and 88VIP members could receive an additional discount of 240 yuan. However, she later found that the same product was available on JD.com for less than 2500 yuan. A similar situation occurred with a Breville coffee machine. After paying the deposit in Li Jiaqi's live stream, the consumer discovered that the price on JD.com was nearly 1300 yuan cheaper.

This situation has repeatedly occurred across multiple categories and products, including beauty products, home appliances, and daily necessities. The price discrepancies have disappointed consumers who were once loyal to Li Jiaqi, making them feel 'ripped off' and opting for refunds.

Li Jiaqi's products no longer have the low-price advantage they once had.

Low prices were once the primary reason consumers chose Li Jiaqi. In the past, his absolute price advantage in areas like beauty products allowed consumers to 'buy with closed eyes.' However, when that price advantage disappeared, consumers began to worry.

This is not the first time Li Jiaqi has faced a crisis of trust.

Last year, consumers questioned the high price of Huaxizi eyebrow pencils, prompting Li Jiaqi to ask in his live stream, 'Have you worked hard? Has your salary increased?' This remark sparked widespread controversy.

The Huaxizi incident created a rift between Li Jiaqi and consumers. On the one hand, consumers felt that Huaxizi's prices were constantly rising, and its weight was on the higher side compared to similar products. On the other hand, Li Jiaqi abandoned his past 'fan-friendly' image and began endorsing brands.

Li Jiaqi's brand image is gradually shifting from being synonymous with trust to being abandoned by consumers. Consumers' doubts about Li Jiaqi encompass not only price increases but also changes in his attitude towards them. Nowadays, consumers are no longer blindly favoring Li Jiaqi.

Beauty blogger 'Shushiyao' released a video titled, 'Where are the bargains in Li Jiaqi's live stream?? A guide to not buying!' criticizing the promotion mechanism during this year's Double 11 in Li Jiaqi's live stream, which was not as good as previous years, with some products priced higher than offline and duty-free channels.

It's worth noting that at the beginning of this year's Double 11, Li Jiaqi was criticized by fans for reducing the size of live stream red envelopes, with the pre-sale red envelopes for Double 11 dropping from 900 million to 500 million.

2. Pre-sales and deceptive price reductions have long been outdated

The issues Li Jiaqi encountered during this year's Double 11 are not new to consumers. On the contrary, these situations have become commonplace, primarily involving pre-sales and deceptive price reductions.

Complex pre-sales processes and hidden strategies of raising prices before lowering them have always been criticized by consumers. Consumers need to go through multiple steps, including paying deposits, grabbing red envelopes, and meeting minimum purchase requirements to receive discounts, only to find out that the final prices are not cheaper than those on other platforms.

Pre-sales are the most resented among the old e-commerce practices. In previous years, e-commerce pre-sales were widely criticized for delayed shipments, especially during major sales events, gradually eroding consumers' tolerance for pre-sales.

The key point is that these outdated practices have been widely abandoned by e-commerce platforms since this year. It's surprising that in 2024, such issues still exist in Li Jiaqi's live stream.

Li Jiaqi's live stream also faces similar issues with pre-sales.

A consumer on the Heimao Complaints platform purchased the Laifen Q3 Pink Gold Gift Box in Li Jiaqi's live stream for a pre-sale price of 559 yuan. However, JD.com's procurement and sales live stream offered direct spot sales with an additional 10% discount, resulting in a final price of only 509.44 yuan, nearly 50 yuan cheaper than Li Jiaqi's live stream.

The complex pre-sales process exhausts consumers, and when they realize they haven't received any real discounts, this dissatisfaction further accumulates.

This year's Double 11 saw significant changes in the strategies of major e-commerce platforms, especially in pre-sales and pricing. Platforms like JD.com adopted a more straightforward approach.

For instance, during this year's 618 shopping festival, JD.com abolished the pre-sales mechanism, and the discounts during Double 11 were directly compared to everyday prices, avoiding the deceptive tactic of raising prices before lowering them.

The JD.com procurement and sales live stream directly addresses consumers' pain points by comparing prices, clearly informing them of the difference between everyday and promotional prices, thus avoiding the feeling of being 'ripped off' due to information asymmetry. In contrast, Li Jiaqi's live stream still adheres to the outdated pre-sales model, which exhausts consumers with traditional tactics and gradually loses competitiveness.

