Interface News Reporter | Cha Qinjun
The Gaotu Jiapin, which was once awarded the title of "Praising Wealth and Prosperity" due to the "Little Essay" incident in the Eastern Selection, still pressed the pause button nine months later.
Recently, Gaotu Jiapin has announced that it will temporarily stop broadcasting in various fan groups, and the rebroadcast time is to be determined, and all goods in the Tiktok live broadcast room and WeChat app store window have been cleared. Its Tiktok live broadcast will stay in the Mid-Autumn Festival live broadcast from September 4 to September 5. As of press time, the number of fans in Gaotu Jiapin's live streaming room is 2.448 million.
Although Gaotu Jiapin claimed that the suspension was "to enhance its content and service positioning", it is widely believed that Gaotu Jiapin failed to "copy homework" on the path of learning from Dongfang Zhenxuan to explore live streaming e-commerce business.
According to Feigua data, the Gaotu Jiapin live broadcast room had 32 live broadcasts in the past 30 days (August 12th September 10th), with an average of 109000 views per broadcast. The total live sales were 2.5 million to 5 million, and the average sales were 100000 to 250000. In contrast, Dongfang Zhenxuan's average viewership in the past 30 days was 7.6 million, with the highest viewership reaching 38.214 million and total live sales exceeding 100 million.
Interface News found that in addition to the main account number of Gaotu Jiapin, the new accounts "Gaotu Jiapin Meisheng" and "Gaotu Jiapin Mama Bang" that were launched at the beginning of this year have also been suspended recently, while "Gaotu Jiapin Happy Growth" (formerly Gaotu Jiapin Zhenshi Hui) is still in operation. On September 10th, the live broadcast lasted nearly four hours, with the highest number of viewers reaching 83000 and live sales of 25000 to 50000. Currently, there are still 742 products for sale. As of press time, the account has 526000 followers.
The educational live streaming account "Gaotu High School Books" under Gaotu has recently started live streaming, with only six videos released and a total of nine live broadcasts. The number of viewers in the live broadcast room is only in the single digits, and all the products sold are high school teaching aids. The earliest video content of this account was the Quan Hongchan diving video released on September 6th this year, and the company officially announced itself as an online learning partner of the Chinese national diving team.
There were already signs of the discontinuation of Gaotu Jiapin.
At the end of April this year, the core anchor of Gaotu Jiapin, Chuan Chuan, resigned from Gaotu and regained his teaching identity; In June, core anchor Haotian returned to Gaotu Education business and launched a personal account called "Haotian (Independent and Self Strengthening Edition)". Currently, the number of fans is 138000, and the showcase products are mostly learning and education related, including printers, copybooks, teaching aids, desk lamps, etc. The most highly watched live stream in the past 30 days came from the "Autumn Recruitment" on August 30th, with over 100000 viewers online and sales of approximately 750000 to 1 million rooms.
According to Time Finance, anchor Rourou of Gaotu Jiapin once responded to questions about the suspension of "Gaotu Jiapin" in the live broadcast room, stating that "we have not gone bankrupt, and 'Gaotu Jiapin' has indeed stopped broadcasting. In the future, it will undertake the group's brand promotion function, and the work of live streaming sales will be transferred to 'Gaotu Jiapin Growth Happiness'. According to Rourou's explanation, the new account will be integrated into products related to education, such as English courses and learning products, with education as the main focus. It is a live shopping platform that achieves comprehensive coverage.
Since the launch of live streaming sales at the end of 2022, Gaotu Jiapin has also experienced a brief period of glory.
