Livestreaming sales reach for the heights

The only son of a bank clerk and a math teacher, at college he developed an interest in makeup, including it in his course for a folk dance major.

But after graduating, it seemed more natural for him to become a shop assistant for cosmetics brand Maybelline, rather than take up dancing.

In 2016, as part of parent company L'Oreal's efforts to integrate offline and online business, Li Jiaqi became one of the first shop assistants to sell makeup products both over the counter and through livestreaming.

Last year, he took part in more than 380 livestreaming sales. In addition, video clips of him articulately and enthusiastically promoting lipsticks through livestreaming have gone viral on many social networks.

While Li Jiaqi is now often introduced on Taobao as the second top livestreaming broadcaster by annual sales revenue, after singer turned broadcaster Wei Ya, he said he fears he may lose his influence.

In an interview with the business magazine China Entrepreneur, Wei, 33, said she thinks Li Jiaqi is more influential than she is.

Livestreaming combined with e-commerce began to take off in 2016, mainly on Taobao, the country's largest e-commerce platform. Last year, it said sales generated from more than 60,000 livestream broadcasts each day reached 100 billion yuan, a fourfold year-on-year increase.

"If I stop doing livestreaming for just one day, my followers are likely to be attracted to any of the tens of thousands of other such broadcasts," Li Jiaqi said.