China’s Star Saleswoman Viya Rules a $60 Billion World of Live Online Shopping薇婭：中國600億美元直播銷售業(yè)的帶貨女王

陳曉璐

Huang Wei can sell anything.

東西到了黃薇手里，就不愁賣不出去。

For instance： In April， Huang—known professionally as Viya—sold a rocket launch for around 40 million yuan （$5.6 million）. The live， online shopping extravaganza the 34-year-old hosts most nights for her fans across China is part variety show， part infomercial， part group chat. In May 2020， she hit a record-high audience of more than 37 million—more than the “Game of Thrones” finale， the Oscars or “Sunday Night Football1.”

Each night， Viyas audience places orders worth millions of dollars—typically for cosmetics， appliances， prepared foods or clothing， but shes also moved houses and cars. On Singles Day2， Chinas biggest shopping event of the year， she did more than 3 billion yuan in sales.

In a world where we all shop almost exclusively from our couches， Viya is one vision of our collective future. Livestream shopping is a natural confluence3 of several current tech trends—streaming， influencers， social， commerce—and offers companies a new path to consumers hearts and wallets. Tesla， Procter & Gamble and supermodel-turned-beauty-entrepreneur Miranda Kerr， among others， have turned to Viya to introduce them to the Chinese market. The queen of Chinas $60 billion ecosystem of live online shopping， Viya earned an estimated 30 million yuan in 2018， according to the most recent figures from Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.

“Specifically， my ambition is to offer everything my fans might need，” she said. “Doorbells， carpets， toothbrushes， furniture， mattresses， everything.”

“E-commerce livestreaming，” as its lovingly called by analysts， will already feel familiar to many in America and elsewhere; the latest stage in an evolution from infomercial pioneer Ron “But wait， theres more” Popeil， the Home Shopping Network4， Oprahs Book Club， and Kim Kardashian. Amazons been experimenting with the concept for more than a year， most recently teaming up with “Project Runway” 5 stars Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn for a spin-off6 and retail tie-in7 that will make the shows winning designs immediately available to buy. Facebook has been trying to get users to shop on its platform for years; in May， it announced a partnership with Shopify8 to help integrate buying there and on Instagram.

Nowhere is the potential of livestreaming more apparent than China， where the boom suggests livestream shopping can become a deeply embedded habit for consumers and an important tool for retailers. Alibabas technology allows the audience to watch a live stream， chat with other viewers， and select and pay for a product—all at the same time. Theres no friction between entertainment and buying， which is the whole point.

“I cant miss Viyas shows，” said Linda Qu， a 30-year-old tech worker in Hangzhou. After she puts her four-year-old son to bed， Qu lets Viyas livestream run on her smartphone while shes doing yoga or watching TV on the couch. Nearly every show， she clicks to buy. The FOMO9 keeps her coming back： “What if theres something nice and I didnt get it？ What a loss.”

Thats the clincher10 for companies desperate to impress Chinas growing middle class， customers who have learned the hard way to be suspicious of counterfeits and knock-offs.

Customers used to move slowly down the path from awareness to interest to purchase to—ideally—loyalty， said Helen Lu， spokesperson for the Greater China division of Procter & Gamble. “Working with the top livestreamers like Viya， the process gets much shorter，” she said.

Most nights， Viya streams from a small studio in her headquarters， a 10-story warehouse in the Chinese tech hub of Hangzhou. The show is only a sliver11 of a 500-person enterprise called Qianxun Group; it includes talent management for dozens of livestreamers， volume retail and supply chain management. Future plans include consulting and ad agency-type work for brands that want access to their audience， plus multimedia. The company plans to raise money from investors this month， take on a strategic partner by the end of the year and， by 2025 at the latest， list shares.

Food and home goods are in one massive section， followed by clothes and accessories， separated by category： sunglasses， fashion bags， pearl accessories， sneakers， pajamas， jeans， lingerie， and so on. Theres a showcase for Korean products and another for Australia and New Zealand， with more to come. With bright， soft lights everywhere， streamers can go live from the aisles if they want to.

Viya has enough star power to summon whatever she wants from companies eager to be featured on her show. The showroom serves a whole community of livestreamers， including the 40 or so under the companys management—within three years， theyll have 100， CEO Huang says. They all need a steady influx of products to feature， in part to prove they can drive sales. Brands pay for prominent placement on the Qianxun shelves， just like they do in offline stores.

Viyas team likes to say shes successful because shes picky on behalf of her customers. Once a day， her teams present their top picks. One recent evening， a few dozen employees were packed into a conference room at 1 a.m.， eager to see what their colleagues would put forth—and to hear Viyas verdict.

An electric shaver was deemed too noisy， a sugar candy too sweet， a silicon Peppa Pig ice tray a possible copyright violation. Shes also sensitive to price. “Theres no way they sell this for 399 and want us to sell it for 389，” she says， holding a Zippo-style butane lighter. “Go bargain for below 300.”

