1) High Conversion Rate Engine under the Trust Economy.The essence of self-media e-commerce is “Trust Economy” and “Relationship E-commerce.” Creators establish a “parasocial relationship” extending beyond mere buying and selling with fans through long-term, continuous content output. This relationship, based on shared values, aesthetics, or knowledge needs, forms a strong emotional connection and trust endorsement. For example, knowledge-based bloggers accumulate significant trust through professional and sincere content, leading to high sell-through rates for recommended books, which is a typical embodiment of the trust economy [5].

2) Natural Fusion of Precision Traffic and Scenario-based Marketing.The fan base of self-media accounts is an interest community formed based on algorithmic recommendations and active following, resulting in extremely clear user personas. This enables “merchandise-seeking-people” precision marketing, greatly reducing ineffective exposure. Furthermore, through content forms like short videos and live streaming, products are no longer cold displays but are embedded into specific life scenarios, tutorials, or emotional stories [6]. For instance, when a food blogger uses a specific pot to cook a dish in a live stream, the “convenience” and “utility” of the pot are vividly demonstrated, strongly stimulating users’ scenario immersion and purchasing desire [7].

3) Low-cost Private Domain Traffic Operation Advantage. The Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) of traditional e-commerce is rising annually, with some categories reaching hundreds of yuan. In contrast, self-media e-commerce acquires initial fans through content at a relatively low cost. More importantly, by establishing private domain positions such as WeChat communities and fan groups, creators can achieve repeated, free access after a single acquisition, greatly enhancing the Customer Lifetime Value (LTV). The traffic acquisition and conversion model has undergone fundamental changes compared to traditional e-commerce, as shown in Figure 2Figure 2.

Figure 2. Comparison of traffic-conversion paths between traditional e-commerce and self-media e-commerce.

4) Agile Market Response and Product Innovation. Real-time feedback from live stream comments, video replies, and community discussions constitutes a valuable user database. Creators can quickly capture user questions, suggestions, and potential needs. Many top self-media creators utilize this advantage to cooperate directly with factories, implementing the C2M (Consumer-to-Manufacturer) model based on fan needs. For example, fashion bloggers determine styles, colors, and size ratios based on fan voting, significantly reducing inventory risk and increasing sell-through rates [8]. Through real-time community interaction and precise user profiling, social media e-commerce provides a unique practical pathway for the C2M (Customer-to-Manufacturer) model. Creators can utilize live streaming, comments, and fan voting to instantly and cost-effectively gather consumer preferences regarding product design, functionality, and pricing, forming a clear “demand snapshot.” This enables them to place precise small-batch custom orders directly with manufacturers, significantly shortening the market feedback loop and reducing inventory risk and trial-and-error costs on the production side. In this process, consumers transform from passive buyers into active co-creators of products, not only strengthening fan trust based on a sense of participation but also allowing the supply chain to respond to real market demand with unprecedented agility.

1) Excessive Reliance on Personal IP and Sustainability Challenges. First is the systemic risk: the fate of the enterprise is deeply bound to the reputation, health, and creative state of the individual. Once a core creator faces negative news (e.g., character collapse, improper remarks) or a decline in state, the entire commercial system may collapse rapidly. Second is the scale bottleneck: due to limited personal energy, once the business scale expands to a certain level, the influence, creativity, and management radius of the personal IP face huge tests, making it difficult to support further expansion.

2) Universal Shortcomings in Supply Chain Management and Quality Control.First is the lack of core capabilities. Most self-media teams start with content creation and excel at “front-end” marketing but seriously lack “back-end” capabilities in supply chain management, quality inspection, warehousing, logistics, and after-sales service. Second is significant risk exposure. This directly leads to a high incidence of consumer complaints. Complaints in self-media e-commerce are mainly concentrated in specific areas (as shown in Figure 3Figure 3). Any negligence in these links will directly consume accumulated trust capital and lead to fan loss.

Figure 3. Distribution overview of consumer complaints in self-media e-commerce.

