Yu Minhong can't escape his fate.

When Dong Yuhui's suspension due to the "little essay" controversy pushed East Buy to the brink, Yu Minhong, with the deft touch of an entrepreneur, pulled the company back from the edge of the cliff.

With the launch of "Journey with Yuhui," East Buy returned to its orderly progression, as if the incident that could have determined its future had left little impact.

Although East Buy is back on track, Yu Minhong still hasn't escaped the inevitable deep reshuffle that live-streaming e-commerce must undergo.

In fact, from the very first day of founding East Buy, Yu Minhong sought to create a live-streaming e-commerce model entirely different from the conventional one.

Whether it's building its own supply chain, developing its own app, or streaming across multiple platforms, we can see Yu Minhong repeatedly breaking and reshaping the traditional live-streaming e-commerce model.

Yet, despite this, East Buy still ended up in the same dead end that all live-streaming e-commerce inevitably faces.

Merely acting as a traffic hub or the vanguard of e-commerce without fundamentally influencing or changing the traditional model has led live-streaming e-commerce into a reshuffle that should have happened long ago.

Although Yu Minhong had long hoped to reform live-streaming e-commerce and no longer defined East Buy with traditional logic, he still fell into the same old patterns.

This, undeniably, is Yu Minhong's inescapable fate.

I

Looking back at East Buy's origins, it's clear that Yu Minhong made a strategic choice when New Oriental faced a life-or-death crisis.

However, his entry into live-streaming e-commerce didn't come at the best time.

By then, the golden age of live-streaming e-commerce had passed, and its most explosive growth phase was over.

Whether it was the issues with Wei Ya and Li Jiaqi or Luo Yonghao's fade-out, it was evident that live-streaming e-commerce was no longer in its wild, unchecked growth phase.

Yet, it was at this very moment that Yu Minhong, driven by the mission to save New Oriental, plunged into the red ocean of live-streaming e-commerce.

It's certain that for Yu Minhong to make an impact in this field, he couldn't simply copy the traditional model—he had to create an entirely new one.

Thus, we saw East Buy build its own supply chain.

Thus, we saw East Buy develop its own app.

Thus, we saw East Buy stream across multiple platforms.

In short, Yu Minhong sought to adapt to the changing market by forging a new live-streaming e-commerce model to keep mining gold in this space.

History proved his choice correct.

East Buy's rapid rise offered a glimpse of this success.

East Buy's rise wasn't just the victory of Dong Yuhui's sudden fame—it was more about the triumph of a new live-streaming e-commerce model.

For Yu Minhong, following this logic would inevitably give East Buy a competitive edge unlike any other player in the field. As this advantage grew, East Buy would lead—even dominate—the future of live-streaming e-commerce.

Yet, despite not wanting to build East Buy with traditional logic, it still ended up on a path he never intended.

Dong Yuhui's explosive popularity was proof.

In Yu Minhong's vision, East Buy wasn't meant to rely on a single influencer but on a diverse group of them.

This fundamentally differed from the models of Wei Ya, Li Jiaqi, or Luo Yonghao.

Only this way could East Buy avoid the pitfalls that traditional live-streaming e-commerce inevitably faced.

But with Dong Yuhui's rise, East Buy still fell into that very trap—Yu Minhong couldn't escape his fate after all.

He wanted to create an East Buy entirely different from traditional live-streaming e-commerce, but it became the very thing he least wanted.

II

The "little essay" incident between Dong Yuhui and East Buy was direct evidence of this phenomenon.

This incident revealed the harsh reality that East Buy was conforming to traditional live-streaming e-commerce.

If East Buy didn't resolve this issue, it would inevitably fade into mediocrity.

As it turned out, Yu Minhong's business acumen allowed him to deftly resolve the conflict between Dong Yuhui and East Buy, steering both "Journey with Yuhui" and East Buy back on track.

However, while the surface-level conflict was resolved, Yu Minhong still hadn't fully realized his vision for reforming live-streaming e-commerce.

Whether it's East Buy or "Journey with Yuhui," both still operate under traditional live-streaming e-commerce logic—remaining traffic hubs and e-commerce amplifiers.

While they may thrive temporarily on their existing traffic, once growth plateaus and consumers tire of this model, they'll inevitably fall into the same trap as Wei Ya, Li Jiaqi, and Luo Yonghao.

