---
title: "Blind Faith in Influencer Livestream Selling Is a Disease That Needs a Cure"
description: "The article critiques the hype around influencer livestream selling, arguing that while top influencers can drive sales, most others fail, and the real key is product quality and price, not the influencer. It warns against blind faith in this model and explains the underlying dynamics for all parties involved."
author: "半佛仙人"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2019-11-01"
categories: "Brand Marketing"
language: "en"
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markdown: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/blind-faith-in-influencer-livestream-selling-is-a-disease-that-needs-a-c-10241533.md"
original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/3THuz1skMqv4pTd6_Qx0Rw"
translation: "https://xinjignxiao.com/zh/articles/%E8%BF%B7%E4%BF%A1%E7%BD%91%E7%BA%A2%E5%B8%A6%E8%B4%A7%E6%98%AF%E4%B8%80%E7%A7%8D%E7%97%85-%E5%BE%97%E6%B2%BB-10241533.md"
attribution: "New Distribution — https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/blind-faith-in-influencer-livestream-selling-is-a-disease-that-needs-a-c-10241533/"
citation: "半佛仙人. “Blind Faith in Influencer Livestream Selling Is a Disease That Needs a Cure.” New Distribution, 2019-11-01. https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/blind-faith-in-influencer-livestream-selling-is-a-disease-that-needs-a-c-10241533/"
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---

# Blind Faith in Influencer Livestream Selling Is a Disease That Needs a Cure

> The article critiques the hype around influencer livestream selling, arguing that while top influencers can drive sales, most others fail, and the real key is product quality and price, not the influencer. It warns against blind faith in this model and explains the underlying dynamics for all parties involved.

**-01-**
What business model is the hottest in the entire internet industry this year?
Influencer livestream selling.
Various wild influencers who rely on livestreaming are sweating profusely in their broadcast rooms, crazily promoting products, while the audience, as if possessed, frantically buy, and then all sorts of amazing data spread at incredible speed and in incredible ways.
Selling tens of millions in X minutes, a single livestream with sales exceeding 100 million, all kinds of astonishing numbers stimulate the clients' prostates.
Not to mention the clients, even I was scared to the point of peeing my pants.
Moreover, the film and television industry hasn't been doing well overall in the past two years, and various has-been stars who can't find work have also joined the selling army.
Stars and influencers competing to sell goods is a kind of dimensionality reduction competition, truly surreal.
For a time, various selling anchors and celebrity anchors' fame spread across the internet circle, and clients who were struggling with how to invest finally found a little new inspiration.
**If you're not doing influencer livestream selling this year, you've been sold off at a discount by the times.**
Interestingly, although the model of influencer livestream selling is no different in form from the TV shopping of the past, it's being touted as something new and a new trend.
Humans really are unprogressive.
Strictly speaking, I actually miss the old days of the Eight Hearts Eight Arrows and the Ross Denton watches; they were truly creative, even with various brainy mini-scripts, full of sincerity. To this day, I miss the look of President Hou crying and saying, 'There really aren't many left, don't buy them.'
How powerful was that advertisement?
So powerful that the young masters of the Furong Street socialite circle on Quancheng Road in Jinan never wore Rolex or Vacheron Constantin again, because they couldn't bear everyone's admiring looks for their Ross Denton.
Of course, if it were now, we'd probably all want to tattoo Ross Denton on our bodies; magical deconstructionism is deadly.
After watching the TV shopping of the past, and then looking at today's influencer livestreams, it's really awkward; the hype isn't natural at all, and a single 'OMG' is used for everything.
I can only say that internet users are getting worse with each generation. I suggest going to Bilibili to review the devilish performances of the TV shopping gurus of the past, and you'll see what real aggressive selling is.

