New environments give rise to new opportunities. The COVID-19 pandemic, which has ravaged the globe, presents both new challenges and opportunities for the broader health industry. As most industries have been impacted to varying degrees, people's awareness of health concepts has risen to an unprecedented level. For the health industry, this is both a major test and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Zhang Yuhui, Director of the Policy Research Office of the National Health Commission, previously stated that by 2020, the health industry is expected to exceed the industrial scale target of 8 trillion yuan. The China Commerce Industry Research Institute predicts that by the end of 2020, the market size of the national health industry will reach 8.7 trillion yuan.

As live streaming sales become increasingly popular, many enterprises in the health industry are actively seeking transformation and experimenting. They are intensifying their 'digital' transformation and embracing new consumption scenarios through 'social e-commerce' to meet challenges and seek a way out.

The 'Yongbeida' e-commerce platform has integrated online and offline resources to create an online Yongbeida mall that combines consumption and social interaction. The head of the 'Yongbeida' e-commerce platform explained that through 'platform innovation, technological innovation, service innovation, and process innovation, Yongbeida enables the entire consumption process to be completed in a brand-new process through the joint participation of online and offline experience stores, and this new process will provide customers with a more comfortable and convenient health consumption experience.'.

The renowned domestic e-commerce platform, Sunlink Power, has also begun to establish its own brand matrix covering the broad health sector. On July 1, 2020, Sunlink Power's first major health industry brand, Duoqi Bird's Nest Collagen Peptide Fruit Drink, was launched and made available for purchase on the Sunlink Power platform. Within just four hours, all stocks were sold out.

Recently, Ebrun Intelligence released the '2020 Social E-commerce Development Report', which indicates that in 2019, the overall scale of social e-commerce in China reached over 2 trillion yuan, representing a 63.2% increase. It accounted for more than 20% of online retail sales and achieved a penetration rate of 71%, making it the fastest-growing segment of e-commerce. Health consumption is a significant growth driver for social e-commerce.

Industry experts indicate that to promote the high-quality development of the health industry, efforts should be made to build social e-commerce as a new engine. The entry of social e-commerce into the health market not only enables products to excel in innovation but also opens up a comprehensive channel model integrating online and offline through Internet thinking, leading the transformation of traditional marketing models.

Article source: China Business Daily (http://www.xinhuanet.com/2020-09/19/c_1126514311.htm)