Iron Lips Man in China | 15,000 lipsticks sold in 5 minutes

“the Iron Lips man in China” | Live streaming sales is a common e-commerce practice in China since last year where sellers and influencers display and explain products with direct consumer interaction in real time and consumers can purchase with one click on the buy button. The audience can ask questions in anonymity, and the experience is interactive and immersive.

One of the live streaming influencer celebrities is Li Jiaqi, better known as the “Lipstick Top Man” or “Iron Lips”. In 2018, Li became famous for trying on more than 380 lipstick shades in a two-hour livestream, and sold over 15,000 lipsticks in five minutes.

During Single’s Day 11th of November 2018 (the largest e-commerce promotion day in the world founded by Ma Yun, better known as Jack Ma), the Beauty Blogger and Jack Ma had a livestream lipstick sell-off competition on Taobao e-commerce platform. While Jack Ma managed to sell 10 pieces, the Lipstick Top Man sold 1000 lipsticks in the sell-off.

Li Jiaqi managed to get 19 million followers on short video APP Douyin (Tiktok) and 4 million fans on ecommerce app Little Red Book within only a few months.

In China, reviews and reactions of fellow consumers weigh heavily on Chinese buyers’ purchasing decisions, and live streaming allows them to witness those reactions in real time. Live streaming is not just about buying but is an experience with learning, joy and gathering experiences.

Although livestreaming online sales is still a future consumer retail concept in most markets, this concept might not last too long in China. New technology implementations might cause a true revolution during coming years in online retail sales with especially Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR). It would not be a huge surprise if Chinese consumers might soon be able to invite AI sales persons at home through VR gadgets. They can explain the products and new other high-tech gadgets might even be able to simulate the actual product senses (taste, visual, odor or touch) through virtual or augmented reality, for example for cosmetics or foods.

For the record, these are just personal imaginations based on personal observations and general reading regarding retail society in China. It might well be going into other directions but one thing is sure that a retail concept revolution will take place in the next years to come.

One vital focus in future retail will be core objective ; 'individual and tailor made consumer immersion'.

#china #consumermarketing #tmall #taobao #ecommerce #douyin #littleredbook #artificialintelligence #virtualreality