Virtual Salespeople Beating Human Livestream Hosts

As reported by PLTFRM, virtual sales avatars are now outperforming human presenters across major ecommerce platforms, changing how online retail content is produced and delivered.

Who Is PLTFRM?

PLTFRM is a Shanghai based creative agency that specialises in digital advertising and ecommerce. Over the past two years it has become one of the leading suppliers of AI powered “virtual human” sales presenters for brands selling on Taobao and Pinduoduo. These avatars operate like livestream hosts, speaking to viewers, demonstrating products and responding to comments in real time.

Builds Avatars

The company builds its avatars using Baidu’s AI video generation system to animate the presenter and DeepSeek’s language models to generate scripts and responses. PLTFRM says it has deployed more than 30 virtual salespeople to date, each trained to promote specific items ranging from printers to household goods.

Brother Benefits

Brother, the Japanese electronics firm, has reported around 2,500 US dollars of printer sales within the first two hours of using one of PLTFRM’s avatars and says that livestream sales rose by about 30 per cent compared with its human hosted streams.

Alexandre Ouairy, PLTFRM’s cofounder, has been open about the performance gap the company is seeing. In interviews he has highlighted that virtual hosts are now consistently outperforming human presenters for the companies using them, and that monitoring overnight sales from AI hosted streams has become a routine part of client reporting. These public statements remain some of the clearest indications that virtual salespeople are not only viable but commercially advantageous.

How Virtual Salespeople Look And Behave

Virtual presenters appear on screen much like human livestream hosts. They can be made to stand or sit beside product displays, speak continuously and gesture naturally. The backgrounds of their livestream rooms are digitally generated or built from templates, and the avatar can be instructed to switch tone, pace or focus based on the sales strategy.

It should also be noted that quality has improved significantly in a relatively short space of time. For example, early digital humans often looked expressionless, but the latest versions maintain better eye contact, more natural body movement and more consistent lip synchronisation. Glitches still occur occasionally, such as a momentary freeze, but viewers are often unaware unless they examine the presenter closely.

Virtual Influencers

Virtual influencers are also growing in parallel. These are AI generated personalities designed to act as presenters, models or spokespeople across social platforms and ecommerce sites.

Fashion retailers, for example, use virtual models to show clothing combinations at scale, often producing hundreds of product images or videos without needing a physical photoshoot. Some brands even deploy digital ambassadors on their websites to greet visitors, provide basic guidance and maintain a consistent brand presence.

AI generated personalities also front short promotional videos on TikTok and Douyin, where they introduce products, deliver scripted messages and respond to trends in the same way a human creator might. All of these formats rely on similar foundations in video generation and language modelling, but they are tailored to serve different roles in marketing, engagement and product demonstration.

Technology Behind The Virtual Human Industry

In terms of the technology behind all this, virtual salespeople typically combine three core components:

1. AI video generation models that animate a face and body in real time.

2.  Language models that produce and adapt spoken content, greetings and product explanations.

3. Integration tools that connect the avatar to sales platforms, product catalogues and live chat systems.

Companies such as Synthesia, Soul Machines, Hour One and UneeQ have developed their own pipelines to support sales and customer service use cases. Some add behavioural layers that replicate facial expressions or emotional responses to improve engagement.

Why AI Hosts Are Outselling Human Livestreamers

Livestream ecommerce is an intense format and sessions often run for hours and many online stores remain live twenty four hours a day. Human presenters tire, lose concentration and struggle to maintain high energy levels across long broadcasts.

The advantages highlighted by companies using virtual hosts include:

– Avatars maintain a constant level of enthusiasm and clarity.

– They avoid errors such as quoting the wrong price or forgetting a feature.

– They respond immediately to comments without slowing down.

– They operate continuously, including overnight and during low traffic periods.

– They deliver approved messages in the correct order every time.

– They remove the scheduling and cost pressures linked to staffing livestream rooms.

Interestingly, a report by the China International Electronic Commerce Centre estimated that more than one third of all online retail sales in China in 2024 took place through livestreams, and that around half of Chinese consumers had bought something while watching a broadcast. This may help explain why so many brands now find automating even part of that activity is an attractive proposition.

Benefits, Drawbacks And Early Criticism

The commercial benefits of using this type of technology include higher average conversion rates, better message consistency and reduced fatigue related performance decline. In fact, companies that run large catalogues say virtual presenters help them maintain product accuracy, especially during rapid promotional cycles.

However, there are some concerns, which include:

– Some viewers may not realise they are watching an AI host if the on screen disclosure is small or obscured by viewer comments.

