AI Clones Outsell Humans in Livestream 🤖

As strange as it sounds, AI clones are now outselling humans on live streams! Yep, welcome to 2025 😅. And it’s not just hype anymore; the adoption is very real.

Hey there, and welcome to another fresh brew of The Ecom Press 🗞️!

This week, AI avatars didn’t just show up; they sold out. YouTube rolled out product stickers on Shorts to make impulse shopping even snappier 🛍️, and Hibbett dropped a dedicated kids’ ecommerce site just in time for back-to-school season 🎒.

Let’s get into the good stuff, shall we?

In a rush? Here's the juice🤭:

🤖 AI clones outsell humans in livestream.

💄 YouTube launches product stickers on Shorts.

🛍️ Hibbett launches dedicated ecommerce platform for kids.

🧰 Tool Spotlight: 5 Amazon AI Tools to Shop Smarter This Prime Day

⚡️Worthy Mentions

🤖 AI clones outsell humans in livestream.

Last week, we saw a striking display of how fast things are shifting in livestream commerce. Two AI-generated avatars just outperformed their human counterparts, including the person they were modeled after. 

The avatars hosted a six-hour livestream on Baidu’s Youxuan platform and pulled in over $7.65 million in sales, outpacing a similar stream by the same Chinese entrepreneur, Luo Yonghao, in just 26 minutes. See them in action.

Here’s the lowdown ⬇️:

📺 AI Doubles Down on Influence: Luo and co-host Xiao Mu used AI avatars trained on five years of content to mimic their humor, tone, and gestures. Baidu’s ERNIE AI model crafted 97,000+ characters of product copy for the show.

📦 Product Push: Across 133 items promoted, the stream drew 13 million viewers and beat Luo’s real-life stream in performance metrics and revenue.

🛠️ Operational Benefits: These avatars slash production costs by up to 80% and boost conversion rates by over 60%, making them an attractive option for brands.

🌐 Industry Shift: More than 100,000 digital humans are already working in China’s $946B live commerce sector. Platforms like JD.com, Alibaba, and Douyin are following suit with AI streamers and digital anchors.

⚖️ Regulatory Watch: Douyin has introduced limitations on virtual hosts that don’t interact naturally. AI avatars must now comply with specific ad regulations, a growing friction point for scaling further.

Why it matters 🤷‍♂️

This signifies a turning point in how products are marketed and sold at scale. And interestingly, these AI avatars aren't just replacing humans in livestreaming for novelty but they are doing it better, faster, and cheaper. Of course, it raises urgent concerns: When efficiency can be automated to this degree, where does human authenticity still hold power? Would it even be relevant, seeing the success of these avatars with no pushback?

In fact, as these avatars become indistinguishable from real hosts, how do you build trust and differentiate from digital clones? 

💄 YouTube launches product stickers on Shorts.

YouTube has upgraded its shopping feature on Shorts by introducing Shopping product stickers to replace the older bottom-left Shopping button. These stickers make tagged products more visible and interactive. 

According to YouTube, early tests in May 2025 showed a significant increase in product clicks when using the new stickers.

Here’s the scoop 🍨:

🧷 From Banners to Stickers: Previously, product tags appeared as a banner in the bottom-left corner. Now, creators can tag a product and generate a visually prominent sticker that sits directly on the Short.

🎯 Boosted Engagement: The new format isn’t just aesthetic; it performs. During trials, Shorts with these stickers received over 40% more product clicks compared to the old Shopping button setup.

📦 Custom Placement & Product Priority: Stickers are auto-generated based on the first product tagged, but creators can reorder their product list to control which product appears. Placement and size are also adjustable, but only via the main YouTube app, not YouTube Studio.

📲 Multi-Product Support: When multiple products are tagged, viewers can tap a down arrow on the sticker to see the full list, then click through to the retailer’s site.

🌍 Global Rollout: The feature is being rolled out worldwide (except South Korea), with plans to expand there soon.

Why it matters 🤨

For creators and ecommerce brands, attention is the currency. By turning product tags into visual stickers, viewers know what they can buy as they’re watching. While it’s a small UI change, it’s certainly intuitive enough to garner some product engagement. And with Shorts now hitting 200 billion daily views, I bet it’s a serious opportunity to rework your product strategy accordingly. 

🛍️ Hibbett launches dedicated ecommerce platform for kids.

Athletic fashion retailer Hibbett recently launched Hibbett Kids, a new ecommerce site and mobile app focused entirely on children’s apparel and footwear. Just in time for back-to-school, the platform gives parents a faster and more curated way to shop trending products for kids aged 13 and under.

