"Baby who wants to remove oil on his face, come here" "The last three orders, pay in seconds".
In the live broadcast room, the anchor introduced the skin care products in hand in detail.
Skilled words and low prices have attracted many fans to place orders and snap up.
Unlike other anchors, these anchors in aviation uniforms have another identity - flight attendants.
Today, a number of airlines, including China Southern Airlines and Hainan Airlines, have begun to set foot in the field of live broadcasting.
In order to seize the market, a professional live broadcast room was built, a flight attendant anchor library was established, and IP anchors were created. Many flight attendants appeared in the beauty and food live broadcast teams.
"The price is indeed cheaper than the counter, or even the duty-free shop, but it is not an official channel, and I can't believe it in my heart."
The airline entered the live broadcast room, and the strong endorsement and favorable price attracted many fans, and also brought a wave of doubts: the airline is only a "cargo anchor", and the source and quality of the goods are provided by third-party channels, is it reliable? ?
Stewardess enters the live broadcast room: single-game sales exceed one million yuan
"Get on the plane. Before you bought a bottle of fairy water, it cost 1599 yuan, today 3 bottles cost only 1299 yuan."
At 8:00 p.m., two anchors in the live broadcast room dressed in simple and elegant airline uniforms explained the products in their hands one by one to the fans in front of the camera with gentle smiles.
In recent years, the live streaming industry has continued to heat up, with internet celebrities, celebrities, and entrepreneurs pouring into it.
Now affected by the epidemic, airlines have also extended their sideline tentacles into this field.
In February 2022, the "China Southern Airlines Global Shopping" account under China Southern Airlines quickly became popular on the Douyin platform, gaining 221,000 followers in just a few months.
Unlike other UP hosts who are mostly internet celebrities, the anchors of "Global Shopping" are all flight attendants of China Southern Airlines.
They chatted enthusiastically with netizens in the live broadcast room, shared aviation anecdotes, and kept introducing the products in their hands.
"The goods in the live broadcast room are not much different from other peers, mainly cosmetics." After 1995, Xiao Xia told the Beijing News Shell Finance reporter that since she accidentally turned to China Southern Airlines' live broadcast a month ago, she has been completely "planted grass" ".
Even if I didn't place an order right away, I often couldn't resist the impulse and bought the corresponding products in the window. "The price is much cheaper than the counter, and with the endorsement of the airline, there should be no problem with the supply of goods."
Lin Ling, a post-90s generation who has also been following China Southern's live broadcast for a long time, said that unlike other UP owners who used to use exaggerated tones to create an atmosphere when explaining products, the flight attendants' tone was more gentle and soft.
On June 8, a Shell Finance reporter browsed the "China Southern Airlines Global Shopping" Douyin account and saw that the number of live broadcasts in the past 30 days has reached more than 28, and 150 products have been listed in the window.
The types of products range from daily wet wipes and mosquito repellent stickers to various cosmetics and skin care products, and the prices also range from a few yuan to thousands of yuan.
In the last 30 days, 41,000 items have been sold.
In addition to "China Southern Airlines Global Shopping", China Southern Airlines has also opened up "China Southern Airlines Cross-Border Mall", and its account fans have reached 281,000.
Shell Finance reporters noticed that the live broadcast styles and products of the two also overlap.
However, unlike "China Southern Airlines Global Shopping", the products sold by the latter are more concentrated in sunscreen, skin care, skin care and other beauty and skin care categories, and the product brands are also international brands such as SK-II, Estee Lauder, and Sea Blue Mystery. main.
The two accounts allow China Southern to form a communication matrix that can reach more fans.
China Southern Airlines is not the only airline that is involved in the field of live broadcasts. Hainan Airlines also made an appearance on the live broadcast stage.
It not only sells skin care products, makeup and other products through live broadcasts, but now has 1.288 million fans.
According to public data, the sales of HNA’s live broadcast room reached 14.229 million yuan within 30 days, and the average revenue per live broadcast was 1.02 million yuan, making it the “top spot in aviation live broadcast”.
Create star IP and bring goods to "expand"
"A sweet-looking flight attendant introduces you to your favorite products in a gentle tone. Who wouldn't be moved by it?" In Lin Ling's eyes, flight attendant live broadcasting has an innate advantage.