Good stuff at low prices isnt enough to break through in Chinas crowded marketplace， let alone get rich. Viyas show is a master class in salesmanship， said Andy Yap， a social psychologist at INSEAD business school in Singapore. Shes personable and appears genuine without trying too hard.

But then， shes been doing this a long time. Born into a family of retailers in Anhui province， Viya opened her first store in Beijing with her then-boyfriend， now-husband Dong Haifeng， when she was 18. He ran the inventory and back-end12. Viya modeled and sold the apparel.

She craved a bigger stage and， in 2005， won the “Super Idol” TV reality contest in Anhui. For a while she fronted a pop group. In the end， her home was in retail. She and Dong opened stores in Xian， but by 2012， theyd moved their entire business online. When Taobao launched its livestreaming initiative in 2016， Viya was one of its first recruits.

For her part， Viyas power is built on popularity， and she and her team nurture the audience accordingly. If a viewer complains about a product in the online chat that runs alongside the livestream， Viya will notice and， often， rectify the situation. Her fans call her Dora-Viya， an homage to the time-traveling， wish-fulfilling anime hero Doraemon.

比如，2020年4 月，她以約 4000 萬元人民幣（約合560 萬美元）的價格出售了一枚火箭發(fā)射器。黃薇，業(yè)界人稱“薇婭”，34歲的她在晚間主持的大多數(shù)網(wǎng)購直播盛宴都精彩紛呈，粉絲遍布全國各地。她的直播節(jié)目既像綜藝娛樂，也像資訊型廣告，又像群聊。2020 年 5 月，其直播觀眾收視量達(dá)到3700多萬，超過了《權(quán)力的游戲》大結(jié)局、奧斯卡頒獎典禮和《周日橄欖球之夜》等節(jié)目，創(chuàng)歷史最高。

每天晚上，薇婭的觀眾都會下價值數(shù)百萬美元的訂單——小到化妝品、電器、熟食或服裝，大到房子、汽車，薇婭什么都賣。在中國年度最大的購物盛會“雙十一”，她的銷售額超過了 30 億元。

在“足不出戶，買遍全球”的時代背景下，在薇婭身上能看到消費者們共同的未來。直播購物融合了當(dāng)今的流媒體、網(wǎng)紅、社交、商業(yè)等幾種技術(shù)趨勢，讓銷售公司能更好抓住消費者心理、激發(fā)消費欲望。特斯拉、寶潔，以及成功從超模變身企業(yè)家的米蘭達(dá)·可兒等，都紛紛找薇婭合作，以期進(jìn)入中國市場。根據(jù)中國電子商務(wù)巨頭阿里巴巴的最新數(shù)據(jù)，在總額600億美元的中國在線直播購物生態(tài)系統(tǒng)中，身為“一姐”的薇婭在 2018 年的收入約為3000萬元人民幣。

“具體來說，我的目標(biāo)就是只要是粉絲可能需要的東西，我都能提供?！彼f?！伴T鈴、地毯、牙刷、家具、床墊，什么都有?！?/p>

分析人士津津樂道的“電子商務(wù)直播”，已經(jīng)在美國和其他地方為人熟知。從電視購物先驅(qū)羅恩·“別急，還有更精彩的內(nèi)容”·波佩爾、家庭購物網(wǎng)、奧普拉讀書俱樂部和金·卡戴珊，到今天的直播購物，一路發(fā)展進(jìn)步。一年多來，亞馬遜一直在嘗試這個新概念。最近，他們與“天橋驕子”嘉賓海迪·克盧姆和蒂姆·岡恩合作，開發(fā)派生作品以及建立零售衍生品渠道，就是為了能第一時間讓該節(jié)目的獲獎設(shè)計作品進(jìn)入市場。多年來，臉書一直試圖讓用戶在其平臺上進(jìn)行購物。2020年5月，它宣布與 Shopify建立合作伙伴關(guān)系，以進(jìn)一步實現(xiàn)在臉書和照片墻上進(jìn)行購物。

直播在中國比其他地方都有發(fā)展?jié)摿Γ@一行業(yè)的繁榮表明直播購物可以成為消費者生活不可或缺的一部分和零售商的重要工具。有了阿里巴巴的技術(shù)，觀眾得以在觀看直播的同時與其他消費者聊天并選購產(chǎn)品。娛樂和購物互不沖突，這就是關(guān)鍵點。

“我不能錯過薇婭的節(jié)目?！?0歲的杭州科技工作者琳達(dá)·曲（音）說。她在哄四歲兒子上床睡覺后，就會一邊做瑜伽或者在沙發(fā)上看電視，一邊用手機(jī)看薇婭的直播。幾乎每次直播，她都會點擊購買?？偱洛e過什么，所以一直堅持看：“萬一有什么好東西沒買著呢？那損失就大了?！?/p>

