'First foreigner' to practice livestream selling via Douyin
We are not an agent or recruiter, but a headhunter !
Sami Sabeaallil recommends his toy products via livestreaming. Photo: Yang Hui/GT
Sitting straight at his desk, live-streamer Sami Sabeaallil turns on the lights, places his mobile phone on a selfie stick and starts greeting his viewers. "Hi everyone, this is Sami," he says in Chinese. "I will recommend you some toys tonight…"
Just about every day,
Sabeaallil livestreams on Douyin (China's domestic version of TikTok)
for one or two hours, promoting his toys to Chinese buyers. Based in
manufacturing hub Yiwu, the world's largest trading center for daily
consumer goods in East China's Zhejiang Province, the 22-year-old said
he is likely the first foreigner to get into livestream selling in Yiwu,
and take advantage of China's skyrocketing e-commerce industry.
Sabeaallil
has been hawking his toys on his Douyin account since June. Most of his
videos are about his products, or show him hanging around Yiwu's
markets and cracking jokes. For a video Sabeaallil published on October 1
- China's National Day -he invited dozens of foreigners from various
countries to express their love for China, which got nearly 30,000
likes.
A young, Chinese-speaking foreigner attracts a lot of
attention on China's social media. Sabeaallil now has only about 28,000
followers on Douyin but his goal is "to have 10 million followers within
two years," the ambitious newbie live streamer told the Global Times.
With
the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic's severely hitting the economy of many
countries, Sabeaallil decided to try livestreaming. The pandemic has
caused great losses among Yiwu's manufacturers and suppliers, Sabeaallil
said.
"I want to look for more Chinese domestic buyers via
Douyin," he said. As an owner of a Yiwu-based toy company, Sabeaallil
used to have half of his orders from overseas including the US and
Europe.
"These (overseas) orders have not been satisfactory this
year because of the pandemic," he sighed, adding that he is gradually
shifting his business to Chinese market, as the epidemic situation in
China has largely improved.
A few potential buyers have reached
Sabeaallil via Douyin. One of them bought over 100,000 yuan ($14,860) of
toys from him, which Sabeaallil described as "a good beginning."
https://www.facebook.com/groups/Chinavisaworkpermit/?ref=share
Sabeaalli
is not the only expatriate in Yiwu interested in livestreaming
promotion. According to Yiwu Industrial and Commercial College (YWICC),
"quite a few" of its 140 overseas students say they will try their hand
in the livestreaming e-commerce industry after graduation.
The
college is offering its overseas students courses on China's livestream
selling market. "Training content includes how to attract more
followers, how to select suitable products, how to interact with
audiences and how to shoot and edit short videos," director of YWICC's
School for International Education surnamed Chen told the Global Times.
As
the only university in Yiwu, YWICC has had more than 10,000
international students since 2007. This year, 70 percent of the
college's current overseas students hope to find a job or start up
business in Yiwu, Chen said.
Source: By Huang Lanlan in Yiwu, GLOBAL TIMES
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