**-02-**
**Although influencer selling has become a major trend, within the trend, there are always some discordant waves, as real as the world is fake.**
Especially recently, the selling circle has been a bit unsettled.
Various influencers and stars have encountered embarrassing mishaps on the selling path.
Some stars simply can't sell anything, becoming fakes.
When clients calculate the costs, tears fall; it's too tough.
Not being able to sell is a minor issue, after all, some products are indeed too silly.
Some stars and influencers have even taken selling straight into the gutter.
For example, selling crab vouchers but not shipping them, pioneering the selling capital pool scheme.
The silliest thing is someone bought these to give as gifts, but they never shipped, turning gift-giving into giving away heads.
There's also the non-stick pan that stuck on the spot. Can you give the influencer some face? OMG! CTMD! (This is an abbreviation of traditional virtues; don't think dirty.)
Looking at the sincere influencer, I think the problem must be with the egg; this egg must have been sent by a competitor, and inside isn't egg white but 502 glue.
Business competition is truly cruel! The world is really sinister.
Sometimes when I watch anchors hyping awkwardly, especially when they throw out piles of intimidating battle reports, I, as a data risk controller, laugh like a rooster. Sometimes I can't control the volume, causing friends around me to glance over with sidelong looks, and the scene is very tense.
These livestream selling events are really fun; if I don't watch for a day, I feel uncomfortable all over.
Of course, I'm not the only one feeling itchy; there are also clients who were fooled into investing randomly and then found their pants were gone, especially those selling IQ tax products; they simply can't sell.
Influencers never refund money once they've been paid, just like the after-sales service of silly products; everyone is the same.
Clients want to harvest leeks but find out they are the leeks; this life experience is indeed extraordinary.

**-03-**
Do you think I'm going to say livestream selling is a scam?
No, **livestream selling is not entirely a scam; the model itself exists**, although the data generally has some water, the statistical caliber is very vague, the return rate is a magical mystery, and the profit margin is like Sherlock Holmes's itch, but the selling ability of top anchors is not entirely a castle in the air.
The selling ability of top anchors has indeed stood the test of time. In March this year, at the fur festival, two top anchors together sold over 200 million yuan worth of fur. According to supply chain feedback, it was real. Although it was off-season discounting, the sales ability is indeed astonishing.
So do you think I'm advocating livestream selling?
No, I just think that apart from a very few top anchors (fewer than 30 including influencers and stars), the results for everyone else are hard to describe, and they are truly client killers.
Moreover, for selling, most people might have the cause and effect wrong.
In most people's eyes, the focus of livestream selling is those influencers and stars; the spotlight is on them, and they rely on their appeal to sell the goods.
But in reality, it's not; influencers and stars are just loudspeakers.
The real focus of selling is on the goods, not the people.
Livestream selling itself hasn't jumped out of the classic 4P theory framework in marketing; don't overthink it.
**4P refers to Product, Price, Place, and Promotion.**
Among these, the most important is the product.
**The first principle of marketing is that the product itself must be solid, and then the price must be attractive. Only when these two points are established do channel and promotion make sense.**
To put it bluntly, if the goods are good and cheap, no matter who sells them, they won't sell badly.
If the goods aren't great, then being cheap enough is also fine.
Take a close look at the bestsellers that various influencers bring, from lipstick to bedding sets to daily necessities to runaway crab vouchers; aren't the unit prices generally low?
High prices are a barrier to impulse buying.
If the goods are bad and expensive, no matter which star brings them, they won't sell.
If the goods aren't bad but are expensive, they also won't sell.
The price difference is the core competitiveness. Viya sold fur for 150 million yuan, with unit prices in the thousands, which sounds super impressive, but that corresponds to items averaging over 10,000 yuan.
The public has always been very rational; after all, in the internet age, there are so many choices.
**Blind faith in influencer selling is a disease that needs a cure.**