The airline's foray into live streaming didn't happen on a whim.
As early as two years ago, some airlines began to promote routes in the live broadcast room, and at the same time tried to bring goods to increase revenue.
In order to deepen the industry, it is even more surprising.
Some airlines have built professional live broadcast rooms and established a library of flight attendant anchors; some airlines have created IP anchors; more airlines have launched local delicacies according to the characteristics of their cities to attract fans' attention.
As the first to enter the field of live broadcast, Hainan Airlines launched its debut live broadcast on OTA platforms such as Ctrip and Qunar in July 2020, selling its air tickets and hotel packages.
"When I saw the 'Free Flight' launched by Hainan Airlines, I thought it was a good deal." Xiao Xia was deeply impressed by the live broadcast at that time. At that time, the epidemic came to an end, and various airlines launched in-flight and wine packages.
After comparing myself, I finally bought a few sets because I saw the popular routes covered by Hainan Airlines.
Public information shows that HNA has made a lot of profits by relying on this model.
Just in July 2021, the live broadcast of the "Freedom" product will reach nearly 500,000 viewers, and the sales of a single product will exceed 20 million yuan.
Although the performance brought by live broadcast cannot be compared with traditional business, considerable profits seem to make many airlines find the development direction of side business in special times.
Soon, Hainan Airlines began to test the water live broadcast on the official Douyin account.
To this end, not only has a professional live broadcast room "Hai Studio" been built in the Haikou base, but also a flight attendant anchor library has been established to continue to tap and cultivate anchor talents, and even recruited personnel from the company to form a live broadcast operation team for learning and exploration.
After the initial attempts to promote air ticket discount coupons, peripheral cultural and creative items, etc., Hainan Airlines will soon bring goods closer to categories such as daily necessities, beauty and personal care, and has achieved good results in the subsequent live broadcasts.
To this end, the HNA Douyin live broadcast team once said, "Because the flight attendant team has mature makeup and uniform management, and most of the people watching the live broadcast are women, it is more convincing for the flight attendant anchor to recommend beauty and skin care products, and customers can use them after purchasing. The effect is also very good, bringing word of mouth and sales.”
Although the entry time is relatively late compared to Hainan Airlines, China Southern Airlines has taken a different approach.
China Southern stated in its 2020 annual report that it will actively expand online sales and other businesses.
In addition to regularly bringing goods live on the platform, the star stewardess IP "Nannanzi" has also been created to promote the China Southern Airlines brand through store visits.
On June 4th, a reporter from Shell Finance and Economics saw through Douyin that "Nannanzi" did not bring goods in the live broadcast room for a long time, but appeared in the back kitchen of China Southern Airlines like a host, and introduced various types of in-flight meals to netizens together with the chef. The practice and origin of the company, as well as on-site visits to various hotels in Guangzhou, to cooperate with merchants in the form of "visiting stores".
In addition, corresponding coupons will be issued in the live broadcast room to guide netizens to place orders.
In fact, more and more airlines have also begun to explore and try in the field of live delivery.
Xiamen Airlines has undertaken the corporate group meal business, and also created the fresh food e-commerce brand "Lu Xiansheng".
In order to prepare for "6.18" in 2020, Sichuan Airlines specially held a "audio selection" to select anchors, and more than 1,000 people from 7 departments participated.
Thousand-yuan cosmetics are sold at 40% off, and the low price of third-party channels is doubtful
In addition to the novelty that the profession brings to consumers, the beauty of commodity prices makes consumers have the urge to place an order.
Shell Finance reporters noticed that the prices of the products sold live by airlines are mostly lower than the counter prices.
Among them, a SK-II fairy water with a net content of 230ml sold in the "China Southern Airlines Global Shopping" window is priced at 629 yuan, while in the SK-II Tmall official flagship store, the price of the same product is 1540 yuan.
The same Estee Lauder small brown bottle with a net content of 15ml is priced at 398 yuan in the live broadcast room, and 530 yuan in the Estee Lauder Tmall official flagship store.
"The prices of many big-brand skin care products are lower than those of duty-free shops, and some are even less than half of the guide price." Lin Ling was moved, mainly because if she grabbed it, she earned it.
