My aunt, who permanently stays in Japan with her grandson, can usually be seen on the couch in her living room, watching live streams on her beige-colored iPad. It’s not often I see her, yet that sight always brings a smile to my face. Her usual feed is populated by fruit and vegetable sellers, (she’s a health fanatic), dancing videos, and the like.
In China, the main method of buying pretty much anything is through this app called “TaoBao.” Every year when I visit China, I always splurge a little on TaoBao, buying all sorts of clothes or strange gadgets. On the app, there are live streams where vendors sell their products ot a watching audience. Typically, these live streams come with huge discounts that can hack off fifty percent of an item’s value. As such, they are massively popular in China. There’s this one livestreamer who can sell millions (in USD!) in a single day just from selling cheap products.
When TikTok started getting popular in China, live streaming also entered the American social media world of shopping as well. Just recently, I’ve noticed this huge increase in people selling items through streaming, especially on TikTok. It’s nice to see a little bit of home everywhere I go.