**-04-**
For a while, I was really addicted to watching various influencer selling livestreams, not because I liked them, but as someone who often does supply chain investigations, I like to dig into their secrets.
I especially like to take their recommended bestsellers and check the supply chain prices on 1688, and then feel a silly sense of superiority.
I have to admit, this is a very vulgar hobby, and I am a very vulgar person.
But even so, I still bought goods from several big influencers.
No other reason; they were really cheap.
Laundry detergent, tissues, various daily necessities, the prices were truly the lowest on the internet, and they are hard currency consumables. Although the anchors' scripts were silly, the product strength and price were OK, and I had needs, so why not buy?
Do I support the anchors? No, I'm just taking advantage for myself.
If another anchor could sell even cheaper, of course I'd buy from that other anchor; I only care about getting a bargain.
What do I care about the anchor?
The vast majority of viewers watching anchors have this mentality.
And the top anchors understand this very well.
So, to get viewers to spend money, their entire team is very professional in planning. Trust me, the teams of top anchors are more professional than the operations teams of most internet companies; sales are the ultimate test of ability.
First, they need to create a reason for viewers to spend money, which involves business scenarios. Why should viewers spend money?
Either they need it themselves, or they're buying for family, or they need it as a gift. Based on scenario breakdown, the anchor will customize and recommend a scenario to persuade everyone.
For example, many furs are actually sold because they're cheap and can be bought to honor parents and take out; the buyer isn't necessarily the user. Anchors understand user psychology very well.
Second, these products must make people feel they'll lose out if they don't buy. The price must be impactful, ideally the kind that scares your pants off when you see it.
How to make a product feel like a must-buy? Starting from the supply chain is the best way.
These professional selling anchors often use their influence to push the supply chain and create local advantages for themselves.
Top anchors have particularly demanding requirements for product selection. They rely on their traffic advantages to push the supply chain and clients. The product must sell well, be a necessity, have the lowest price, sign a price guarantee agreement, the potential customer base must perfectly match the persona, and the purchase reason must be simple, direct, clear, and withstand scrutiny; otherwise, they won't sell it.
If any link goes wrong, the product might not sell well.
Think about it: top anchor traffic + cheat-like products + carefully designed scenarios + user psychology analysis. When these are combined, it's no wonder they can achieve terrifying numbers.
This isn't the power of the anchor; it's the power of a complete set of event operations + supply chain management.
After getting the numbers, they use those numbers to build influence, generate more traffic, and then break their own records. This model of relying on the supply chain to create a positive cycle is indeed very interesting.
In essence, it's like a game streamer who has the strength of a king but plays against noobs every day. A master playing against noobs will naturally dominate and show off, and the audience will shout '666'.
So have you noticed that top anchors are now starting to transition to daily necessities? Because the unit price is low, the profit margin is high (in other words, clients have enough room to lower prices), there's strong demand, and there's value in stocking up (they'll be used up eventually).
**Influencer + cheap + hard currency is the core competitiveness.**
This is a typical example of taking the first two Ps of the 4P theory to the extreme.
**4P reduced to 2P, abbreviated as P2P.**
From now on, we can call them P2P practitioners.

**-05-**
Top anchors know how to use their influence to push the supply chain, and viewers know how to find bargains for themselves. So does that mean clients are the fools?
Not necessarily; clients have their own calculations.
First, many of the brands brought by various anchors are unheard of, even brands specially customized for influencers. The client's cost is essentially the raw material cost.
If you know a bit about the supply chain, you know that in manufacturing, if you exclude sales costs and only consider raw material costs, the cost is extremely low.
If you don't believe me, search for various daily necessities on 1688, and the prices will scare you.
So in reality, there's still a bit of profit margin, especially since many influencer brands are actually backed by a single supplier who can push costs down to unimaginable levels. Also, many clients sign anchors in a package deal, so the cost isn't that high.
Second, even if the goods themselves aren't very profitable, clients may still gain.
Clients are also covetous of influencers' traffic; they hope to pull that traffic to their own side. This is like the traffic-driving products in online stores; they can sell a single item cheaply or even at a loss, then make money from other items in the store.
If you count this customer acquisition as internet customer acquisition, you can actually earn it back from the traffic cost perspective. This is much more cost-effective than buying traffic on app stores, advertising on elevators, or handing out condoms at street stalls.
Next, do you know what's most important in business?
It's cash flow. As long as clients maintain a continuous cash flow and the scale keeps growing, then whether they make a profit or not isn't important. These rolling cash flows can keep growing bigger and bigger. Many e-commerce businesses aren't profitable, but with enough cash flow, they still thrive. Who said business must be profitable?
Of course, the crab voucher non-shipping is a case of leveraging cash flow to the point of breaking; I suggest not imitating that.
Finally, many clients are actually using influencers to clear inventory and sell off remaining stock.
Some goods that couldn't be sold anyway, or goods used to offset debts, or even expired items, have negligible costs. By using influencers to sell these, no matter how much money comes back, it's all profit.
These things are familiar in daily life: various 'about to be demolished, selling for only three days' sales and seasonal clothing clearance sales are all the same.
It's just that now it's moved online, using influencers to clear stock.
So do you know why the same product might be shipped from different places?
Because the inventory is stored in different places.
So influencer selling can also be called internet + livestream + TV shopping + silly demolition clearance.
Abbreviated as livestream demolition.

