(Yicai) Oct. 17 -- Shares of New Oriental Education and Technology Group rose after the Chinese education technology firm said its e-commerce unit East Buy officially introduced an annual premium membership.

New Oriental [HKG: 1797] was trading up 3.8 percent at HKD36.65 (USD4.69) as of 11.50 a.m. in Hong Kong today.

East Buy will follow other Chinese e-commerce platforms and launch a CNY199 (USD27.20) annual premium membership, the Beijing-based parent company said in a statement yesterday.

East Buy formulated its premium membership strategy in January, Chief Executive Officer Sun Dongxu said back then. The firm will introduce exclusive tailored functions and services for members on its app, Sun added.

East Buy, which has more than 40 million followers on TikTok’s Chinese version Douyin and annual sales of over CNY10 billion (USD1.4 billion), still has much more room for improvement than Sam’s Club, which has more than 50 million members and annual sales of over USD80 billion, according to Huatai Securities.

In addition to retail warehouse chain Sam’s Club, Chinese e-commerce platform JD.Com also launched a premium membership, priced at CNY99 (USD13.50).

JD.Com members are more rational customers, while those of East Buy use the platform mainly to show emotional support and affection for New Oriental’s founder Yu Minhong and East Buy’s livestreaming host Dong Yuhui, Zhuang Shuai, founder of Beijing Bailian Consulting, told Yicai about the price gap and competitive advantages of JD.Com and East Buy.

The personal intellectual property effect, including celebrity influence, in livestreaming e-commerce cannot be evaluated with the same business ideas as conventional e-commerce, Zhuang noted.

Editor: Futura Costaglione