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On December 20, 2021, Xinhua News Agency reported that Wei Ya, the head anchor of Taobao live broadcast, was punished for tax evasion of 643 million yuan and other underpayment of 60 million yuan from 2019 to 2020, including tax recovery, surcharge and penalty of 1.341 billion yuan. On the same day, Weiya issued a letter of apology on her official microblog, saying that she would fully accept the punishment decision of relevant departments. By 22:30 on December 20, Weiya’s live broadcast content and studio had been taken off the shelves on Diantao (Taobao live broadcast) platform.
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What happened to Sydney? Through the Sydney incident, we may see the follow-up development of the Weiya incident. On November 22, Sydney, another head anchor of Taobao live broadcast, was also punished by relevant departments for tax issues. As of December 20, Sydney has not resumed its live broadcasting activities on Taobao live / Diantao.
Super head anchor is essentially a “discount e-commerce”, not a “content e-commerce”. Taobao live broadcast is a platform with a high degree of anchor headedness. According to xiaohulu big data, the sum of the top 2 anchor sales of Taobao live broadcast in September 2021 exceeded the sum of the 3rd-30th. We believe that the core reason why these head anchors gather a lot of traffic is not “excellent content”, but “great discount”. The super anchor has formed a Matthew effect cycle of “more traffic, high sales – high bargaining power – from the brand to lower discount – more traffic, higher sales” to a certain extent. All participants of live broadcast e-commerce (including platform, brand, supervision, etc.) may have considered this phenomenon before.
High discount + high cost, super head anchor with goods make the burden of brand merchants heavier. In addition to the explicit pit fee and commission, discount is also a major “cost” in the process of head anchor carrying goods, but it is often ignored by the market. In our in-depth report “honey and arsenic” of live broadcast e-commerce, we mentioned that the pit fee + commission of some categories of live broadcast goods can be as high as more than 30% of the transaction volume, and businesses also need to provide direct discounts or gifts equivalent to about 50% of the price of goods. Under the condition of high discount + high cost, it is difficult for businesses to make profits directly through the head anchor. The role of super head anchor with goods to businesses is mainly “product publicity”, and businesses mainly make money through consumers’ subsequent re purchase.
Prospect of “post super anchor era”: we expect to pay more attention to content rather than discount, and improve the brand management environment. We believe that after the end of the era of “super anchor”, participants such as the live broadcasting platform may pay more attention to the control of the industry ecology. We look forward to forming a more balanced and diversified live broadcasting ecology in the future to attract consumers through content (rather than discounts). This will help to enhance the vitality of the industry and benefit the emergence of high-quality merchants. The “decentralized” anchor pattern is conducive to improving the business environment of merchants and is expected to reduce the rate of brand sales expenses in the long run.
Investment suggestion: if the phenomenon of “super head anchor” is alleviated, For other discount channels (such as duty-free, etc.) and brand merchants, “super head anchor with goods” is essentially a “discount e-commerce” for other discount channels (such as duty-free, etc.). In the future, such needs of consumers may be partially transferred to other discount channels, such as online duty-free mall. For brand merchants, “super head anchor” The link of phenomenon helps to improve the business operation and competitive environment, reduce the sales cost rate, and is conducive to long-term and healthy development.
Risk tips: industry regulatory risks, live broadcast supply and product quality problems, consumption is less than expected, etc.
