Liu Qiangdong's digital avatar, a desperate counterattack by JD.com

The development of the e-commerce industry is always a process and game of one substitute replacing another.

Just as short videos replaced text and images, and live-streaming sales replaced platform recommendations.

As the e-commerce industry enters a new cycle, especially with the maturation and perfection of AI-led new technologies, the industry has begun a brand-new transformation.

It is evident that every substitution in the e-commerce industry has given birth to a new champion.

Players who grasp the evolutionary patterns of the e-commerce industry and lead such changes almost always become the industry's top performers.

As the clock ticks into the AI era, a brand-new revolution is unfolding in the e-commerce industry.

Actively embracing AI and leveraging it to fuel new growth has become a consensus among all e-commerce players.

The first thing Joseph Tsai and Eddie Wu did after taking office was to focus their attention on AI; Pinduoduo began laying out large models as early as last year, while JD.com launched the "Procurement and Sales King" represented by Richard Liu's digital avatar.

However, if we must identify a tangible sign of AI revolutionizing e-commerce or the emergence of a new substitute, the appearance of Richard Liu's digital avatar is undoubtedly a significant marker.

I

If we merely view Richard Liu's digital avatar from the perspective of digital humans alone, there isn't much new substance or meaning to it.

The reason is that, in the eyes of many, Richard Liu's digital avatar is already the most advanced in terms of both external performance and underlying technology.

Perhaps this is the root cause of many people's criticism of Richard Liu's digital avatar.

However, if we place Richard Liu's digital avatar within the context of the e-commerce industry, or even link it to JD.com's procurement and sales, we will find that it has brought about a fundamental and comprehensive transformation to the industry.

We all know that when live-streaming sales emerged, the e-commerce industry truly entered a phase of de-platformization and decentralization.

In this phase, users and consumers no longer actively search for products to purchase but instead rely more on live-streaming experiences to make buying decisions.

It can be said that this approach maximizes the essence of e-commerce as a matchmaker and intermediary, elevating the industry's efficiency to unprecedented heights.

However, as the 红利 of traffic begins to plateau, especially with the gradual standardization of live-streaming sales, sticking to the old model has encountered increasing challenges.

In many cases, the ones truly profiting from live-streaming sales are neither the upstream manufacturers and merchants nor the downstream users and consumers, but the middlemen—the live-streaming hosts and the large platforms behind them.

It is foreseeable that if live-streaming sales continue down this path, they will inevitably fail to foster healthy growth or positive impacts for the e-commerce industry.

To break free from this 困境， it is necessary to move away from the 网红-led live-streaming model and seek a new approach that truly benefits the entire supply chain.

It is against this backdrop that we see more and more people calling for the birth of a new live-streaming sales model and the emergence of a fresh e-commerce paradigm.

When this demand collides with the wave of AI, we witness the rise of Richard Liu's digital avatar.

It can be said that with the appearance of Richard Liu's digital avatar, the new e-commerce model has finally been brought to the forefront.

II

In fact, even as live-streaming sales face increasing criticism today, we cannot deny their positive and 促进 role in e-commerce.

It can be said that live-streaming sales have truly ushered the e-commerce industry into a new era.

One major reason for the problems with live-streaming sales is that the 流量体 represented by 网红 hosts has become the sole beneficiary, while the upstream manufacturers and merchants, as well as the downstream users and consumers who foot the bill, have become the victims.

Thus, the challenge for e-commerce players is to minimize harm to the supply chain while retaining the advantages of live-streaming sales, turning it into a new driver for the industry's growth.

Before AI became mainstream, e-commerce players attempted to achieve fairness by training new hosts, but this 规模- and efficiency-driven model failed to fundamentally solve the issues of live-streaming sales.

Ultimately, live-streaming sales remain a model dominated by 规模 and efficiency.

In this industry, the real profits still go to the 头部 hosts with massive 流量 and the live-streaming agencies with strong pricing power.

Clearly, this approach cannot possibly promote the healthy development of the e-commerce industry.

To address these 弊端， we must dig deeper and fundamentally alter the underlying logic of live-streaming sales.

Only then can live-streaming sales become a truly positive force for e-commerce.

It is in this context that we see the emergence of new live-streaming models like Richard Liu's digital avatar.

