Thread by @chrisxmunn

Social media influencing is a $13B business.

But who is the most valuable influencer of them all?

He recently sold $1.7B worth of products in ONE DAY.

And I guarantee you've never heard of him.

He's Jiaqi (Austin) Li.

He's made his name via livestream e-commerce.

A craze sweeping across China that could come to the Americas and Europe soon.

1/ What is livestream e-commerce?

Livestream e-commerce is like a modern day QVC. But the hosts are charismatic social media influencers with huge followings.

Influencers do 4 hour streams a night that highlight up to 50 products that they pitch to their audience.

2/ These streams usually happen on online shopping malls. Which are streaming platforms usually built by e-commerce websites with the sole purpose to sell products via streaming.

Alibaba's Taobao Live is by far the largest online shopping mall with over 80% of the market share.

3/ In China, the streams are hosted by popular influencers throughout the country. The biggest of which is, Jiaqi (Austin) Li.

Li can often be seen streaming with his pet dog, Never, which his fans love.

They also love his signature catch phrase, "OMG! Sisters, buy this!"

4/ Before live-streaming, Li was a shop assistant at L'Oreal.

Li has a passion for lipsticks and once sold 15,000 lipsticks in 5 minutes during a livestream.

Which earned him his nickname, The Lipstick King.

5/ Li recently hosted a livestream on Taobao Live to kick off Singles Day in China.

Singles Day is China's premier online shopping event. It is similar to the period in the US from Black Friday to Cyber Monday.

6/ In 2020 Amazon raked in $4.8B in sales between Black Friday & Cyber Monday.

For Singles Day in China, the online retailers raked in $115B.

Safe to say the Chinese market is huge.

7/ Li took advantage. Li sold an astounding $1.7B worth of products in 12 hours. Smashing every record for online sales.

Li sold everything from lotions to AirPods during his stream.

And over 250 million people tuned in to the first day kickoff for Singles Day on Taobao Live.

8/ It is not officially disclosed, but it is estimated that Li earns up to 20% commission on the products he sells.

If that is the case, one day of selling earned Li:

$340M

Just a ridiculous amount.

9/ American retailers are paying attention as well.

A craze this large is likely to trickle across the Pacific Ocean to the US but it hasn't quite materialized just yet.

But don't be surprised if you see livestream e-commerce on your Instagram or Facebook in the future.

If you enjoyed this thread, give me a follow @chrisxmunn.

I write 1-2 threads a week related to business and leadership.

I also tweet about growing my businesses from time to time.

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