A live broadcast earned over a million yuan, has manicure become the latest code for wealth?

Doing nail art through live streaming seems like a good track. But when too many people rush in and live streaming falls into the red ocean of competition, only a few can successfully escape.

"The nails are so long and inlaid with diamonds, how do you type?" Dong Yuhui, who was once criticized on hot searches for his overly masculine remarks when commenting on manicures, probably didn't expect that the highlight moment of the nail industry would come so soon.

Not long ago, the story of "selling nail polish for three years and buying a 4 million yuan Bentley" refreshed many people's cognition. While the outside world was shocked that such a big business could be hidden on a small fingernail, it also caused deeper confusion for another wave of people who saw this business opportunity and wanted to get rich by selling nail polish.

In fact, looking at the most mainstream consumption format, namely live streaming, it is not difficult to find that wearable nails are indeed a preferred product that can reach thousands of beauty-loving women. At present, there are few live streaming rooms for a certain category of products that can be so segmented: there are not only the effects display and sales of various nail tools such as nail polish, nail lamps, stickers, alloys, but also wearable nail products such as missing codes and high-end products are put on the shelves of the small yellow car, and there are also personal nail studios that use live streaming technology to attract customers and receive large customized orders...

Whether it is an agent or wholesale, as long as you contact the merchants at the source of the supply chain, you can follow the trend and do this business. Under the premise that live streaming is caught in the red ocean competition, starting with new consumer categories and standing out through differentiated competition may be a good way out, but "novice middlemen" have no future.

1. The nail industry is in a frenzy thanks to live streaming

Lin Xi, a nail art enthusiast, first got a glimpse of nail art from a live broadcast of a nail art studio she often watched. As an individual player, Lin Xi has not systematically learned nail art techniques, and usually practices her skills through technical sharing on various channels. "I often watch the live broadcasts of those selling materials, which will show how to use the things they sell, and the performance and effects are very intuitive."

One day, the anchor suddenly sold a promotional product for 9.9 yuan. It was a medium-length wearable nail in a blush style, with only the base color and no accessories. After listening to the anchor's introduction of its advantages such as "easy to wear", "saving time and effort", "reusable" and "cheap", Lin Xi placed an order with the mentality of "give it a try, it's not a loss at this price".

After the arrival, Lin Xi tried it on and found that not only was the quality and materials of this wearable nail very ordinary, but even the jelly glue that came with the order could not make it fit perfectly. It was easy to fall off when shaving hair. "And I read related posts that some people got infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa because water got into the space between the nail cap and the nail plate because the nail was not glued firmly enough." In short, Lin Xi thought that the wearable nail at that time was useless. "I threw it away after wearing it for a day or two. Just take it as a lesson."

It was not until the emergence of wearable nail stickers that required a baking lamp that Lin Xi felt that the name of "manicure substitute" became well-deserved. "Now it is really convenient. After sticking it in place and baking it under the lamp, it can last for at least half a month. This frequency is actually similar to doing regular nails." For Lin Xi, although the first experience of wearable nails was a failure, it may be because it was only an early stage product of wearable nails. "Maybe it is mainly for people to feel the gameplay. You can imagine that the price cannot be too good. Now it costs dozens of yuan to buy a solid color model in a nail art store."

Nowadays, she particularly likes various heavy-duty wearable armors that are slightly more expensive. "You get what you pay for with wearable armor. A high price does not necessarily mean you can buy good ones, but good ones are definitely not cheap."

"I can only do basic styles at home, such as applying a solid color or gradient. If you want to make a real style, you still have to go to a nail salon. However, this kind of demand depends on the skills of the nail artist. If you are unlucky, it is easy to fail. In addition, it is very expensive. Not only is the labor fee of the nail artist expensive, but the price of these accessories is not cheap either. Sometimes a pair of hands can cost three or four hundred yuan." It was not until Lin Xi really got into the art of nail art that the pressure on his wallet was greatly reduced. "No matter how heavy the nail art is, the price is less than half of similar styles in offline stores."

With the rise of live broadcasts of various wearable armor products, more and more consumers like Lin Xi have begun to pay attention to this new consumer product. On short video platforms, you can see that many live broadcasts related to wearable armor are broadcast every day by searching for keywords. It is reported that "some people can make hundreds of thousands of yuan in a live broadcast, and even millions of yuan in a live broadcast during the peak season."

There are many live broadcast rooms for wearing armor

In addition to pure product display to attract consumers to place orders, Lin Xi noticed that there are also live broadcast rooms combined with blind bags, which are easier to attract traffic. "It is to put the nail art in an opaque bag. When placing an order, you are asked to select the size and guess the color. If you guess the color of the stickers in the bag correctly, you can open an extra bag. The price is basically 30 to 41 yuan per order, and you can open one or several pairs. It looks novel and exciting."

2. “Making money without doing anything” is just a scam, relying on luck is the norm

Since the consumer market is already booming, there must be someone who can make money from the entire chain from the source of goods to the consumer end. For example, the "post-90s" entrepreneur who was previously exposed as "entering the industry for three years, with an initial investment of several hundred thousand yuan, and finally won a Bentley worth 4 million yuan."

Zinc Scale found that many people wanted to take advantage of this consumption boom. This is inseparable from the recommendations of various wearable nail factories on the Internet platform: "Are there any girls willing to run a wearable nail studio? I will give you 2,000 yuan a week." "Low-cost entrepreneurial model, make small money without pressure, and easily start a sideline business." "It's easy to get started without showing your face, you have free time, and you can do it at home." In the comment area, there are all kinds of "seeking to be promoted" messages, including users who describe themselves as mothers and unemployed people, and their attitudes are eager.

