A Chinese live streamer makes over $14 million dollars a week by just showing off items online, it has been revealed.
Studies reveal that one in four US teens want to become influencers. And, after a long day slogging through endless mind-numbing tasks at work, you can hardly blame them.
After all, influencers and content creators can bring in major bucks by seemingly doing little more than posting photos and videos of themselves online.
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Chinese live streamer, Zheng Xiang Xiang, is a prime example of this. She posts live streams to Douyin (China’s version of TikTok) of herself showing off various products for just three seconds each and rakes in 100 million yuan ($14 million) every week.
But, while most live streamers resort to gimmicks to shift the products they're promoting, Zheng takes a much more minimalist approach.
She has gone viral and made somewhat of a trademark of herself due to her blank expressions and lightning-fast selling technique.
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In her highly viewed streams, someone passes Zheng a box, she picks the product up and mentions its price, then pushes it aside.
That's it. That's literally all it takes for her to earn $14 million a week.
Her live streams are also recognisable by the piles of orange boxes like those from luxury retailer, Hermès in the background.
But, while rare Hermès handbags frequently sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars, the live streamer's products rarely cost more than 10 yuan ($1.39) each, which only adds to the impressiveness of her income.
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While Zheng Xiang Xiang has been in the live-stream business since 2017, her popularity has skyrocketed within the past few months and she reached a milestone 1 million followers a few days ago.
Social media experts put her success down to the fact that she has differentiated herself from the crowd with her stripped back, minimalist approach to selling, which feels a lot more authentic and trustworthy than the crazy stunts of her competitors.
Following Zheng's success, Douyin has introduced a new rule to prevent copycat cases.
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Since 27 October, the platform has prohibited sellers from showcasing products without giving some basic information about them.
Those who break the new restrictions may face a fine or even have their accounts shut down.
So, while Zheng's Douyin account appears to still be up and running with her famously simple selling style, she may have to change up her approach to adhere to the platform's new rules.
Topics: China, News, Social Media, Money
Bec Oakes