The Market Supervision and Administration Bureau of Hefei High-tech Zone issued a notice: Recently, the "Hong Kong Meicheng Mooncakes" sold by Three Sheep Network Technology Co., Ltd. through live broadcasting has attracted attention. A case has been filed for investigation into the suspected "misleading consumers" and other behaviors of Three Sheep Network Technology Co., Ltd. in the live broadcast, and it will be handled in accordance with the law and regulations based on the investigation results. Our bureau has repeatedly interviewed and urged enterprises to standardize their business practices in conjunction with relevant departments, and will resolutely investigate and deal with illegal and irregular behaviors in the live broadcasting of enterprises in accordance with the law. The "Hong Kong Meicheng Mooncakes" promoted by Brother Xiao Yang and the anchors under Three Sheep involved false propaganda, which made him fall. Brother Xiao Yang said in the live broadcast room that this mooncake sold more than 1 million orders. Hong Kong Meicheng's high-end mooncakes contain black truffles, which are prepared by Michelin masters. Many netizens left messages saying that they had never heard of "Hong Kong Meicheng". Some netizens found out through mainstream online shopping platforms such as Hong Kong hktvmall that Meicheng mooncakes were not sold on mainstream websites in Hong Kong, and they were very similar to the well-known Hong Kong brand Maxim's mooncakes.

After multiple investigations, it was found that Meicheng Mooncakes has no stores in Hong Kong. The actual operator is a Guangzhou company. Many details such as the place of origin and quality have also been questioned. I understand that live streaming itself is indeed an industry with very low social benefits, and may even have negative benefits. Live streaming is essentially about putting the meals of 100,000 or 1 million people into one person's bowl. Every time a big anchor succeeds, 100,000 people lose their jobs. A large number of companies have become vassals of the anchors. Through their strong voice, corporate profits have been squeezed to small profits or losses. Individual companies have expanded their traffic scale, and a large number of companies have closed down. Can consumption not shrink? The benefits to consumers (which may not be affordable) are essentially at the expense of the disappearance of a large number of jobs and the reduction of corporate profits. It is a small benefit for consumers, but a big loss for many people.

Livestreaming with goods essentially only changes the distribution method, without creating any incremental social benefits or increasing demand. In addition, livestreaming with goods has also deteriorated the social credit system. Most of the anchors who bring goods are noisy and exaggerate the functions or effectiveness of the products. The word "misleading" is already a light word, and many of them are almost equivalent to fraud. Internet e-commerce platforms have improved the overall commercial credit of society, but livestreaming with goods has completely undermined the trust between merchants and consumers.

In fact, this is not a problem of a certain anchor, but a problem of live broadcasting itself. The fastest way to make money is to take advantage of information asymmetry, that is, intentional or unintentional misleading, commonly known as rhetoric. Traditional e-commerce can operate honestly without rhetoric to accumulate users, but live broadcasting is a battle for traffic. Whoever is swiped is who, and whoever does not use rhetoric will suffer. For example, live broadcasting e-commerce is similar to short-term board, and traditional e-commerce is similar to value investment. In the short term, live broadcasting e-commerce has a strong momentum, but in the end mode, the world's richest man is still Buffett. If I must say, live broadcasting e-commerce such as Douyin and Kuaishou may have reached its peak. Not only can they no longer snatch users from traditional e-commerce, but they may also deliver a large number of users to them. For example, many people may learn to shop online for the first time on Douyin and Kuaishou, and then follow the clues to find more affordable platforms such as Taobao and Duoduo. Of course, the live broadcasting market is so big that even if there is no growth, individuals can still make a lot of money in it. It's just that this is already grabbing money in the red ocean, not lying in the blue ocean.

Taobao, JD.com, Meituan, and Vipshop have a positive impact on society as a whole. These platforms have indeed impacted physical stores, but they have also created more online stores. Online stores are also part of the real economy and need to recruit employees. At the same time, they have spawned industries such as express delivery and takeout. The biggest significance is that it has increased the transparency of commodity information, and the common phenomenon of consumers being slaughtered without knowing it has been reduced a lot; secondly, it has reduced the excessive costs of physical stores, especially rent, which can indeed save money for consumers and greatly reduce the costs of enterprises. The biggest victims are actually the landlords, that is, the vested interests. However, live streaming encourages the evil of human nature too much, and all kinds of exaggeration and false propaganda should be regulated.