**-06-**
It seems this model is actually not bad, especially the point that it satisfies everyone, which is good.
But the problem is, resources are insufficient.
Top anchors consume more than 80% of the traffic and profits in this industry. They are indeed powerful, but most clients don't have the ability to cooperate with top anchors because top means picky. Those celebrity sellers are not as professional as these top anchors.
So celebrity selling often fails.
Honestly, apart from top anchors, other anchors who don't understand event operations and supply chain management can't sell much either. No matter what tier you are, when you come, you'll be educated by the world.
Moreover, people are never satisfied; whether it's MCNs or clients, everyone wants a bigger piece of the pie.
So, another method has emerged: the 'hip' (relative to 'head') anchors' dog-eat-dog behavior.
I like to call it eating the client and eating the party B.
The so-called eating the client refers to various livestream selling MCNs starting to fabricate data and anchors to complete cold start, allowing themselves to quickly enter the selling cycle.
First, they need anchors. They usually recruit college students under the guise of internships or part-time jobs.
Their pitch is often about turning students into influencers. Many naive female college students, upon hearing the chance to become influencers, don't even ask for internship pay; they just work.
MCNs will sign a bunch of students at once, then have them livestream from rental apartments. Initially, it's just chatting, then they try selling. They change batches every few months, mainly to test which young people have camera presence and are good at handling things, for secondary processing.
Secondary processing involves fabricating data for these young people, packaging the data to attract silly clients. If all goes well, in 3 to 6 months, they can produce a qualified selling anchor and enter a positive cycle.
Or if the cycle doesn't happen, it's fine; various silly clients are crowding into livestream selling, and collecting some IQ tax from them is also great.
This industry is so mixed that many clients don't even realize their own broken products have no competitiveness.
Especially clients with IQ tax products (remember the quantum menstrual patch?), who think they can rely on fake anchors to sell their fake goods. In reality, they're all sickles, and when they reach out, reality breaks their legs.
Of course, after being harvested, clients will post condemnations, and everyone ends up in chaos.
Although the methods hip anchors use to trick clients aren't complicated, and the industry chain for fake orders and data is now so sluggish they're discounting their services, many clients still blindly believe in influencer selling and end up being educated by the world.
After these rounds of IQ baptism, every client has a blacklist, but it's useless.
Even if they don't harvest silly clients, MCN companies don't lose, because they can use image flaws to trick female college students into getting plastic surgery, taking plastic surgery loans, and they can earn commissions from loan companies and kickbacks from plastic surgery hospitals. At worst, they owe wages, so they never lose.
After eating the clients, they eat the anchors, and they do both with dishonest hands.
In fact, because referring people to medical beauty loans and plastic surgery hospitals is so profitable, many MCNs that can't find work have transformed into pyramid scheme snakehead agencies.
Truly, everything eventually comes back to pyramid schemes.
Just like this surreal world.

Source: Half Buddha Immortal (ID: banfoSB)
Tips will be paid 400-2000 yuan once the tip is adopted.
**China FMCG + Internet Professional New Media**
**Committed to FMCG manufacturer transformation and channel digital solutions**
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## Citation metadata

- Publisher: New Distribution
- Author: 半佛仙人
- Published: 2019-11-01
- Canonical: https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/blind-faith-in-influencer-livestream-selling-is-a-disease-that-needs-a-c-10241533/
- Original source: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/3THuz1skMqv4pTd6_Qx0Rw

## Copyright and AI use

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