Following the guidance of these posts, Zinc Scale contacted several wearable armor source factories, intending to learn from them what this latest "business opportunity" was all about.

"To put it simply, you can use the materials we provide to make videos to promote your account, and then open a store to sell goods when the number of fans reaches the standard for live streaming." According to one of the supply chain merchants, there are actually two optional modes for cooperation, namely agency and wholesale. "For example, if you wholesale our goods for live streaming, you will reduce costs and stock up, after all, you need to see the real thing. The agent is to guide customers to WeChat, confirm the order and ship it uniformly from my side, so you don't need to stock up personally."

Even if you do a good job of attracting traffic, you can even recruit agents as your own source of goods. "This is how it is done now. It is not cost-effective to invest a lot of money." When you start live streaming, you have to prepare to open a Douyin store, with a deposit starting from 2,000 yuan, and then you have to stock up on goods for live streaming, which immediately increases the cost."

Another source merchant pushed a small program to sell goods to Zinc Scale. The merchant told Zinc Scale that the retail price of the source of goods can be viewed through this small program. The cooperation mode is also an agency model that includes drop shipping and training materials, as well as a wholesale model that can enjoy wholesale prices when ordering more than ten pairs. "For wholesale, just select the style and add it to the shopping cart and forward it to me. I will calculate the account and change the price in the background before placing the order. For being an agent, just follow the method we summarize. The teacher will send you the materials we summarize, and you can start to make it according to the materials. If you encounter problems, you can ask the teacher, who can provide one-on-one guidance."

However, as for the price difference that players can earn, after repeated questioning by Zinc Scale, the merchant said something a little unconfident, "In fact, no matter what project you do, there are good and bad ones. Sometimes attracting customers still depends on luck."

3. Industry reshuffle, those who enter the market again may be squeezed out

"In the second half of this year, live streaming will definitely be a must." Li Wei, who owns a small wearable armor production factory, believes that he must follow this wave of popularity. "Before, our factory supplied goods to online stores, but 30% of the profits went to the anchors, and our own supply chain could only get about 15%, so it was very difficult."

Li Wei recently held several live broadcasts, one to get more familiar with the operation mode of live broadcast, and the other to find some new partners. "As long as you have the ability and want to enter the 29.9 yuan track, come and talk to me. I will make an exclusive link for you and the commission is negotiable. 20% is just the starting point. As long as it can bring me growth, the commission can be adjusted upwards."

In Li Wei's opinion, the best way for newcomers to do live broadcasts of wearable armor is to pass the goods (the anchor displays the product, asks the customers who like it to reply with the corresponding product number to confirm the ownership, and then allows the customers to place an order through an exclusive link). "This does not require too much rhetoric, control and operation." However, Li Wei also mentioned that this may involve the problem of stockpiling. "The specific transaction volume depends on the customer attributes of your live broadcast room and your aesthetics of product selection, including the maintenance of the account in the early stage. You see, even I have to deeply understand and learn before I start live broadcasting. So it's always right for newcomers to be a little more cautious when doing live broadcasting."

"Now the latest model is to open blind boxes. The traffic is very high by comparison. Even new accounts seem to have very good online data." From the perspective of after-sales, Li Wei feels that the wearable armor blind box also avoids a lot of subsequent troubles. "Basically, the blind box live broadcast room stipulates that the goods cannot be returned or exchanged after opening. Of course, this is definitely in conflict with the platform's 'seven-day no-reason return' system. If customers want to return the goods, they can still return them. However, it is betting that some people will place an order only because they find it troublesome or acquiesce to the rules of the live broadcast room. Even if it encounters a forced return of the order, it can also blacklist the customer. After all, such customers are not in its target customer group."

Wearable Armor Blind Box

Combined with Li Wei's sharing, from what Zinc Scale has learned, compared to the new anchors who blindly rush in when they see the popularity, the source factory may be the established role waiting for profit sharing . With the supply of wearable armor products, taking advantage of the current continuously expanding market scale and the increasing popularity of live broadcasts, they can not only cooperate with major anchors to clear inventory, but also personally participate in live broadcasts to sell goods to reduce circulation costs.

As for those "novice middlemen" who enter the market with real money, it is certain that only a few can successfully escape.

A live streamer who joined the scene in March and left in May wrote in her Xiaohongshu record post: "I was full of confidence at the beginning, but then I was slapped in the face by reality. There was no one watching the scene, and I was just talking to myself. I spoke for 2 hours and no one came in. I don’t know if it’s a problem with my account or something else. I also went to various live broadcast rooms to listen to classes, but in the end, the more I listened, the more confused I became."

Under this sharing post, a large number of replies also reflect that other novice anchors are also facing the test of traffic, but it is so difficult just to create an account, not to mention how to convert traffic into sales later.

As the live streaming industry as a whole enters a red ocean of competition, the traffic dividend of live streaming e-commerce is gradually fading. When a new hit product is seen by more and more people, it is undeniable that some people will benefit from it. However, everything is just as the saying that has been circulating on the Internet for a long time, "When you find an industry that is newly popular, ordinary people should not think about making money from it, because those who entered the market before you have already started to roll in at this time."

Author: Meng Huiyuan, Editor: Chen Dengxin

Source public account: Zinc Scale (ID: znkedu), focusing on original in-depth reports on technology and the new Internet economy.