Luxury E-Commerce Platform Secoo Stock Price Jumps After ChatGPT Announcement

Secoo, a Nasdaq-listed luxury e-commerce platform, announced on February 6 that it will explore the use of AI-generated content (AIGC) to provide over 90% of customer solutions. The company will also explore the adoption of ChatGPT-related technology. Its stock price soared by 127.55% to $3.80 on this news.

ChatGPT technology creates interactive dialogue similar to people, and is capable of generating video and text content such as product descriptions of luxury goods. Secoo believes that the application of AIGC in commercial settings would trigger a revolution in the field of digital content and AI will become a key tool for content production in luxury e-commerce.

Secoo was once on the verge of delisting due to customer disputes and legal proceedings, among other reasons. In early January, Secoo was found to have violated financial asset reporting rules and suffered fines of about 175,000 yuan ($25,814). The company has been struck with similar violations over 10 times.

According to Secoo’s latest financial report, in the first half of 2022, its gross market value (GMV) was 3.3 billion yuan ($486 million), down 34.4% year-on-year, while the net loss was 817 million yuan ($120.5 million), compared with 39.8 million yuan ($5.9 million) in the same period of 2021. The volume of orders was 880,000, down 38.9% year-on-year, and the number of active users was 409,000, down 28.1% year-on-year.

Based on the company’s turbulent financial situation and the recent popularity of ChatGPT, Secoo’s announcement stirred speculation. Chinese media outlet Securities Daily quoted a senior analyst saying, “In China, only a few companies such as Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent and Huawei can really make ChatGPT-like products. Developing such products requires rich experience in natural language and word processing, and a large amount of data and algorithms. Companies like Secoo are purely for hype.”

However, Secoo defended that the application of ChatGPT technology to its e-commerce business is strategic, and may create new possibilities for the company. Secoo expects that its existing luxury e-commerce mode of operation will be profoundly, rapidly, and thoroughly changed.

SEE ALSO: Luxury E-commerce Platform Secoo’s Shanghai Subsidiary Given Notice of Bankruptcy Filing

Recently, the AI-Generated Content (AIGC) Development Trend Report 2023 released by Tencent Research Institute showed that AIGC is becoming increasingly mainstream in the digital consumer market. Applications such as writing assistants, AI paintings, chatbots, and personalized avatars have emerged, supporting demand across mainstream media, e-commerce, entertainment, film, and television. Baidu announced its ChatGPT-like project called “Ernie Bot” on February 7, with internal testing to be completed in March. Tencent, Alibaba, Huawei, and many other well-known companies have published patents on AI chatbots.