A fashion brand promotes products via a live-streaming platform. [Photo/WeChat account: scofcom]

As live-streaming continues to drive online shopping in China, most see it as yet another means of promoting products and facilitating sales.

In March, Shanghai saw the debut of an online edition of Shanghai Fashion Week, where brands employed live-streaming for new product rollouts and supported immediate home delivery.

According to the data provided by the fashion week organizing committee, 151 online creative shows attracted more than four million internet users, with a total of 11 million views, bringing in more than 500 million yuan ($70.65 million) in revenue.

Live-streaming has opened a new door, not only for Shanghai Fashion Week, but also for other businesses in the city.

Before the Tomb-sweeping Day holiday, Xinghualou, a Shanghai time-honored bakery brand, promoted its seasonal snack–qingtuan, or green rice balls – through Taobao Live, the live-streaming arm of Alibaba's e-commerce site, March sales of which rose by 341 percent year-on-year.

By the beginning of April, the resumption rate of Shanghai's retail industry had reached more than 99 percent. Some shopping malls also turned to live-streaming to promote sales.

Shanghai is developing a new highland of the "online new economy". New forms of business, such as live-streaming, continue to develop during the COVID-19 outbreak, showing a booming trend in the city.

According to the new economic report released by Taobao Live recently, the number of users of Taobao Live in Shanghai is the first in China.

Pinduoduo, a Shanghai-based e-commerce platform, is also making full use of live-streaming. To date, more than 20 cities and counties across the country have made their first live show via Pinduoduo, to sell local farm goods.