China's after-school education industry was caught flat-footed after Beijing rolled out a policy in mid-2021 that outlawed most after-school classes for K-12 students in an effort to reduce inequality in education.
The ban -- which covered both online and in-person instruction -- effectively sent the industry into survival mode as companies sought to replace the revenue they lost from classes they were no longer allowed to offer. E-commerce offered one potential path. Last year, New Oriental Education & Technology Group, once a heavyweight in English-language education in China, made headlines when it began running livestreaming sessions in English to hawk products like books and food. Other private education companies started taking their own products right to the consumer. In the year and a half since the industry shake-up, most companies that once specialized in K-12 tutoring began selling items like smart table lamps and e-printers, with many offering a line of devices called "learning tablets."
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