直播带货：喧嚣背后的价值与隐忧

当手机屏幕里的主播声嘶力竭地喊出 “三二一上链接”， millions of consumers’ fingers hover over the purchase button, and a new consumption scene is being staged intensively. This form of live-streaming e-commerce, which combines real-time interaction, visual display and preferential promotions, has quickly penetrated into the daily lives of ordinary people. It not only changes the way people shop, but also brings new development opportunities to many businesses. However, behind the booming transaction volume and high popularity, there are also many problems that cannot be ignored, which deserve in-depth discussion and reflection from all walks of life.

Live-streaming e-commerce has created a more intuitive and interactive shopping experience for consumers, which is an important reason for its rapid rise. Unlike traditional online shopping, where consumers can only understand products through pictures and text descriptions, live streaming allows hosts to display product details, use effects and even on-site tests in real time. For example, when buying cosmetics, consumers can clearly see the host’s makeup process and the actual color rendering effect on the face; when choosing household appliances, the host can demonstrate the use function and operation method on the spot. This kind of “seeing is believing” shopping method greatly reduces the information asymmetry between consumers and merchants, and also enhances the sense of participation and trust of consumers. At the same time, the limited-time discounts, flash sales and lottery activities in the live broadcast room often stimulate consumers’ impulsive consumption psychology. Many people say that they obviously did not plan to buy a certain product, but under the guidance of the host’s explanation and the atmosphere of the live broadcast room, they finally clicked the purchase button. This kind of consumption experience that combines entertainment and shopping has become a new choice for more and more people to spend their leisure time.

For businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises and individual businesses, live-streaming e-commerce has opened up a new sales channel with low threshold and high efficiency. In the past, if a small business wanted to expand its sales scope, it often needed to invest a lot of money in opening physical stores or promoting on large e-commerce platforms, and it was difficult to compete with big brands with strong financial strength. However, through live-streaming platforms, even individual sellers in remote areas can display their products to consumers across the country as long as they have a mobile phone and a network. Some local specialty products that were once unknown, such as mountain honey, hand-woven carpets and traditional handicrafts, have become popular “net red products” through the promotion of live broadcasts, and the sales volume has increased dozens or even hundreds of times. This not only helps businesses solve the problem of unsalable products, but also promotes the development of local characteristic industries and increases the income of local people. In addition, live-streaming e-commerce also shortens the supply chain. Merchants can directly connect with consumers, understand their needs and preferences in real time, and adjust product design and production plans accordingly, which helps to improve the market competitiveness of products.

However, while live-streaming e-commerce brings convenience and benefits to consumers and businesses, it also exposes a series of problems that damage the rights and interests of consumers and disrupt the market order. The most prominent problem is the quality of products. In order to pursue high sales volume and high profits, some hosts and merchants collude to sell fake and shoddy products. For example, some so-called “famous brand clothing” sold in live broadcast rooms are actually counterfeit products with rough workmanship and poor quality; some “natural and organic food” are not up to the relevant national standards, and even contain harmful substances. Consumers often find that the products they bought are inconsistent with the descriptions in the live broadcast after receiving them, but it is difficult to return or exchange them. Some merchants even use the excuse of “special live broadcast products” to refuse after-sales service, which makes consumers fall into a passive situation. According to the data released by the Consumer Association, complaints about live-streaming e-commerce have been increasing year by year in recent years, and product quality problems account for more than 60% of the total complaints.

Another serious problem is the false promotion in live broadcast rooms. In order to attract more viewers and stimulate consumption, some hosts often use exaggerated and false words to promote products. They claim that their products have “miraculous effects”, such as “using this skin care product can eliminate wrinkles in three days” and “wearing this health care product can cure all diseases”. These false propaganda not only violate the relevant laws and regulations on advertising, but also mislead consumers, causing them to spend money on products that are useless or even harmful to their health. In addition, some live broadcast rooms also have the problem of false data. In order to create a “hot” sales scene, merchants and hosts often brush fake views, fake likes and fake orders. Some live broadcast rooms that claim to have “millions of viewers” actually have only a few thousand real viewers; some products that claim to have “sold 100,000 pieces” are actually sold less than 10,000 pieces. This kind of false data not only deceives consumers, but also disrupts the fair competition environment of the live-streaming e-commerce industry. New merchants who do not brush data often find it difficult to get attention, which forms a bad industry atmosphere of “bad money driving out good money”.

