Viewers in China snap up $30m of NZ goods
China’s top livestreaming celebrity Viya generated close to $30 million in sales of New Zealand product in four-and-a-half hours on Friday evening.
Viya, a livestreamer on internet giant Alibaba’s online shopping website Taobao, holds a record of selling $66m of product in a day.
On Friday, during a livestream from Auckland that started at midnight (8pm China time), Viya facilitated the sale of tens of millions of products from more than 40 New Zealand and Australian brands to her fans. Close to 10 million Chinese consumers watched the livestream and collectively spent ¥134 million ($29.6m).
Viya is considered a key opinion leader and has nearly 6.5 million followers on Taobao, ranging from teens to those in their 50s — most of them ready buyers. It is reported her followers will buy whatever she recommends without reading about the product.
Products Viya promotes often sell out in seconds.
The livestream, which took place from her Remuera hotel room, featured an alpaca and live haka at one point. She showcased product mostly from New Zealand brands, including Trilogy, Wild Ferns, Linden Leaves, The Collection, as well as product from Vogel’s, Douglas, Luxerose Cocktails, and Ukiwi. Product included honey, dairy, skin care and cereals.
Viya facilitated the sale of 120,000 pots of Richora UMF 10+ Manuka Honey worth $3.4m, and 230,000 packs of the Auckland-based honey producer’s throat lozenges worth about $200,000. She also facilitated the sale of 125,000 tubs of Australian dairy company Maxigenes’ milk powder worth $2.5m and $1m worth of Royal Fibre alpaca-fur duvets.
Other top-selling items included a BB cream from GeoSkincare, and an Australian Lanolin oil moisturiser.
Viya’s team visited New Zealand about a month ago to visit factories to decide on what products she would feature and negotiate “special prices” for her audience, a spokeswoman from Viya’s team said.
She said many Kiwi brands couldn’t participate because they did not have enough stock to facilitate the millions of transactions that were booked through the livestreams.
Viya has a net worth of US$30m, and last year generated sales of $2.7b from her livestreams on Taobao.
Viya told the Herald she chose to visit New Zealand and hold a livestream here, as she, like many Chinese people, loved Kiwi products.