中國中產(chǎn)階層不斷壯大，他們曾吃過虧，唯恐買到假貨和仿制品。因此對銷售方來說，竭力去打動中產(chǎn)階層消費者就成了突破口。

以前，客戶從知道一個產(chǎn)品到產(chǎn)生興趣并進(jìn)行購買，理想的情況下再成為老顧客的這個過程往往是緩慢的。寶潔公司大中華區(qū)發(fā)言人海倫·陸（音）說：“與像薇婭這樣的頂級網(wǎng)絡(luò)主播合作，可以大大加速這個過程?！?/p>

晚上，薇婭一般都會在總部的一個小工作室里做直播。這個工作室位于杭州一個10層高的倉庫。而薇婭的直播只是這家名為謙尋的500人公司業(yè)務(wù)的一小部分。公司事務(wù)還包括對數(shù)十名主播進(jìn)行人才管理、批量零售和供應(yīng)鏈管理。公司計劃在未來為想要接觸受眾的品牌商提供咨詢和廣告代理類服務(wù)，以及進(jìn)軍多媒體領(lǐng)域。該公司計劃本月從投資者那里籌集資金，在2020年年底前引進(jìn)一家戰(zhàn)略合作伙伴，并最遲在 2025 年上市。

食品和家居用品是一大板塊，其次是衣服和配飾，按類別分為：太陽鏡、時尚包、珍珠配飾、運動鞋、睡衣、牛仔褲、女士內(nèi)衣等。其中還分別有韓國產(chǎn)品、澳大利亞產(chǎn)品和新西蘭產(chǎn)品的展示板塊，同時更多地區(qū)產(chǎn)品的展示即將上架。直播室布滿明亮柔和的燈光，如果這些主播愿意，他們也可以在商品架中穿行直播。

薇婭的明星效應(yīng)很強(qiáng)，如果公司想在她的節(jié)目里展示產(chǎn)品，就得聽她的號令。首席執(zhí)行官黃先生說，很多主播都在這個樣品間直播，其中有40名左右來自本公司——三年內(nèi)，這個數(shù)字有望達(dá)到100。他們都需要源源不斷地推介產(chǎn)品，部分目的是為了證明他們強(qiáng)大的帶貨能力。就像在線下商店那樣，各品牌為在謙尋貨架上求得一個顯眼位置，也需要付費。

薇婭的團(tuán)隊認(rèn)為她之所以能取得成功，是因為她能夠站在客戶的立場上以挑剔的眼光審視產(chǎn)品的質(zhì)量。她的團(tuán)隊成員每天會向她推薦一次精選好貨。最近一個晚上，已經(jīng)凌晨一點了，幾十名員工仍聚集在會議室，迫不及待想知道他們的同事會推薦哪些產(chǎn)品，并且想知道薇婭如何裁決。

在薇婭眼中，這款電動剃須刀噪音太大，那款糖果太甜，某款硅膠小豬佩奇制冰盤又可能侵犯版權(quán)。薇婭對價格也很敏感。她手里拿著一個Zippo風(fēng)格的丁烷打火機(jī)，說道：“他們賣399，讓我們賣389，想都別想。去跟他們談，把價格壓到300以下。”

在中國競爭激烈的市場中，商品物美價廉還不足以突出重圍，更不用說大賺特賺了。新加坡歐洲工商管理學(xué)院商學(xué)院的社會心理學(xué)家安迪·葉表示，薇婭的節(jié)目展示了教科書級的銷售技巧。她親切、真誠，毫不做作。

薇婭之所以能做這么好，是因為她入行已久。她出生在安徽省，家里是做小買賣的。18歲時，她與當(dāng)時的男朋友、現(xiàn)在的丈夫董海峰在北京開了第一家店。他負(fù)責(zé)庫存和后勤，薇婭做服裝模特并進(jìn)行銷售。

但她渴望更大的舞臺，在2005年參加安徽省《超級偶像》電視真人秀，并奪得冠軍。之后，她擔(dān)任過一段時間的樂隊主唱。但最后，她還是選擇重操舊業(yè)。她和丈夫在西安開設(shè)了門店，而在2012年，他們將整個業(yè)務(wù)轉(zhuǎn)移到了網(wǎng)上。當(dāng)淘寶在2016年推出直播計劃時，薇婭就是第一批加入的員工。

對于薇婭而言，她的影響力建立在人氣之上，而她和她的團(tuán)隊也相應(yīng)地給觀眾帶來了福利。如果觀眾在直播彈幕里吐槽產(chǎn)品，薇婭會很注意，并經(jīng)常進(jìn)行處理。她的粉絲稱她為“哆啦薇婭”，認(rèn)為她就像動漫英雄哆啦A夢一樣能夠穿越時空、滿足人們的愿望。