The outbreak of the pandemic has caused people to turn their attention to live streaming and the new era of e-commerce. Brands push to invite celebrities and notable influencers to join the ‘live broadcast room’ and increase brand traffic. Among the top-selling product categories, the performance of cars has been particularly interesting.
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Under the catalysis of the epidemic, live streaming has become an important way to sell goods. But is it for traffic or sales? In fact, although the online live streaming of selling cars seems to be hot, the actual conversion rate is not optimistic. Most of the effects of "live streaming of selling cars" are not as solid as they seem with lower than expected conversion rate. At the beginning of May, the "Live Group Car Festival" attracted more than 5,275 dealers, covering 97 car brands and 257 cities, but only 6,903 paid and paid orders were generated from more than 15,000 live shows.
Of course, live-selling of cars is not entirely undesirable. As a new sales model under special circumstances, car streaming sales through celebrities increases the exposure of automobile brands. Auto makers' ability to pay for marketing has also brought huge profits to live-streaming platforms. At the same time, livestream often offers excessive gift packages, including vouchers and financial policies, which are also beneficial to consumers. In the end, "live selling cars" is just another way of presenting an auto advertisement. For auto companies, it is difficult to sell cars directly through this way at least at the present stage.
This year has been a year of rapid developments in areas of intelligent driving. The technology has been continuously optimized and many key milestones achieved. While the core principle of today’s smart driving has not undergone major qualitative changes, the chips, algorithms, operating systems, sensors, radar and other related-technologies have been continuously optimized. For example, driving on a rainy day is a problem faced by global smart driving companies. But during a live broadcast on June 28th, Didi showed that even if it encounters heavy rain in Shanghai, the Didi automatic driving network can still shuttle through the city without incidents. According to Zhang Bo, CTO of Didi Mobility and CEO of autonomous driving company, water splashes on rainy days can easily cause noise and road slippage can affect tire grip. These environmental changes will place higher demands on the algorithms and control systems of automated driving systems. After continuous optimization, the Didi automatic driving network car can still run smoothly and receive orders even in heavy rain.
At present, more and more smart driving startup companies are independently researching core technologies to find the most suitable profit model and application scenarios. Based on the present trajectory, we see an acceleration of China’s domestic intelligent driving industry.
In April, "ZER01NE Accelerator" and Hyundai Motor Group's Open Innovation Center officially recruited outstanding Chinese start-up companies. The recruitment topics included: automotive product innovation functions, travel platforms, smart factories, drones and robots, marketing and retail innovation, and in-vehicle health. After the final selection, four Chinese start-up companies including Yiqing Technology, Jidou Technology, Maigao Technology, and Taifang Technology were selected. In the future, they plan to discuss innovative collaborations with the Hyundai Motor Group business department, carry out prototype concept verification, and have the opportunity to obtain capital, equity investment, overseas business development and other support to achieve breakthroughs in technology and business.
At present, the acceleration plan has been held for 6 phases, which has helped 40 start-up companies in the world to accelerate their development, achieved 28 cooperative projects and 8 product developments, and invested a total of 28 start-up companies.
In June, XNode partnered with SCANIA, the world's leading heavy truck and bus manufacturer, to organize an Open Innovation Challenge to recruit outstanding startups for five major themes. The selected companies will work with the Scania team in the next 3 months to jointly develop new products and jointly enter the market.
At a time when uncertainty is increasing, the automotive industry is facing turbulence and opportunities. Whether it is a traditional car company, a new force in car manufacturing, or a technology unicorn, there is an urgent need to find a niche position in the ecosystem and flexibly adjust the company strategy to embrace technological innovation and business pivots.