He's known as 'Lipstick Brother' in China
In a pandemic, Li Jiaqi, sold $1.9 billion in goods on the first day of Alibaba’s annual shopping festival in August 2020
He tries on various makeup products on his show, ranging from brands from top companies including Sheshiedo Co lotions and Apple Air pods - though there's no make up connection there!
It's not as if he has an unusual format.
The sales are more than what some profitable retail chains in the US would sell in an entire year.
He earned fame by starting off with 'lipstick marathons' - applying several brands of lipstick over several hours. Naturally, he's a Guinness Record holder for applying the largest number of lipstick options in 30 seconds!
Starting off in sales at a L'Oréal store, he developed his own unique style of describing beauty products. That lead to his trying out livestreams which got progressively popular, and he built up a huge following.
For the moment, he seems to have escaped the government's drive against 'effeminate men' The sheer volume of sales he generates on a single day is hard to replicate.
As dialog writers in Indian films have known for long, a single popular catchphrase becomes legendary and builds recognition.
Li's catchphrase is 'OMG sisters, buy this!' Now, that may not be seen as particularly creative but there's no doubt that it works.
On average, he makes about $10-20 million per month.
Making a personal connection with millions of women
And leaving a trail of luscious, glowing and smiling lips.
Which billion-dollar pool should you play in?
If you haven't heard of Anker, you will.
They started out making chargers for mobile phones.
Now, that's not a market entrepreneurs would enter instinctively. But Steven Yang, the founder and CEO saw the long-term potential of a fragmented market that would grow steadily over time.
Apple has now stopped including chargers with new phones. So has Samsung. And the EU has mandated USB-C chargers as a standard. That expands the market for third party chargers exponentially.
Anker has excelled at increasing charging power while reducing the size. They bet on Gallium Nitride which keeps the size small and multiple devices can be charged at the same time.
And they identified the pool they would play in.
Not in mobile phones, which is close to $500 billion annually and the largest product market.
The next is laptops and PCs, which is a $200 billion market.
Then come the tablets which are at $60-70 billion annually.
Followed by smart watches and headphones which make up a growing $40 billion market
So, the markets diminish to 10% of the size of the biggest ones in just a few steps.
But there are a lot of $3-5 billion dollar pools which will grow in future.
That's a great way to understand where the company's strengths lie.
And the options available there are truly widespread.
Plus the realisation that the company's structure is built to generate revenue from the smaller growing pools, not the monolithic ones.
That's the kind of clarity that helps companies and decide where they can play their best game and succeed.
It gives Anker pole status in the smaller categories - and that is a great place to be.
In a goldrush, sell mats
Yoga is getting traction worldwide.
From recommendations by doctors to expensive Yoga studios, it is growing exponentially not just in the US but China and Australia as well.
One of the biggest signs of it becoming a worldwide phenomenon is the number of variations that have been invented.
Superstar gurus wanted their auras to glow brighter and establish their own gravy train of followers.
Like Starbucks has multiple flavours, there's now Kundalini, Hatha Yoga, Restorative Yoga and the controversial Bikram Yoga which has even got its own scandalous Netflix special.
When a movement becomes a gold rush, there's another indicator of success.
The growth of accessories like Yoga mats.
They come in a striking array of colours, materials including thermoplastic elastomers, apart from the basic woven grass mats.
But that does not align with upscale settings.
So, the mats have evolved as well to meet the luxury needs of patrons, who don't want to rest their finely toned bodies on commonplace mats.
As a result, the accessories market in Yoga is taking off faster than the search for salvation.
Like Gucci and YSL totes being carried around, there needs to be a category appropriate brand to flash your Yoga credentials.
And brands have understood that this can be milked for a couple of decades, at least.
The Yoga mat market is projected to grow to $17 billion worldwide by 2025.
Even while proponents and disciples stretch, swivel and contort gracefully, it becomes another thing to talk about on the cocktail and fitness circuit.
The flavour of Yoga, the pedigree of the teacher and the branch of Yoga being practiced.
The pursuit of calm has become a mint!
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