Here are the deets ⬇️:

🧒 Built for Busy Parents: The new digital experience was designed with efficiency in mind, offering filters by size, trend, price, brand, color, and more.

👟 Top Brands Featured: From Nike and Jordan to New Balance and Crocs, the catalog spans both everyday wear and sneakerhead favorites.

📲 Fully App-Enabled: Available on Android and iOS, the Hibbett Kids app includes customer chat, flexible payment options (like Klarna), and daily product drops.

🎁 Personalized Touch: Hibbett promises smarter recommendations and tailored content, plus access to its rewards program.

📦 Omnichannel Push: This launch comes shortly after Hibbett joined Walmart’s GoLocal program to offer faster deliveries, part of a larger post-acquisition digital overhaul under JD Sports.

Why it matters 🤔

The kids’ segment is quietly becoming a high-stakes battleground in ecommerce. With competitors like Foot Locker and Dick’s Sporting Goods doubling down on youth wear and digital experiences, Hibbett’s standalone kids platform is definitely strategic in carving out a share for itself in the crowded market. 

Ultimately, it reflects how designing commerce experiences by audience and not just category may be what separates the good from the great.

🛎️ The Ecom Press Insider

Ecom Fact: Industry analysts project that Amazon Prime Day 2025 sales will grow by approximately 14% YoY compared to 2024. A major driver? The extended four-day format, with Tuesday and Wednesday expected to see 15% YoY growth and the two new days projected at 20% (Source: Momentum Commerce).

🛍️ Takeaway: An extra day or two isn’t just for show but a calculated move to drive more revenue and deepen shopper engagement. For sellers, this means more competition, but also more opportunity. Prep early, monitor in real time, and stay agile to ride the Prime Day wave.

🧰 Tool Spotlight: 5 Amazon AI Tools to Shop Smarter This Prime Day

We’ve all been there: browsing for hours, only to miss the best deals by that much. But not this year. Amazon’s curated AI-powered shopping tools to help you prep smarter, shop faster, and make this Prime Day your most efficient (and maybe cheapest) one yet 🛒💥.

Here are five tools worth tapping before July 8 rolls around 👇:

1. 🔍 Interests: Think of this as your personalized shopping scout. Just type in what you love—say, “under $30 skincare” or “pickleball gear”—and Interests will track relevant listings, restocks, and deals in real time. Create prompts now, and let it hunt down the savings for you.

2. 📘 Shopping Guides: No more 45-tab comparison chaos. Shopping Guides bring together key info, customer insights, and product picks in one scrollable view. You’ll get highlights, budgets, and even a “Top Deal” tag to make your Prime Day clicks count.

3. 🎧 Hear the Highlights: Short on time? Let Amazon’s AI whisper the pros and cons to you, literally. This audio feature summarizes reviews, product specs, and more in quick soundbites so you can learn while multitasking.

4. 🤖 Rufus: Amazon’s in-house AI assistant helps you shop with intent. Ask it to find deals, compare products, explain specs, or even summarize reviews. You can also ask it to check previous purchases or track delivery updates. It's like ChatGPT, but with a Prime badge.

5. 📷 Amazon Lens: Seen something you like? Snap it. Upload a photo, screenshot, or barcode and Amazon Lens will pull up matching or similar items. Pair it with the “Today’s Deals” filter for instant savings this Prime Day.

💬 Bonus Tip: Turn on deal notifications in the Prime Day section of the app. You’ll get alerts based on your recent searches and browsing history—no more FOMO.

Prime Day runs July 8–11, but the smart prep starts now. Use these tools to skip the scroll, dodge decision fatigue, and lock in those cart-worthy discounts 💡. Your wallet will thank you, and your inbox will be a lot less chaotic 😉.

⚡️Worthy Mentions

• Trump announces a 90-day extension for TikTok’s ban deadline in the U.S.

• Sam Altman says he’s open to adding ads to ChatGPT in the future.

• Meta expands the Advantage+ suite with more AI-driven creative tools for advertisers.

• The E.U. proposes a new handling fee for e-commerce imports as part of 2028 customs reforms.

• TikTok’s Symphony AI tool now lets brands make influencer videos with digital avatars.

Wrapping up…

From AI agents taking over shopping assistance to digital avatars crushing it in livestream sales, ecommerce is moving faster than ever. Imagine streaming 24/7 with a clone while the money keeps rolling in 🤯.

Whether it’s Shorts turning shoppable or kids getting their own stylish corner on the web, it’s been a solid week of updates, from futuristic to functional 💪.

Stick around, stay curious, and we’ll be back next week with more buzz and breakthroughs 🐝.

PS: If you haven’t already, hit that subscribe button so you don’t miss a beat 😉.