As the popularity of live broadcasts has risen, the ultra-low prices have raised questions.
Shell Finance reporters noticed that there are many netizens who commented on the products in the window and questioned the authenticity of the products.
To this end, China Southern Airlines specially shot a short video in response, saying, "All our products are cross-border products, because it is the cooperation between China Southern Airlines' cross-border e-commerce and bonded warehouses, all of which have been exempted from tax, so there will be such a situation. price."
HNA also issued a statement refuting rumors that netizens claimed that fake and shoddy products were sold in the live broadcast room, saying that the company had never sold the products displayed in the videos of netizens, nor had it cooperated with the shops in the videos, and asked netizens to immediately delete the defamatory content and stop spreading real information.
However, buyers' concerns about quality have not been dispelled.
"I was going to place an order in the live broadcast room before, but I saw that the shipping merchant was not the official channel of the airline, but a third-party store." A consumer told reporters that the order was finally canceled after a long struggle, "The price is too cheap, In addition, it is not an official channel, and I still can't believe it in my heart."
Recently, some netizens posted on Xiaohongshu that the skin care products of the SK-II brand purchased in the live broadcast room of Hainan Airlines are fake.
After clicking the link in the HNA live broadcast room, I jumped directly to the third-party merchant page.
After the goods arrived and were identified by other platforms, the results showed that they were fakes.
In the follow-up communication, the merchant said that it does not support third-party appraisal agencies, and needs to find a local cosmetics authoritative appraisal agency.
The reporter saw that the netizen later posted that the store said it could return it.
Shell Finance reporters searched on the black cat complaint platform and saw that many netizens complained that the cosmetics purchased in the airline's live broadcast room were suspected to be fake.
On June 5, Shell Finance reporters browsed through the windows of HNA and China Southern Airlines Douyin and found that the products were all from third-party channels.
Taking the goods brought by "Hainan Airlines" as an example, the top 10 with the highest sales came from 6 different third-party overseas flagship stores.
This means that airlines are only "cargo anchors" in the live broadcast, and the source and quality of goods are provided by third-party channels.
The reporter randomly opened a number of third-party channel stores, and browsed the "merchant qualification" information to see that many of these third-party channels were registered in Hong Kong or overseas.
When the reporter left a message during a live broadcast of "China Southern Airlines Cross-border E-commerce" to inquire about the question of "why are all third-party channels", the anchor did not give an answer.
It's just that the system pops up a reminder that "China Southern Airlines does not produce cosmetics, but is a good product recommender", and "China Southern Airlines guarantees genuine products and after-sales, everyone can rest assured to buy".
"Usually airlines don't build their own stores. After all, this model requires airlines to invest more resources, manpower and technology. If it is supplied by a third party, it only needs traffic and user approval. The main business of airlines is The business is not e-commerce bringing goods, so when doing these businesses, we will choose a more 'light' plan." Ding Daoshi, a senior Internet observer, said, "Not only airlines, but most industries that do live broadcast and carry goods across borders. , they all choose third-party channels for cooperation, and there is no need to build their own channels.”
Ding Daoshi told reporters that the disadvantage of third-party channels is that it is difficult for the live broadcaster to control the products.
Because all products do not enter the airline's warehouses and systems, it is difficult to monitor its quality.
This requires airlines to have complete and rigorous selection capabilities.
"If an airline wants to deepen its development in the field of live broadcast, it must start from the source of the brand and establish a relatively professional product selection team, so as to gain lasting trust from users, and then bring live broadcast goods for a long time."
"When airlines bring their own products and services, they also choose to cooperate with third parties to recommend more types of products. Consumers choose to buy based on their trust in companies, so companies need to strictly review product quality. Improve after-sales service and be responsible to consumers." Fu Jian, a lawyer from Henan Yulong Law Firm, told Shell Finance reporter that if consumers buy fake products sent by third-party channels, they can contact the customer service of the airline's live broadcast room to return the goods. Refund.
If the product causes personal or property damage due to quality defects, the consumer can ask the producer and seller to compensate for the loss. If it is the responsibility of the third-party producer, the airline can claim compensation from the third party after taking the responsibility for compensation.