For Yu Minhong, this likely wasn't why he created East Buy, nor does it align with his vision of East Buy as New Oriental's new future.

Only by breaking free from the current live-streaming e-commerce model and adopting a new business logic can East Buy avoid clichés, becoming more than just a money-making tool—instead, a sustainable business.

And this is what Yu Minhong truly wanted East Buy to achieve.

Unfortunately, East Buy still fell into the same old trap—over-relying on a single influencer, overemphasizing its role as a traffic hub, and failing to find solutions to the industry's inherent problems.

Stuck in this cycle, East Buy not only fails to resolve Yu Minhong's dilemma but may even undermine his strategic plans.

Perhaps this is why Yu Minhong earlier admitted that East Buy was "a mess."

From this perspective, it's yet another fate Yu Minhong couldn't escape.

He sought to change live-streaming e-commerce but was forced into its dead end.

III

In truth, Yu Minhong was right.

Live-streaming e-commerce is undergoing a profound and comprehensive transformation.

If we were to summarize this shift, the reallocation and integration of traffic, along with the reshaping and rebuilding of the live-streaming e-commerce ecosystem, are undoubtedly the most critical aspects.

In the past, live-streaming e-commerce was synonymous with abundant traffic and the rise of influencer hosts.

But behind this phenomenon was the repeated concentration of traffic.

Every successful player in live-streaming e-commerce achieved this traffic concentration—becoming a hub for it.

Wei Ya, Li Jiaqi, Luo Yonghao, Xiao Yangge—and East Buy—all followed this pattern.

Yet, when traffic is concentrated in the hands of a few top players, it doesn't foster a healthy ecosystem.

The same applies to major traffic platforms.

To rejuvenate these platforms, traffic must be reallocated and restructured.

Thus, we see more platform giants nurturing new influencers and traffic hubs.

Only with the emergence of new influencers and traffic hubs can these platforms maximize their vitality.

This is how the entire ecosystem achieves optimal benefits.

For entities like East Buy, their success is temporary. To sustain growth, they must break free from this model and seek new opportunities by distancing themselves from traffic dependency.

East Buy's strategy of cultivating multiple influencers—rather than putting all its eggs in one basket—reflects this thinking.

From this perspective, Yu Minhong was correct.

Yet, despite not wanting East Buy to develop this way, it became the very thing he least desired.

Dong Yuhui's rise was proof of this.

From the moment Dong Yuhui went viral, East Buy's attempt to adapt to traffic reallocation had effectively failed.

Thus, when East Buy tried to adjust its direction, the "little essay" incident erupted.

Beyond traffic reallocation, live-streaming e-commerce is also undergoing self-enhancement and evolution.

To summarize this evolution: no longer just a middleman or traffic relay, but a fully integrated player connecting industry upstream and downstream—this is the new direction.

For any live-streaming e-commerce player, only by building an end-to-end industrial chain and truly connecting front-end traffic with back-end operations can it achieve sustainable growth.

East Buy recognized this.

Hence, it invested in upstream manufacturers and built a logistics system tailored for live-streaming e-commerce.

Ultimately, Yu Minhong hoped East Buy would align with this new evolution to thrive in the next phase.

East Buy's courier services and industrial investments were clear manifestations of this vision.

Yet, as East Buy fell into traditional patterns, its focus shifted to the front end, neglecting the back-end development Yu Minhong had prioritized.

Once this model regressed to conventional live-streaming e-commerce, East Buy was doomed to face the same struggles as its peers.

And the fate Yu Minhong sought to escape remained unavoidable.

Conclusion

Yu Minhong never wanted East Buy to become what it is today—yet here it is.

Like all live-streaming e-commerce players, he couldn't escape the fate they all tried but failed to avoid.

Yet, we can't overlook Yu Minhong's attempts to innovate in live-streaming e-commerce or his profound business insights.

For live-streaming e-commerce, only by following Yu Minhong's original vision—breaking free from extreme traffic dependency and transcending the role of a mere middleman—can it achieve long-term, sustainable growth.

Only then can East Buy be more than just Yu Minhong's lifeline for New Oriental—it can become the golden key to a new future. $EAST BUY(01797.HK)

—End—

Author: Meng Yonghui, Senior Writer, Columnist, Industry Observer, Renowned KOL, Scholar of Digital Economy.