Chinese companies are using AI-generated presenters to bring livestream shopping to audiences in other countries. These virtual streamers can speak multiple languages, potentially easing the challenge of finding local hosts who can sell naturally on camera. But the technology does not yet reproduce every part of a live human presentation.
A familiar shopping format faces a new hurdle
Livestream e-commerce is a major part of online shopping in China. More than 500 million people there watch it regularly, and the streams brokered $4.6 trillion in sales last year. More than one-quarter of online purchases in China came through livestreams.
Chinese companies have tried to take this model abroad. Alibaba’s overseas arm, AliExpress, was hiring foreign talent in 2020 to create shopping streams in English, Russian, and other languages. But livestream shopping has not become mainstream elsewhere, and the source describes little appetite for it in the US.
TikTok announced a US rollout of livestream shopping features, but the format has faced skepticism from some users. That leaves companies looking for ways to reach overseas shoppers without relying on a large pool of local presenters.
Virtual presenters can lower the language barrier
AI tools offer one possible route. Developers can create a streamer using just one minute of video for training. They charge about $1,000 for avatars designed to speak and act almost like real people, and these presenters have already appeared in thousands of shopping livestreams.
Finding people who understand the format, perform comfortably on camera, and can speak for hours through repetitive routines is difficult. China has schools that train aspiring streamers for this work, but the source says that a comparable ecosystem does not exist elsewhere yet.
Some brands have addressed the gap by combining a product video with audio recorded by a foreign-language voice actor. Chen Dan, CEO of Chinese AI streamer marketing company Quantum Planet, described a Chinese bluetooth headphone brand that used Thai-speaking voice actors over footage of a hand presenting and testing the products.
Newer tools can translate speech, reproduce a speaker’s voice, and synchronize lip movements. The article describes a product from LA-based HeyGen that translates video into seven different languages. Its available languages included Hindi, the only non-Western language offered at the time described.
Early results show both promise and limits
Xiaoice and Quantum Planet work together to pitch AI streamers to Chinese clients. Their virtual presenters can speak 129 languages, including English, Vietnamese, Thai, and Indonesian. Huang Wei, the director of virtual influencer livestreaming business at Xiaoice, said clients were highly interested in cross-border e-commerce in Southeast Asia.
In March, the companies used a Thai-speaking AI streamer to sell furniture for a Chinese company. The stream sold $2,000 worth of products in an hour. A native Thai speaker who watched a clip said the intonation sounded so natural that he almost thought it was voice dubbing. The article also notes that the English version did not seem as strong as the Chinese or Thai versions.
There is still a meaningful difference between a prepared presentation and a live exchange. An AI streamer may not be able to test a product in real time in response to audience questions. That limitation matters for viewers who want to see a specific feature demonstrated before buying.
A lower-cost way to test new markets
For companies exploring an unfamiliar market, a virtual presenter may still be useful. The source says the monthly salary for a local streamer in Indonesia is almost the same as the cost of customizing an AI streamer. Reusing the AI presenter can cost less over time than keeping a person on payroll.
That cost comparison may make it easier for brands to experiment, especially when expanding abroad is uncertain. Speaking a viewer’s language can help a company explain its products, while a reusable avatar avoids the need to recruit a new presenter for every market. These advantages do not guarantee that audiences will adopt livestream shopping.
The article is cautious about whether the format will soon become popular outside China. AI streamers may help Chinese companies cross language and cultural barriers, but the wider appeal of livestream commerce remains uncertain. For now, the technology offers a new way to try selling abroad, while its live interaction limits remain visible.