(Yicai Global) Oct. 25 -- A celebrity live sales host on TikTok’s Chinese version Douyin made his first appearance on a livestreaming channel run by e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding’s digital marketplace Taobao yesterday, attracting an audience of over 10 million in just two hours.

Luo Yonghao, founder of struggling smartphone maker Smartisan Digital who once said he would acquire US tech giant Apple, joined Taobao Live on Oct. 20 to front the e-retailer’s campaign during the Double 11 online shopping bonanza next month. Two days after signing up his Taobao Live account swelled to more than one million fans.

Luo’s sales debut focused on flogging a range of men’s products. Although he attracted a sizeable audience, the sales turnover and the per customer transaction value were still not as high as other top Taobao live sales hosts.

Luo is not the only celebrity to be poached by Taobao from Beijing-based Douyin. Yu Minhong, the force behind edtech firm New Oriental Education and Technology Group who turned to livestreamed e-commerce earlier this year, also signed up on Oct. 19.

By bringing in mature veterans like Luo and Yu, Taobao is looking to attract a different customer base than the mainly female and young fan group that it currently has, said Cui Lili, director of the Institute of Electronic Commerce at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics.

Taobao is said to be on the hunt for big names to front its live sales during the Double 11 shopping festival. Three of its top livestreamers, Viya, Zhu Chenhui and Lin Shanshan, were fined for tax evasion last year and forced to shut down their studios.

Taobao is also resuming its service of posting links from short video platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou. In March, the Hangzhou-based digital marketplace cut all links with Kuaishou but these will now be reconnected with its social media apps.

As livestreaming gradually decouples from e-retail platforms, there may soon be cross platform super streamers and super intellectual properties, Cui said.

Editors: Shi Yi, Kim Taylor