More and more consumers are realizing that pre-sales are unreasonable when multiple platforms can offer direct spot sales. JD.com's spot sales with transparent pricing represent the 'correct way' to approach Double 11. In this context, Li Jiaqi's live stream prices have lost their competitiveness, with sales of various categories such as beauty products and home appliances declining significantly, and trust in the live stream gradually eroding.

After the first wave of pre-sales for this year's Double 11, complaints about Li Jiaqi's live stream surged on platforms like Heimao Complaints, with numerous consumers complaining about inflated prices and pre-sales not being cheaper than spot sales.

Although MeiOne officially revealed that the amount added to carts during Double 11 in Li Jiaqi's live stream increased by over 20% year-on-year, according to statistics from the Dazhong News Network, Li Jiaqi's live stream had a GMV of 21.5 billion yuan on the first day of Double 11 in 2022, compared to 9.5 billion yuan in 2023. This indicates that Li Jiaqi's GMV performance during this year's Double 11 has yet to recover from the shadow of the Huaxizi incident.

3. Live streaming e-commerce enters a new phase: from influencer live streams to storefront live streams

The wind direction of live streaming e-commerce has changed significantly in the past six months. Not only Li Jiaqi but also a host of other influencers like Xiaoyangge, Dongyuhui, and Northeastern Yujie have frequently encountered setbacks. Most of these setbacks are related to product quality issues, causing these top influencers to lose their charm among consumers.

Consumers are increasingly concerned about product quality, and low-quality, low-priced products are no longer favored.

Another notable trend this Double 11 is that the live streaming e-commerce industry as a whole has entered a new phase: the transition from 'influencer live streams' to 'storefront live streams.' The collective decline in performance of Li Jiaqi and other super influencers directly reflects this trend. Data shows that sales in Li Jiaqi's live stream are no longer as dominant as in previous years, while storefront live streams on platforms like JD.com are gradually rising.

Under the influencer live stream model, the variety of product selections is vast, spanning from 3C products to clothing and beauty products, making it difficult for brands to shape their brand image. Since 2021, brands on various platforms have gradually shifted to the lower-risk storefront live stream model.

According to a report by Crowley , in 2022, the average duration of merchant self-broadcasting on content platforms exceeded that of influencer live streams, with 7.19 hours and 9.18 hours, respectively.

A report by iResearch Consulting shows that in 2023, the market share of brand store broadcasts accounted for 51.8% of the total. Under the combined influence of frequent setbacks among top influencers, platform traffic mechanisms encouraging store broadcasts, and brands' cost reduction needs, the trend of brand store broadcasts has become increasingly prominent.

Storefront live streams are gradually dominating the market due to their advantages in price transparency, promotional efforts, and brand credibility.

Taking JD.com's procurement and sales live stream as an example, its identity as a procurement and sales platform allows it to directly pass on more discounts to consumers, with more transparent and affordable prices. This model reduces high commissions and fees in intermediate links, lowering brands' marketing costs while also allowing consumers to enjoy greater benefits.

From an industry development perspective, this trend also aligns with the overall changes in the current e-commerce market.

Consumers' spending habits are shifting from blindly pursuing low prices to rational purchases, placing greater emphasis on product cost-effectiveness and shopping experiences. Brands and platforms are also adapting to these changes by simplifying promotional processes, increasing price transparency, and reducing intermediate costs to enhance consumers' shopping experiences. As a new trend, storefront live streams are injecting new vitality into the live streaming e-commerce industry.

This year's Double 11 setbacks encountered by Li Jiaqi and the shift in consumers' attitudes towards him are not just issues with his personal live stream but also represent a crisis of trust and an opportunity for change within the entire live streaming e-commerce industry.

For Li Jiaqi, this may also be an opportunity for transformation, shifting from 'low prices' as a selling point to winning back consumers' hearts through higher quality and more transparent promotions. For consumers, they are no longer solely swayed by the slogans of 'super influencers' but prefer to compare prices themselves and choose the products and platforms that best suit them.

Conclusion

The future of live streaming e-commerce is shifting from individual 'influencer myths' towards collective 'storefront branding.'

Behind this change lies an upgrade in consumer demand and a manifestation of the industry's gradual maturity. For Li Jiaqi and other super influencers, adapting to these changes is crucial for their continued survival and development in the new market environment.