Spend a lot of money to ask celebrities to bring goods, but the sales volume is dismal. Recently, Mr. Pan, a citizen, reported to Nandu that his company spent 20,000 yuan on the "pit fee" to ask the star Liu Mengmeng to bring goods for him, and was originally full of expectations for stockpiling, but only received 5 orders, and the transaction amount was only 603 yuan. In this regard, the live streaming agency said that there was no guarantee clause in the contract, "it is not to say how much money is given to guarantee how much goods to sell", and refused Mr. Pan's refund request.
Recently, some merchants spent 510,000 yuan to invite celebrity Chen Xiaochun and Net red to bring goods, and only sold 5,000 yuan, and the topic of celebrities with goods caused heated discussion. Some people in the live broadcast industry believe that with the development of the live streaming industry to specialization and quality, the audience resources will also gather to the head anchors and institutions, and the effect of star cross-border live broadcasting is gradually worse than before, and merchants should be more cautious and rational when choosing anchors with goods.
Spend 20,000 yuan to find a star to bring goods and only sell 603 yuan
Mr. Pan, who runs an eyewear business in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, told Nandu Reporter that in September 2021, in order to expand sales channels, the company intends to try to live stream with goods, and through employee contact, reached a cooperation intention with Zhuo Ke (Beijing) Culture Media Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Zhuo Ke Company").
Mr. Pan said that after communication, they agreed to pay 20,000 yuan in service fees to Zhuoke Company, asking star Liu Mengmeng to promote her glasses products on the Douyin live broadcast on November 22, 2021, and the products sold out also had to pay a 15% commission.
According to public information, Liu Mengmeng is a film and television actor who has participated in many TV series and is well known to the public for playing the role of "Nuolan" in the urban romantic comedy "Love Apartment 3". According to the investment poster provided by Mr. Pan, November 20, 2021 was Liu Mengmeng's live broadcast debut on Douyin (later rescheduled to November 22), which also became one of the selling points of Zhuoke's investment promotion. "The other staff told us that because it was her live broadcast debut, she would invest millions of dollars for traffic promotion, which reassured us."
On the night of the live broadcast, Mr. Pan and his colleagues squatted nervously in front of the screen, but only received 5 orders, and the cooperation transaction amount was 603 yuan. They were disappointed by the results. "In the past, we used to do e-commerce promotions, we could sell hundreds of products at a time, according to this experience, we deliberately prepared more than a thousand copies of goods, but only sold 5 orders, and one was returned." Mr. Pan said that there were more than 30 merchants who paid the "pit fee" to obtain the live broadcast pit that night, and most of the sales data was not ideal, and they all asked for a refund of the service fee.
Another businessman, Mr. Zheng, told reporters that he "spent fifteen thousand to ask them to promote mouthwash products, and at about 7 o'clock that night, the anchor explained for about 5 minutes, sold 5 orders, and the total amount was more than 200." ”
Not only were they dissatisfied with the sales data, both Mr. Cheng and Mr. Pan were skeptical about the audience data of the night in the live broadcast room. Mr. Zheng showed reporters a screenshot of the monitoring data of the third-party platform with live broadcast goods, saying, "At 6 o'clock that night, more than 10,000 viewers suddenly poured in, and then there was no increase throughout the night, and the number of viewers throughout the live broadcast remained at 13,000 people." I have also found other anchors to bring goods, and this data does not seem to be true. ”
The live broadcast data displayed on the third-party data platform at 19:00 on November 22, 2021 presented by the merchant.
After Mr. Zheng and Mr. Pan expressed their dissatisfaction with the effect of the live broadcast to Zhuoke Company, the other party agreed to contact other anchors and conduct another live broadcast as compensation. However, more than a month later, the promised rebroadcast has not been fulfilled.
"To ask the other person again is to wait for the arrangement." Mr. Pan said that after repeated communication was fruitless, he hoped that the other party would refund the service fee of 20,000 yuan, but was refused. At present, some merchants, including Mr. Pan, have planned to request a refund of the service fees previously paid through legal channels.
Live broadcast agencies: It is not a guarantee of how much goods to sell
On January 6, Nandu reporter contacted Zhuoke (Beijing) Culture Media Co., Ltd., and the staff member Mr. He responded that the agency and the merchant did not agree on the amount of live sales that night in the cooperation content, "The merchant reflected that the sales volume was not ideal, but we did not guarantee the amount in the contract, not to say how much money to give me to guarantee how much goods to sell." The live promotion service purchased by the merchant, in addition to selling goods, also has the role of promotion, which is equivalent to advertising. ”
Mr. He said that after the end of the live broadcast that night, they had fulfilled the contract content, and as for the subsequent commitments such as "rebroadcasting", it was the company's "humanitarian" compensation based on the poor sales of the merchants. Why hasn't a rebroadcast been scheduled for more than a month? In this regard, Mr. He explained: "At present, the company does not have a suitable anchor in its hands, and other stars also need to coordinate the schedule, so we cannot give a time commitment for when to rebroadcast." ”
In response to the question of the falsification of live audience data raised by Mr. Zheng and other merchants, Mr. He denied it in his response, "The data in the live broadcast room is supervised by the platform, and the company has not purchased data to charge the number." ”
Experts: Merchants need to rationally choose live streaming with goods, do not blindly "chase the stars"
Some people in the live streaming industry revealed to reporters that at present, merchants and anchors in the industry usually do not force the agreement on the sales volume and amount of goods, mainly based on the results of communication between the two sides and the contract signed. At present, live streaming with goods shows a "two-eight effect", that is, the industry's top anchors and institutions often attract a large number of resources and audiences, and the remaining institutions and anchors can obtain a very limited audience. With the improvement of the professionalism of the head anchor and the growth of the number of fans, the "cross-border live broadcast" of some stars has not been as fresh as in the early days, and the relative live broadcast effect will be discounted.
The person suggested that merchants should be more cautious and rational when choosing anchors and institutions with goods, "Don't just listen to each other bragging about themselves, but also check the anchors and institutions' data on goods, the anchors with good effects often have no low prices, and they must have expectations in their hearts." ”
Hu Gang, deputy secretary-general of the Rule of Law Working Committee of the Internet Society of China, believes that according to the Civil Code, if the contract clearly stipulates that the basic service fee will not be refunded after live broadcasting, then regardless of the sales volume of the live broadcast, the claim that the merchant should return the fee is generally difficult to support. However, if merchants or consumers discover that live streaming operators or live streaming marketers have engaged in fraudulent data traffic, they may complain to the departments of network information, market supervision, industry and information technology, and rely on the results of administrative investigations and administrative penalties of relevant departments to claim relevant civil compensation in accordance with the Civil Code and the Anti-Unfair Competition Law. Where consumer fraud is constituted, consumers may claim punitive damages of "one refund and three losses" in accordance with the Consumer Rights and Interests Protection Law.
Written by: Nandu, N video reporter Wei Zhixin Intern Li Jilin Li Xinyue