The AI wave that will sweep the technology circle in 2023 has made 360, which has been far away from the consumer Internet for many years, once again stand in front of the stage. Especially at the "2023 Wind Horse Cow Year-end Show" not long ago, he used the sentence "I'm about to fall asleep", which made the well-known million-dollar business big V directly break the defense.
Taking advantage of this wave of popularity, Zhou Hongyi held a "red clothes open class". As a veteran of the Internet industry, why does Zhou Hongyi continue to be active on this stage after becoming famous? Perhaps this is also a question that many people are wondering, but the answer to this question seems to have been revealed. Recently, there have been relevant reports showing that, according to insiders of 360 Group, in a recent internal meeting, it was determined that live streaming will be one of 360's annual plans, and Zhou Hongyi will also participate in it, "first make Lao Zhou a big Internet celebrity, and then promote the delivery of goods." ”
Not long ago, Zhou Hongyi went to the East to audition, listened to Dong Yuhui and Yu Minhong give a lesson on the Internet celebrity economy, and also said, "Strive to understand the traffic password, and listen to Yu Minhong and Dong Yuhui share their efforts and persistence". "Everything can be broadcast, everything can be sold", at a time when the consumer Internet is all in full swing, live e-commerce has become a rare bright color, and it is obviously not surprising that Zhou Hongyi, who returned from Dongfang Selection, has taken a fancy to this hot land.
It is reported that Zhou Hongyi once had such a statement with employees, "Some people may ask, Zhou Hongyi is already rich, why is he so energetic?" I can tell you bluntly that at 360, I'm actually working for everyone. I do 360 because it excites me, and doing it gives me a great sense of accomplishment." A fighter who is always full of passion, this is the impression that Zhou Hongyi left on the outside world, so it is obviously not surprising that he will try to bring goods live broadcast.
Moreover, 360, which is in the red, also needs a new "cash cow". Not long ago, on January 30, 360 Group announced its 2023 annual performance forecast, which is expected to have a negative net profit attributable to the owners of the parent company in 2023 and a net loss of 3700 million yuan-5500 million yuan, the operating income in the reporting period decreased slightly compared with the same period last year, and the overall gross profit was basically the same as that of the same period last year. In the past 2023, 360's life does not seem to be easy, and the actual revenue of the three main businesses, including Internet advertising and service business, Internet value-added business represented by games, 360 security and other related businesses, has declined year-on-year.
At the same time, the 360 intelligent brain that 360 is currently pushing can be described as a big money-burner, so the new source of money has become very important for today's 360. So how profitable is live streaming? Taking Dongfang Selection, which Zhou Hongyi visited, as an example, in its unaudited financial report for the interim fiscal year 2024, it shows that the total revenue of self-operated products and e-commerce business is 21300 million yuan, the gross profit margin of the business is as high as 329%。There is no doubt that after encountering the black swan event of education and training reform, Yu Minhong's timely decision to bet on live broadcast e-commerce saved New Oriental.
According to the "2023 (First) China Live E-commerce Market Data Report" released at the live broadcast e-commerce industry exchange conference held last summer, the transaction scale of live broadcast e-commerce in the first half of 2023 will be about 1,991.6 billion yuan, and the annual transaction scale is expected to reach 4,565.7 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3044%。The penetration rate of live e-commerce transaction volume is about 278%, and the full year is expected to reach 319% and a growth rate of 2608%, and the annual user scale is expected to reach 5400 million people, a year-on-year increase of 1416%。
Although live streaming e-commerce did show signs of slowing down in its fourth year compared to the rapid growth during the pandemic, it is enough for a market with 500 million users to make any Internet company salivate.
So the question then arises, can 360 replicate the story of Oriental Selection? In fact, compared with LETV, Tianya and other manufacturers who aspire to become the "second in Oriental selection", the advantage of 360 is very obvious, after all, Zhou Hongyi's influence in the network is undoubted.
In essence, live streaming is actually a process that stimulates users' desire to buy, and its underlying logic is similar to Pinduoduo, where the anchor gathers a large number of homogeneous needs in the live broadcast room, and uses the number of fans, trust and purchasing power to exchange for the price reduction space of goods. The reason why the head anchor dares to ask for the "lowest price on the whole network" in his own hands is that he has a huge volume advantage, and the users gathered in the live broadcast room actually represent a massive amount of homogeneous demand.
However, as platforms and brands begin to seek profits, the live broadcast e-commerce track has seen a trend of "de-heading", from Douyin to **, and then to Kuaishou, removing head traffic and supporting middle-waist anchors has almost become their common choice. Marked by the rise of Dongfang Selection, live broadcast e-commerce has also begun to shift from traffic-driven to content and brand-driven. Looking at the live streaming track in 2023, in addition to Dongfang Selection, which is known for its knowledge-based delivery, and Crazy Xiao Yang, who is known for his funny, the rest of the emerging forces are the store broadcasts of major brands.
The advantage of 360 lies in Zhou Hongyi's "Internet celebrity entrepreneur" attribute. As one of the earliest Internet practitioners in China, he has completely experienced PC, Internet, and mobile Internet, and even today he is active in front of the stage, and Zhou Hongyi is also an excellent product manager, all of which is enough to prove that he has a good heart.
Of course, there are not many people who have poetry and books in their stomachs and are rich in learning to do live broadcasts and bring goods, but only Dongfang Selection is the one who really stands out. The reason why Dong Yuhui can win the favor of the audience is because of the heritage of the New Oriental period. Almost all of New Oriental's excellent lecturers have a characteristic, that is, they are not only excellent teachers, but also qualified salesmen, and are even jokingly called by the outside world that they are teaching knowledge half of the time, and the other half is blowing water, jokes, and inspirational stories.
Therefore, how to combine content and delivery will be a key issue to test Zhou Hongyi and even 360. Fortunately, the "Red Clothes Open Class" has proved that he does have two brushes in his speech, and his expressiveness in front of the camera is no different from that of the head Internet celebrity, so it is obviously not a problem to attract the audience to the live broadcast room. The next question is, what kind of products does 360's live streaming want to sell?
If you want to really do 360's live streaming, getting off to a good start will obviously be the top priority, considering that Zhou Hongyi is a successful entrepreneur, it seems that it is most appropriate for him to talk about success.