The lack of standardized management of anchors is also an important factor affecting the healthy development of live-streaming e-commerce. At present, the threshold for becoming a live-streaming anchor is relatively low. As long as you register an account on the platform, you can start live broadcasting, and there is a lack of strict review and training mechanisms for the quality and professional ethics of anchors. Some anchors have low cultural quality and poor professional ethics. They often use vulgar language and inappropriate behaviors to attract attention during the live broadcast, which has a bad impact on the social atmosphere, especially on the growth of teenagers. Some anchors even use live broadcasts to carry out illegal activities, such as selling prohibited goods, propagating feudal superstitions and so on. In addition, there is also a problem of uneven professional level among anchors. Some anchors do not have a deep understanding of the products they promote, and cannot answer consumers’ questions accurately, which not only affects the shopping experience of consumers, but also may lead to consumers buying unsuitable products.

To solve the above problems and promote the healthy and sustainable development of live-streaming e-commerce, it is necessary for the government, platforms, merchants and consumers to work together. The government should strengthen the supervision of the live-streaming e-commerce industry, improve relevant laws and regulations, and increase the punishment for illegal acts such as selling fake and shoddy products, false promotion and brushing data. For example, we can establish a blacklist system for anchors and merchants who violate laws and regulations, and restrict or even ban them from engaging in live-streaming e-commerce activities. At the same time, we should also strengthen the guidance of industry standards, formulate clear norms for product quality, promotion methods and after-sales service in live-streaming e-commerce, and guide the industry to develop in a standardized direction.

Live-streaming platforms, as the main carriers of live-streaming e-commerce, should assume their main responsibilities and strengthen the management of anchors and merchants on the platform. First of all, we should strictly review the qualification of anchors and merchants, and not allow those with bad records to enter the platform. Secondly, we should strengthen the supervision of the live broadcast process, set up a special supervision team to conduct real-time monitoring of the content of the live broadcast room, and promptly stop and deal with illegal acts such as false promotion and vulgar content. In addition, we should also improve the after-sales service mechanism, establish a smooth complaint channel for consumers, and help consumers solve problems such as returns and exchanges in a timely manner. For example, some platforms have launched a “pre-payment” system, which will not transfer the payment to the merchant until the consumer confirms receipt of the goods and is satisfied, which effectively protects the rights and interests of consumers.

Merchants and anchors should also enhance their sense of social responsibility and legal awareness, and operate in good faith. Merchants should strictly control the quality of products, not sell fake and shoddy products, and not carry out false promotion. They should clearly inform consumers of the performance, quality and after-sales service of products, and respect the right of consumers to know and choose. Anchors should improve their professional quality and professional ethics, not use vulgar language and inappropriate behaviors to attract attention, and not collude with merchants to deceive consumers. They should treat consumers with a responsible attitude, carefully understand the products they promote, and provide consumers with accurate and useful information. Only by operating in good faith can merchants and anchors gain the trust of consumers and achieve long-term development.

Consumers should also improve their ability to identify and protect their own rights and interests. When shopping in live broadcast rooms, they should not be blindly tempted by low prices and exaggerated promotions, but should carefully understand the product information, compare the prices and quality of similar products, and make rational consumption decisions. At the same time, we should also pay attention to preserving relevant evidence, such as screenshots of live broadcasts, chat records and order information. If we find that we have bought fake and shoddy products or encountered false promotion, we should promptly complain to the platform or the Consumer Association, and use legal means to safeguard our legitimate rights and interests. In addition, consumers can also participate in the supervision of the live-streaming e-commerce industry, report illegal acts they find, and work together to maintain a good market environment.

Live-streaming e-commerce, as a new form of consumption, has its unique advantages and huge development potential. It has not only changed the way people shop and the way businesses operate, but also made important contributions to promoting economic development and expanding domestic demand. However, we cannot ignore the problems existing in the development process of this industry. Only by solving these problems through the joint efforts of all parties can live-streaming e-commerce get rid of the chaos of “only pursuing sales volume and ignoring quality” and embark on a road of healthy and sustainable development. In the future, with the continuous improvement of relevant laws and regulations and the continuous strengthening of industry self-discipline, live-streaming e-commerce is bound to play a more important role in the economic and social development, and bring more real benefits to consumers and businesses.