Part-time job seeks a side job, flight attendants staged a transformation
"Both live broadcasts and takeaways are all attempts by airlines to 'pain relief'," said the head of Sichuan Airlines' live broadcast in an interview with the media.
Behind the involvement of live broadcast, it stems from the active transformation of the aviation industry to seek new growth points.
According to the 2021 annual reports disclosed by the three major domestic airlines, during 2021, Air China's net loss will be 16.642 billion yuan, China Southern Airlines' net loss will be 12.103 billion yuan, and China Eastern Airlines' net loss will also reach 12.214 billion yuan.
In May this year, the Civil Aviation Administration website released the 2021 Civil Aviation Industry Development Statistical Bulletin. According to preliminary statistics, in 2021, the industry will achieve a cumulative operating income of 752.92 billion yuan, an increase of 21.5% over the previous year; a loss of 84.25 billion yuan, a decrease of 187.1% over the previous year. billion.
Among them, the operating income of airlines was 424.51 billion yuan, an increase of 13.3% over the previous year; the loss was 67.09 billion yuan, a decrease of 14.92 billion yuan over the previous year.
"Now that the income is lower than before the epidemic, we really need to find some side business to do it." Zhang Ke (pseudonym), who is a flight attendant in a domestic airline, told Shell reporter that the income structure of flight attendants is "basic salary + flight hours." Fees + other subsidies”, and most of the basic wages are two or three thousand yuan, and most of the income sources mainly rely on flight hour fees.
Shell Finance reporter learned that although the flight hour fees of various airlines are different, most of the fees are maintained at around 100 yuan per hour.
The Civil Aviation Administration stipulates that the maximum working hours of each flight attendant is 100 hours per month, which means that the flight hour fee directly determines the income level of the flight attendants.
"Before the summer and spring festivals were the busiest times for flight attendants, with more than 90 hours of flight time per month," said Ma Yue (pseudonym), a flight attendant working for an airline.
Under the decline of income, part-time jobs and transformation have naturally become the choices of flight attendants.
Ma Yue told reporters that many colleagues around her have started side businesses in their spare time.
Some colleagues shoot short videos and plan to make profits by bringing goods; some colleagues use the resources in their hands to start micro-business sales in the circle of friends; some colleagues invest in opening stores and start small businesses.
Zhang Ke also plans to obtain the certificate of etiquette trainer to pave the way for future career transition.
She once inquired about a peer who conducted etiquette training for young people who aspire to be flight attendants online, and the considerable income made her very excited, "After all, flight attendants have unique advantages in transforming into etiquette trainers, and their status as flight attendants is also easier to gain recognition. ".
It is worth mentioning that, in view of the serious losses in the industry as a whole, the state has already taken action.
The Ministry of Finance announced on June 8 that the Ministry of Finance has recently allocated financial subsidies for the operation of domestic passenger flights (the first batch), totaling 3.29 billion yuan, to support the safety, stability and rescue development of the civil aviation industry.
Recently, the Ministry of Finance and the Civil Aviation Administration jointly issued a notice to clarify that in principle, when the average daily domestic passenger flight volume is less than or equal to 4,500 flights per week (the minimum number of flights to maintain safe operation), financial subsidies will be activated.
The upper limit of the maximum loss subsidy standard is set at 24,000 yuan per hour.
Subsidy funds are shared by the central and local governments.
On May 26, Xiong Yanhua, director of the Finance Department of the Civil Aviation Administration, said at the regular press conference of the Civil Aviation Administration that since the beginning of this year, the epidemic has continued to recur, especially in March, where local clustered epidemics frequently occurred. Production once fell off a cliff, and the industry as a whole suffered serious losses.
The original intention of the financial subsidy policy for the operation of domestic passenger flights at this stage is to subsidize airlines so that the flights can take off, so that all units of the civil aviation system and other related industries can operate effectively, stabilize the income and employment positions of front-line employees, and drive airports, airports, and other related industries. Aviation industry chain such as aviation, as well as upstream and downstream extended industry chains such as manufacturing and tourism.
Beijing News Shell Finance reporter Tan Che edited by Wang Jinyu proofreading Chen Diyan