– Prompt injection attacks have already occurred. In one case, a viewer typed a command that caused an AI spa host to meow repeatedly before reverting to its script.

– Livestream presenters and influencers worry about long term job displacement as brands shift from influencer led marketing to store operated streams.

– Avatars built for one language may sound more robotic in another, which limits international deployment for now.

These issues have prompted platforms such as Douyin to move more cautiously, with restrictions still in place around using AI presenters for direct sales.

Companies Developing Similar Virtual Sales Technologies

It should be noted here that PLTFRM is one of many companies now producing virtual human systems. Other notable examples include:

– Baidu, which runs a major digital human platform and recently demonstrated an AI clone of influencer Luo Yonghao. His six hour livestream generated more than 13 million views and millions of dollars in merchandise sales.

– Synthesia, a UK based company whose avatars are used for sales training, product explainers and high volume content generation.

– Soul Machines, which builds interactive digital humans capable of facial expressions and emotional responses for retail and service environments.

-UneeQ, which provides digital humans that act as product guides and lead qualification assistants for ecommerce and customer service settings.

– Hour One, which offers AI presenters for automated product demonstrations and ecommerce listings.

– ZMO, a provider of virtual fashion models used widely in Chinese ecommerce to display clothing at scale.

These companies vary in their approaches, but all support the broader trend towards automated front line communication and sales.

How Businesses Can Use Virtual Sales Hosts

There are several ways organisations are using virtual humans today, such as:

– Retailers keep livestream rooms running around the clock, using avatars for routine product lines and human presenters for special events.

– Brands selling complex products use virtual presenters to explain technical features and answer common questions before handing more detailed enquiries to human teams.

– Companies that rely on repeatable product demonstrations use avatars to ensure every pitch is delivered correctly.

– Banks and financial firms have experimented with AI presenters to deliver research briefings and customer updates.

– Public sector bodies and health organisations are testing digital humans for information campaigns and citizen guidance.

For many organisations the appeal lies in predictable delivery, scalable content production and the ability to support customers at any hour.

Where The Technology’s Heading

Capabilities are improving quickly and newer models generate more natural eye movement, smoother gestures and more coherent dialogue. Providers are even beginning to offer avatars that can be created from a single photograph and controlled through simple prompts. Industry forecasts in China suggest the virtual human sector could reach hundreds of billions of yuan by 2030.

It seems as though things are now heading towards more autonomous virtual salespeople that handle longer and more complex interactions, including personalised recommendations and adaptive product explanations. That said, hybrid models, where human presenters contribute personality and storytelling while AI hosts provide consistent coverage, are likely to remain common as brands refine their use of both.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

Virtual salespeople, like those made by PLTFRM and others, now seem to be sitting at the centre of a fast expanding commercial ecosystem. The evidence noted in this article shows why so many organisations are beginning to treat them as a practical extension of their sales teams rather than a novelty. For example, the combination of constant availability, message accuracy and measurable uplift in conversion makes these systems appealing to brands that rely on intensive livestream activity or need to present information consistently at scale. The performance gap between human and virtual hosts is not universal across every product category but the early data suggests that AI presenters are well suited to scenarios where viewers expect clear explanations, rapid responses and uninterrupted broadcasts.

That said, the concerns raised about transparency, job displacement and misuse cannot be overlooked. Viewers must be able to identify when they are interacting with an AI, and the examples of prompt manipulation show that the technology still requires careful oversight. Human presenters remain important for building trust and creating moments of spontaneity that automated systems cannot yet replicate. Influencers and livestream hosts also play a significant role in product discovery, which means their work is likely to evolve rather than disappear. The challenge for platforms and regulators, therefore, will be ensuring that automation enhances sales and engagement without misleading audiences or degrading working conditions for the people who still contribute to this sector.

For UK businesses, the shift described here signals important changes in how products may be demonstrated, explained and supported online. For example, companies that sell technical or high volume items could benefit from virtual presenters that deliver accurate, repeatable information without requiring continuous staffing. Retailers exploring livestream commerce may find that AI hosts offer a cost effective way to test the format before investing in large production teams. Also, service providers, public institutions and financial organisations could use digital humans to handle informational tasks where clarity and consistency matter more than personality. The practical advantage really lies in the ability to scale communication without losing structure or availability.

Platforms must balance innovation with safeguards, regulators will need to clarify disclosure expectations and employers will have to consider how automation fits within longer term workforce planning. What is clear is that virtual salespeople are no longer experimental. In fact, it now seems they are already shaping how products are sold and how audiences engage with online content, and their growing role in global ecommerce suggests that a new form of digital front line communication is beginning to take hold.