Louis Vuitton’s Debut Livestream on Little Red Book

What happened “Welcome to the Louis Vuitton summer hour livestream!” This was fashion blogger Yvonne Ching’s introduction to excited viewers this Thursday, March 26. She was hosting the brand’s debut livestream on the popular Chinese social e-commerce platform Little Red Book — while dressed head-to-toe in the newest LV summer collection, of course. The one-hour-long livestream was split into different sections, including a demonstration of the host’s outfit and an interview session with guest celebrity Zhong Chuxi, who answered questions from viewers about topics like how to best style your bag. Throughout the livestream, Ching reminded viewers where they could purchase new LV items, which were easily accessible via the site. The livestream saw positive engagement from viewers, garnering over 152,000 pageviews and overflowed with many different comments — from sales associates encouraging consumers to contact them or visit certain offline stores to Zhong’s fans praising her look. Yet some cynically referred to the livestream as a dangerous lure to move products, while other critics complained that the setting was too low-end for the luxury brand. Jing Take: Louis Vuitton’s livestream debut on Little Red Book was further proof of the brand’s strategy to invest deeply in the platform while also trying out a new type of shopping experience to suit the virus crisis. Little Red Book is known as a community where people candidly share shopping tips, prices, and styling advice, so this informative session — with two influencers sharing their favorite items and styling tips — seemed appropriate. Within the hour-long session, consumers gleaned a wealth of information about LV products, which put them in a better position to buy those products later. Louis Vuitton was the first luxury brand to launch an official account on Little Red Book, and it ranks atop its fellow brands with a total of 130,000 followers. Livestream is now an irreversible trend that will only become more and more mainstream for shoppers. However, it remains a double-edged sword for luxury brands because it can draw consumers closer, but it also risks exposing unforeseen problems — logistical or otherwise. Yet LV’s first try appears to have been a rousing success. The host engaged consumers naturally — as a friend would — and the experience was informative. While many are still experimenting with livestream tools as a way to interact with consumers and promote the brand image, this daring approach by Louis Vuitton went further by organically monetizing the event. The Jing Take reports on a leading piece of news while presenting our editorial team’s analysis of its key implications for the luxury industry. In this recurring column, we analyze everything from product drops and mergers to heated debates that sprout up on Chinese social media.

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Louis Vuitton’s Debut Livestream on Little Red Book