Xin Youzhi, aka Xinba, an online personality known as China’s king of live streaming sales, recently managed to sell more products in a single day than a Hong Kong shopping mall sells in 12 months.
Born in a small village in northeast China, Xinba managed to defy the odds, becoming one of the most popular web perdonalities in China, as well as the most successful live stream seller. Operating on Chinese streaming platform Kuaishou, the young entrepreneur specializes in promoting all sorts of products to his fans, and trying to get them to buy as many as them as possible during his online broadcast. He is really good at it too, as demonstrated by his latest achievement, selling over $300 million worth of goods during a 12-hour stream.
Live streaming sales were already big business in China, but the Covid-19 pandemic and the restrictions imposed by the government boosted online business even more. In 2019, during the November 6 shopping festival, Xinba made news headlines by generating over $57 million in sales in one day, but compared to his recent record, that sounds unimpressive.
During his first live stream following a 60-day suspension from Kuaishou, for promoting fake bird’s nest, an expensive Chinese delicacy, Xinba spent 12 hours promoting a wide variety of products, from shampoo to mobile phones, to his over 40 million fans. At the end of the streaming marathon, Xinba had sold more than 2 billion yuan ($305.7 million) in goods.
That’s a staggering amount of money, especially considering that the Times Square shopping center in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, made less than that in all of 2020. Granted, it wasn’t the best year on record, and Xinba’s figures don’t include returns and refunds, but still, his achievement is pretty darn impressive.
Unlike most other livestreaming sellers in China, Xinba, doesn’t really focus on a category of products, instead promoting anything from mattresses, to gadgets and beauty products. If it can be sold, he’ll promote it, and his millions of fans will buy it. Today, Xinba is the hottest streamer on Kuaishou and one of the most popular in China.
So how does young Xin Youzhi convince his followers to part with their money during his livestreams? Well, apart from using sound selling and marketing tactics, he leans quite heavily on his backstory, constantly reminding his millions of fans – most of whom are farmers – that he is the son of a farmer as well. He is not lying, but he has come a long way since his farming days, now reportedly donating over 20 million to help the people of Wuhan, during the early days of the pandemic.
Despite his controversial behavior, or maybe because of it, Xinba is an accomplished livestream seller worth dozens of millions of dollars, and can now brag about selling more in a day than a mall does in a year.
via SCMP