III

The reason Richard Liu's digital avatar has so many functions and positive implications for e-commerce is not just because it incorporates AI but also because it represents an exploration and 实践 of new e-commerce models.

First, Richard Liu's digital avatar achieves a new form of 流量平权。

One major reason live-streaming sales have been so 促进 for e-commerce is that they redistribute the 流量 concentrated on major platforms to 网红 hosts, who then further allocate it.

Although the big platforms remain 流量 giants, this redistribution has further improved the matchmaking and intermediary efficiency of the e-commerce industry.

As live-streaming sales mature, especially as 流量 becomes concentrated in the hands of 头部 hosts, the 流量平权 of live-streaming sales has begun to 暴露 the old problems of the e-commerce industry.

To solve this issue, we need another round of 流量平权， just as live-streaming sales did initially.

头部网红 hosts typically expand their teams to accumulate and 放大流量， but this is still based on traditional factors of production like labor and capital, without bringing 实质性 change.

While 头部 hosts can maintain their market position this way, they will eventually hit a dead end.

Richard Liu's digital avatar 恰恰 solves this problem.

With AI digital humans, we can conduct live-streaming sales without relying on traditional 人力成本 increases, and AI digital humans can operate around the clock.

This will inevitably lead to a new 流量平权， where the 流量 concentrated in 头部 hosts is 重新分配， releasing new 红利。

Second, Richard Liu's digital avatar achieves a new 商业进化。

Many people fail to recognize the 特殊意义 of Richard Liu's digital avatar because they don't see the 商业进化 it brings.

In fact, the more important aspect of Richard Liu's digital avatar is that it represents a 全新的商业进化。

To summarize this 商业进化， I would say it brings the upstream and downstream of the industry closer together.

More precisely, it achieves true 去中间化 and realizes a C2M business model.

In the traditional e-commerce era, the model was B2B or B2C; later, in the live-streaming sales era, it evolved into C2C.

However, this model remains centralized and platform-based, failing to 无缝对接 products with consumers.

Through Richard Liu's digital avatar, we see this 对接. JD.com's procurement and sales, combined with Richard Liu's digital avatar, truly showcase a C2M business model.

To define the C2M model, it is more like the new e-commerce model of the AI era. Similarly, Richard Liu's digital avatar is the perfect 复刻 of this new model.

Perhaps this is another reason why Richard Liu's digital avatar holds such profound significance.

Third, Richard Liu's digital avatar achieves a new 角色定位。

Every evolution in the e-commerce industry is a process of 重新定位 roles.

In the traditional e-commerce era, players acted as matchmakers and intermediaries—Taobao, JD.com, and Pinduoduo all played this role.

When the live-streaming e-commerce era arrived, players became infrastructure providers—Douyin, Kuaishou, Taobao, JD.com, and Pinduoduo all fit this description.

It can be said that every 角色定位 of e-commerce players heralds the arrival of a new era.

For Richard Liu's digital avatar, its 巨大功能和意义 lie in its redefinition of the e-commerce industry's roles.

Take JD.com as an example. With the emergence of Richard Liu's digital avatar, JD.com is no longer just a platform or infrastructure but an active participant in the industry and supply chains.

For every e-commerce player, to achieve real growth and find new 红利， they must follow JD.com's example and redefine their roles. Only then can they thrive in the new AI era.

Ultimately, they can no longer act merely as platforms and intermediaries like in the traditional e-commerce era or as infrastructure providers like in the mobile internet era. Instead, they must, like JD.com, integrate into the industry and supply chains to uncover new growth 红利。

Conclusion

Richard Liu's digital avatar is increasingly revealing new 内涵 and 意义。

This is not just 体现在 its incorporation of AI but also in its exploration of new e-commerce models.

Only by recognizing this can we truly grasp the 特殊意义 of Richard Liu's digital avatar for JD.com and the entire e-commerce industry.

In a way, Richard Liu's digital avatar sounds the horn for e-commerce to sail into new 蓝海 and marks JD.com's 绝地反击。

If the emergence of live-streaming sales truly brought e-commerce into the mobile internet era, then Richard Liu's digital avatar is bringing it into the AI era.

With this, the battle for the new 格局 of the e-commerce industry may reignite.

—The End—

Author: Meng Yonghui, Senior Writer, Columnist, Industry Observer, Influencer, Digital Economy Scholar.