At the end of last year, Dongfang Zhenxuan, which experienced a "small essay crisis," was "picked up" by Gaotu Jiapin, which gained 260000 followers in three days and reached a new high of 30000 online viewers for the first time, setting a new record for live streaming. At that time, Chen Xiangdong, the founder of Gaotu, said to the public, "Although this wave of traffic is accidental, its integration and combination with Gaotu is inevitable
On the evening of December 12, 2023, Chen Xiangdong visited the Gaotu Jiapin live broadcast room for the first time. When asked by anchor Haotian, "What if there are only a dozen or so people online again in the future?" Chen Xiangdong retorted, "Why are you so lacking in confidence and backbone? Always thinking about what the live broadcast room with only a dozen or so people used to do? Forget the past, let the past become the prologue, and truly face the future
At that time, Gaotu took advantage of the situation and arranged a media interview. Chen Xiangdong said in a group interview, "Dongfang Zhenxuan and Gaotu are completely different companies and cannot be compared
At that time, Chen Xiangdong firmly believed that even if this wave of popularity passed, the live streaming room would never return to its previous state. "With so many fans, as long as we do the basic actions, it will be a surviving company without any problems
However, this wave of traffic dividends did not translate into sustained and stable sales growth.
According to external analysis, the reason why Gaotu Jiapin failed to become the next Oriental Selection may be due to several factors: firstly, Gaotu Jiapin lacks celebrity anchors like Dong Yuhui, making it difficult to build its own IP influence. Chen Xiangdong's popularity is also lower than that of Yu Minhong, whose public speeches often become a topic of social discussion, frequently creating buzz for the company and bringing in traffic topics.
Secondly, Gaotu Jiapin also struggles to catch up with Dongfang Zhenxuan in live streaming product selection, supply chain system, and after-sales service. Dongfang Zhenxuan's first mover advantage is obvious.
Furthermore, Gaotu Jiapin did not fully invest in live streaming sales in its strategic choices, and the overall investment was not high. Previously, the acquisition of traffic was only an accidental situation. In the situation where sales and traffic were difficult to achieve a commercial closed loop, it is not difficult to understand why Gaotu Jiapin chose to suspend live streaming sales.
Dongfang Zhenxuan has provided the answer to the question of whether education companies can do a good job in live streaming e-commerce. However, compared with Dongfang Zhenxuan, Gaotu has a huge gap in investment in live streaming e-commerce, whether it is live streaming sessions, the number of anchors, the type of live streaming (inviting guests, organizing activities, etc.), supply chain investment, etc., "said Zhuang Shuai, founder of Bailian Consulting, to Jiemian News.
Since the implementation of the "double reduction" policy, educational and training institutions have reached a fork in the road in their attempts to promote live streaming sales.
Dongfang Zhenxuan is in a period of adjustment due to the departure of celebrity anchors; Press the pause button on Gaotu Jiapin; Homework Help Selection and Reflection - Le Education has given up its live streaming sales business. In its financial report, Thinker stated that its live streaming e-commerce business generated a net loss of nearly 12 million yuan in 2023.
The Xueersi Youpin live streaming room has always been lukewarm. Anchor Orange recently revealed in the live streaming room that the original live streaming team only has her and 77 people left, and the rest have returned to the education track.
Some companies have also chosen to restart live streaming. Its predecessor was "Chalk Selection", a live streaming sales brand under Chalk. It started broadcasting in March 2023 and stopped broadcasting after a few months of trial. Recently, it was renamed "Chalk Evaluation Team" and started broadcasting at the end of August. Up to now, it has conducted four live broadcasts, and the showcase products are not related to public exams, but mostly fruits, snacks, daily necessities, etc.
For these education companies, as a "side business" exploring live streaming sales, if there is no improvement for a long time, are they willing to spend time trial and error and invest more resources to demonstrate their determination? Or return to the comfort zone and seize the visible market in the more familiar field of education.
For Gaotu, the main source of revenue still comes from its education and training business. 75% of the revenue in the first quarter of this year came from quality education and traditional learning services mainly focused on high school subject training, with college and adult education accounting for about 20%.
Gaotu's Q2 revenue was 1.0098 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 43.6%; Net loss of 429.6 million yuan, from profit to loss year-on-year. The main reason for the loss is that the company has increased its investment and is particularly willing to spend money on external marketing and sales. In this quarter, its main business cost was 313.4 million yuan, an increase of 70% year-on-year. The number of main and secondary teachers in the department increased, as well as the cost of teaching materials. Operating expenses amounted to 1.1611 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 144.2%, with sales, research and development, and management expenses increasing by 158%, 65%, and 209% respectively.
In the situation where live streaming sales cannot become the second growth curve for enterprises, Gaotu's top priority is still to focus on its main business of education.