3) Intensified Content Homogenization and Continuous Traffic Anxiety.First, this stems primarily from a lack of innovation. When a content format or topic goes viral, a swarm of imitators quickly follows, leading to severe homogenization and user aesthetic fatigue. To maintain traffic, creators often have to invest higher costs or even resort to short-sighted behaviors like “clickbait,” falling into a vicious cycle. Second, the “preference for the new” in platform recommendation algorithms forces creators to constantly chase hot topics and maintain high-intensity updates, causing immense physical and mental pressure and making it difficult to sustain content quality [9].

4) Single Business Model and Weak Anti-risk Ability. This business model results in a revenue structure overly dependent on live streaming sales or merchandise sales. Once the main sales category is subject to policy regulation, market environment changes, or platform traffic restrictions, overall revenue faces the risk of a precipitous drop.

1) Dual Empowerment of Policy Dividends and Technological Innovation. The National “14th Five-Year Plan” clearly proposes vigorously developing the digital economy and promoting the deep integration of online and offline consumption. Local governments have also introduced policies to encourage the new individual economy and flexible employment, providing legitimacy and development space for self-media e-commerce. Meanwhile, 5G technology enhances the seamless experience of live streaming and video browsing; AIGC (Artificial Intelligence Generated Content) assists creators in script conception, video editing, and copywriting, improving production efficiency; Big Data and AI algorithms help precisely scrutinize user preferences.

2) Iteration of Consumption Concepts and the Rise of Circle Economy. The circular economy is an economic and industrial model aimed at systematically reducing resource consumption, waste generation, and environmental pollution. Its core concept is to change the traditional “extract-manufacture-dispose” linear economic model by optimizing design, technological innovation, and business model innovation, thereby creating a closed-loop system of “resources-products-recycled resources,” allowing materials and energy to be maximally reused within the economic and social system. The new generation of consumers no longer focuses solely on the functional attributes of products but values the cultural value, emotional belonging, and lifestyle expression behind them. Niche circles such as ACG (Animation, Comic, and Games), Art Toys, Camping, and Hanfu are growing continuously. Self-media e-commerce can precisely target these circles, providing professional content and exclusive products to meet personalized needs.

3) Continuous Empowerment of Platform Ecosystems and Infrastructure Improvement. Content platforms like TikTok/Douyin, Kuaishou, and Xiaohongshu are sparing no effort to build closed-loop e-commerce systems. By lowering entry barriers, providing traffic subsidies, and building service markets, they pave the way for creator monetization. Simultaneously, market services are becoming increasingly professional. A large number of professional SaaS providers, operation agencies, supply chain platforms, and MCN institutions have emerged, providing full-link solutions and lowering industry thresholds.

4) Market Penetration (Lower-tier Markets) and Cross-border Expansion. Consumption potential in lower-tier cities and rural areas is being activated through short videos and live streaming, becoming a new growth point [10]. The global layout of relevant platforms offers huge imagination space for the overseas expansion of China’s “Content + Merchandise” self-media e-commerce model [11].

1) Stricter Regulatory Oversight and Rising Compliance Costs. The legal framework is gradually tightening. The state has issued relevant regulations with clear requirements for the identity of live streamers (defined as “advertising publishers” or “advertising operators”), product quality, truthfulness of publicity, after-sales service, and taxation issues. Tax evasion incidents involving top streamers have triggered comprehensive supervision by tax authorities. Compliant tax payment has become a mandatory subject for all high-income creators, directly increasing operational costs.

2) Red Ocean Competition and Diminishing Traffic Dividends. Participants are fiercely competitive. From celebrities and entrepreneurs to ordinary individuals, everyone is flooding the live streaming track, resulting in white-hot competition.

3) User Trust Crisis and Image Reshaping Challenges. Behaviors such as false advertising, selling fake goods, and data fabrication by some streamers, once exposed by the media, not only damage their own reputation but also trigger a public trust crisis for the entire industry. Rebuilding trust has become the primary prerequisite for industry development.

4) Algorithm Black Box and Policy Uncertainty. Self-media e-commerce relies heavily on platform recommendation algorithms and traffic distribution mechanisms. Platforms may adjust algorithms at any time due to commercial strategies, policy compliance, or user experience considerations, rendering original operational methods ineffective and causing a loss of traffic sources overnight. This uncontrollability is one of the greatest external risks [12].