China e-commerce: how SoftBank-backed Firework aims to help mainland merchants sell directly in overseas markets

While mainland China’s massive short video and live streaming sector continues to expand, mainland e-commerce merchants are in need of a boost to directly sell their goods to consumers in overseas markets, according to Hong Kong-born serial entrepreneur Jerry Luk Ting-kwan.

Luk, co-founder and president of live-streaming commerce and digital transformation platform operator Firework, made this assessment in a recent discussion in Shenzhen with Chinese retailers – whose businesses range from electronics to home furniture – as they look to expand overseas outside Big Tech firms’ “walled-gardens” – the large, closed online ecosystems typified by the likes of Amazon.com and Facebook.

“We see a challenge with the Chinese DTC (direct-to-customer) retailers,” Luk, who has lived and worked in the United States for 24 years, told the South China Morning Post in an interview on Thursday. “They don’t really quite understand the US or Western consumer markets.”

“Live-stream shopping in China is very influencer-driven. People watch live streams because they trust the influencer,” he said. “Whereas in the US, it’s still brand-focused. The relationship is between the brand and the customer, not an influencer.”