In the middle of the night, while most salespeople are asleep, a woman in a white shirt and black skirt continues her pitch on Taobao, China's largest e-commerce platform. She gestures enthusiastically toward the printers next to her, explaining features and greeting invisible customers with unwavering energy. There's something slightly off about her movements. A subtle freeze here, lips moving out of sync there, but her dedication is absolute. She works every hour of every day, never taking a break, never losing her smile.

This tireless salesperson isn't human. She's an AI-powered avatar, part of a digital revolution that's transforming how products are sold in China and raising profound questions about the future of sales everywhere.
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The Rise of China's Virtual Sales force

The Shanghai-based firm, PLTFRM, has deployed around 30 similar avatars across Chinese e-commerce sites like Alibaba's Taobao and Pinduoduo, creating what amounts to a virtual sales force that never sleeps. These AI salespeople, powered by sophisticated language models and video generation technology, are changing the way people buy consumer products, even high ticket items.

The numbers tell a compelling story. Chinese companies that make the switch from real salespeople on livestream to AI avatars are up 30 percent. Chinese tech giant, Baidu recently ran a livestream featuring an AI version of influencer Luo Yonghao, which drew 13 million views and generated $7.7 million in sales in just six-hours.

These aren't isolated success stories. In 2024, over one-third of all e-commerce sales in China were estimated to have happened on livestreams, with half of Chinese consumers making purchases while watching broadcasts. China's livestream commerce market has exploded from less than $3 billion in 2017 to over $725 billion in 2023.
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Why AI Avatars Are Outperforming Humans

The success of these virtual salespeople stems from addressing fundamental human limitations in sales performance. Alexandre Ouairy, co-founder of PLTFRM, explains the challenge: "You can only do a livestream as a real person for three or four hours. After that, you lose your voice, you get tired".

The data backs this up. "When we look at the sales, the sales are better for the first few minutes or the first hour with a real person, but then it goes down because that person gets tired", Ouairy notes. "The virtual human is very standardized in terms of attitude"—never experiencing the fatigue, mood swings, or performance variations that affect human sellers.

This consistency advantage extends beyond just stamina. AI avatars can process and respond to customer questions in real-time using large language models, maintain perfect product knowledge, and deliver pitches with unwavering enthusiasm. They represent the ultimate standardization of the sales process, something many sales organizations have long sought to achieve.
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The QVC Revolution, Supercharged

What's happening in China bears striking similarities to how QVC transformed retail in the 1980s and 90s, but with crucial differences. Like QVC, Chinese livestream commerce combines entertainment with immediate purchasing capability. However, where QVC was limited to television schedules and human hosts, China's AI-powered approach operates continuously across multiple platforms simultaneously.

Some companies are now doing hybrid streams, where the real human salesperson will work for a few hours before switching with the AI, creating a tag-team approach that maximizes both human authenticity and AI endurance.
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Where This Technology Could Spread Next

Consider the industries where this could take hold quickly. Software companies could deploy AI avatars for 24/7 product demos and basic technical support. Real estate firms might use them for virtual property tours and initial buyer qualification. Insurance companies could leverage AI salespeople for policy explanations and quote generation. Even B2B service providers could use avatars for initial consultations and standardized presentations.

The technology is particularly attractive for companies with high-volume, lower-touch sales processes. Any business that relies on consistent product demonstrations, standardized pricing discussions, or routine qualification calls could benefit from AI salespeople that never get tired, never have bad days, and never deviate from the approved messaging.

Financial services represents another obvious target. Investment platforms could use AI avatars to explain portfolio options and market updates around the clock. Mortgage brokers could deploy them for initial rate quotes and qualification processes. The appeal is clear: consistent expertise delivery without the overhead of human staffing.
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The Limits of Digital Persuasion

However, China's AI salespeople experience notable limitations that highlight where human sales professionals remain irreplaceable. When these avatars malfunction, the results can be jarring. In one viral incident, an AI streamer selling spa packages fell victim to a prompt injection attack delivered through live comments, causing it to meow for 46 consecutive seconds before snapping back to its script.

More fundamentally, these AI salespeople excel at product demonstrations and basic interactions, but they struggle with complex problem-solving and relationship nuance. They can explain features and answer standard questions, but they cannot navigate the intricate decision-making processes that characterize high-value B2B sales.

Human salespeople bring emotional intelligence, adaptability, and strategic thinking that AI cannot replicate. They can read between the lines of customer objections, adjust their approach mid-conversation based on subtle cues, and build the trust relationships that drive major purchasing decisions. They can also handle unexpected situations, complex negotiations, and the kind of consultative selling that requires deep industry knowledge and creative problem-solving.

The most telling limitation may be trust itself. While Chinese consumers have embraced AI salespeople for routine purchases, major business decisions still require human interaction. Companies making six-figure software investments or multi-year service commitments want to speak with people who can understand their unique challenges and provide tailored solutions.
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The Future of Human Sales

AI will likely handle more routine sales tasks, but this creates space for humans to focus on higher-value activities: complex relationship building, strategic account management, and consultative problem-solving that requires genuine expertise and emotional intelligence.

The salespeople who thrive will be those who can work alongside AI tools while delivering the uniquely human value that no avatar can provide. After all, while AI can demonstrate features around the clock, it takes human insight to understand what customers truly need.