vol.068：The ¥16 Trillion Secret：Live Commerce and China's Private Traffic Strategy
Sat Feb 07 2026
The provided text, a newsletter excerpt from an IT journalist, introduces the concept of 私域流量 (private traffic), a key trend in Chinese marketing and e-commerce since around 2019. It explains that private traffic refers to customer traffic a company generates directly through its own channels, like blogs or social media, in contrast to 公域流量 (public traffic) which is acquired externally through advertising or influencers. The source argues that private traffic is crucial because it leads to higher viscosity (customer retention and repeat purchases), making it highly valuable for direct-to-consumer businesses, especially in the context of live commerce. Furthermore, the text analyzes the massive growth of live commerce platforms like Douyin (TikTok) and Kuaishou, demonstrating how major Chinese retailers and manufacturers are leveraging employee participation and digital reforms to cultivate their own strong private traffic pools.
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The provided text, a newsletter excerpt from an IT journalist, introduces the concept of 私域流量 (private traffic), a key trend in Chinese marketing and e-commerce since around 2019. It explains that private traffic refers to customer traffic a company generates directly through its own channels, like blogs or social media, in contrast to 公域流量 (public traffic) which is acquired externally through advertising or influencers. The source argues that private traffic is crucial because it leads to higher viscosity (customer retention and repeat purchases), making it highly valuable for direct-to-consumer businesses, especially in the context of live commerce. Furthermore, the text analyzes the massive growth of live commerce platforms like Douyin (TikTok) and Kuaishou, demonstrating how major Chinese retailers and manufacturers are leveraging employee participation and digital reforms to cultivate their own strong private traffic pools.