Source: e-Company Author: Wu Zhi

After 2022, live streaming became a popular track for the transformation of education and training companies. Among them, 5 companies, including New Oriental, Gaotu, Good Future, Thinking Fun, and Doushen Education, have many layouts.

After more than 2 years, there was a clear difference in the live streaming performance of Education and Training Company. The results of Oriental Selection, a subsidiary of New Oriental, are still impressive. At the end of last year, the Gaotu, Learn and Think live broadcast room, which once received a “splash of wealth,” and traffic soared, returned to calm. Only a few hundred people watched the daily live broadcast.

However, it once focused on live e-commerce, hoping to generate a total commodity transaction value (GMV) of 1.5 billion yuan in the next three years, and chose to quit at a loss after a short trial.

The high road, learn and think, the live broadcast room returns to calm

In December 2023, due to the Oriental Selection “Little Essay” incident, traffic from the live broadcast rooms of two teaching and training companies, Gaotu and Learn & Si, skyrocketed.

Among them, the number of viewers of Gaotu Jiapin's live broadcast room under Gaotu once reached the 100,000 mark. The number of followers on its Douyin account quickly broke through 2 million, Gaotu's stock price skyrocketed 70%, and Gaotu founder Chen Xiangdong appeared on the live broadcast room many times.

According to data from Mama Cicada, in December 2023, Gaotu Jiapin's delivery volume rose sharply. It reached its peak on December 15, with a daily delivery value of about 10 million yuan to 25 million yuan.

However, after the popularity subsided, the number of people in Gaotu Jiapin's live broadcast room has declined markedly recently. The number of people online at the same time during most periods did not exceed 1,000, and the daily delivery amount was about 250,000 yuan to 500,000 yuan.

Although Gaotu Jiapin brought goods back to calm, Gaotu founder Chen Xiangdong still attached great importance to Gaotu Jiapin. Chen Xiangdong recently publicly stated that he has only made two key decisions in the past ten years. One is Gaotu, and the other is Gaotu is a good product.

Chen Xiangdong said that in November 2022, he personally formed a team of about ten individuals to personally work as a project manager to make Gaotu's best products. “Because if this wasn't done by the company's 'number one, 'it would probably have failed. Live video streaming is really a great revolution. It's a great opportunity for brands, and we must not miss this opportunity.”

In addition to Gaotu Jiapin, the number of fans on Chen Xiangdong's personal Douyin account has also skyrocketed in the past year. Currently, Chen Xiangdong's Douyin followers have reached 4.4 million. Chen Xiangdong said that in the past year, he worked hard to become a Douyin fan base, and the number of fans increased by more than 4 million, which also set a personal record. He will work hard in the new year.

At the end of last year, there was also a huge increase in traffic due to the “Little Essay” storm, a live broadcast room under the “Little Essay” series. However, due to the company's low investment in the live streaming business, there is a clear gap between the number of people online, the total number of fans, and delivery amount, there is a clear gap between learning and thinking and high-distance live streaming.

Recently, the number of people online at the same time on the Xuesi Premium live broadcast room also dropped to hundreds. At a low point, sales volume was only 25,000 yuan to 50,000 yuan, and cumulative sales over the past 30 days were between 1 million yuan and 2.5 million yuan.

Thinking about it and quitting at a loss

Oriental Selection, Gaotu, and Learning and Thinking all went through a long period of silence at the beginning of the layout of the live broadcast delivery. In particular, learn and think. Live streaming delivery was suspended for a while, but the company is still holding on. There are also some companies that chose to quit live e-commerce after a short trial.

According to the performance forecast recently released by Thinking Music Education, it is expected to record a net profit of no less than 80 million yuan in 2023, an increase of no less than 47% over last year's 54.4 million yuan.

The board of directors of Simile emphasized that the profit forecast was included in the company's equity incentive benefits and a net loss of about 12 million yuan from the live e-commerce business. At the same time, Simile revealed that the company's live e-commerce business was terminated before the end of 2023, and it is not expected to incur significant expenses in 2024.

Thinking is happy to enter the live e-commerce business by the end of 2020. The company initially created the Douyin live streaming account “Think Happy GO”, hoping to create an e-commerce platform that brings interesting knowledge and provide high-quality and cost-effective products.

Thinking Le said at the time that the company will combine its brand, technology, resources and existing talent advantages to cooperate with top e-commerce and new media in the industry to establish a knowledge delivery team with South China characteristics, with a mature supply chain and anchors. I believe that the live e-commerce business will broaden the company's revenue base and contribute to long-term development.

Affected by live delivery news, in December 2022, the stock price of Xile skyrocketed. The single-day increase reached 100% on December 13, 2022.

In April 2023, Xile revealed the progress of the company's live e-commerce business in the form of an announcement for the first time. According to the announcement, on April 19, 2023, the Douyin account “Thinking Music Selection” jointly established by the Group and Baijia Xingyao officially premiered. Within 4.5 hours of live streaming, a total product transaction volume (GMV) of 4.14 million yuan was created, and 86,000 new fans were added.

Xile said that the board of directors is encouraged by the results of the first broadcast and expects to create at least 1.5 billion yuan of GMV in the next three years.

In 2023, Xile Education also increased investment in the live e-commerce business through equity incentives and other forms. However, after just one year, Xile's live streaming delivery business ended with a loss.

Thinking Le was originally an education and training organization engaged in extracurricular tutoring services for primary and secondary schools. The 2023 performance forecast shows that the non-subject literacy courses launched by Xile since the fall of 2021 have shown a good growth momentum. This is probably what motivates the company to withdraw from the live e-commerce business.

Doushen Education: Increase investment in live e-commerce after restructuring

Another major player in the live streaming delivery business is the A-share company Doushen Education (300010, *ST Doushen). Doushen Education's layout in live streaming delivery even predates Oriental selection.

Since October 2021, Dou Xin, chairman of Doushen Education, has led core members to Douyin to share knowledge of literature, literature and history through short videos on Douyin, and provide users with a variety of courses and products through live streaming.

In 2021, Doushen Education received about 37.76 million yuan for delivery of goods through Douyin live streaming. According to the 2022 annual report, Doushen Education received about 319 million yuan in e-commerce sales through Douyin Live streaming, which is a significant increase. In the first half of 2023, Doushen Education's e-commerce sales revenue through Douyin Live streaming was about 284 million yuan.

Although Doushen Education's live streaming delivery business has improved to a certain extent, it has not been able to save the company's situation. Since 2020, the company has continued to lose money. The performance forecast shows that the company is still expected to lose 320 million yuan to 380 million yuan in 2023.

Currently, Doushen Education has entered the reorganization stage. The business plan shows that after the restructuring is completed, Doushen Education will focus on two major business areas: smart education services and live e-commerce sales.

Doushen Education believes that in recent years, domestic live streaming e-commerce has maintained rapid development, the number of users has continued to rise, and GMV has grown rapidly. A compliant live e-commerce business team with professional capabilities will stand out from the competition and reap great benefits.

Live e-commerce has now become one of the company's main businesses. After the restructuring is completed, the company will actively increase the expansion of the live streaming e-commerce business and increase business investment in areas such as multiple products, multiple platforms, traffic optimization, and expansion of cooperation models, thereby rapidly expanding the scale of the live streaming e-commerce business.

edit/lambor