JD.com debuts live-streaming

An AI version of Richard Liu Qiangdong, the founder and chairman of China's e-commerce giant JD.com, has kicked off his first live-stream event on the company's own app.

Earlier this month, JD.com announced it would invest 1 billion yuan (HK$1.1 billion) in attracting content creators on its platform and experience high-quality content.

In addition, JD.com set up incentives of up to 5 million yuan for content organizations.

If the target reaches a certain size, it will have the opportunity to receive a one-time cash subsidy every month.

This came after Liu urged staff to address deep-seated issues in December, in an internal memo that echoed a call to arms issued by Alibaba founder Jack Ma Yun in the previous month. JD and Alibaba have long lead China's e-commerce arena, but have rapidly ceded ground to up-and-comers from PDD to ByteDance's Douyin.

JD.com is adopting discounts and low prices to lure consumers that are cutting back on big-ticket spending.