Selling down jackets by weight has become a hot topic on the Internet. These merchants are "going crazy", but have they made money?

Clothes can also be sold by weight? This article interviewed two anchors who sell goods by weight in the recent popular live broadcast room. We deeply understand the reasons for the emergence of "selling by weight", the motivation of merchants to sell by weight, and perhaps the most concerned question: Can "selling by weight" really make money? If you are hesitant about low-priced live broadcast sales, why not take a look together.

Tang Ling is an e-commerce anchor. She took out an electronic scale and weighed a handbag, an underarm bag, a small handbag, and a small brown backpack. After she weighed the four bags like she was selling vegetables at a market, another anchor next to her shouted, "Four bags, weighing 2.7 kilograms, add a 3-kilogram link in the background!"

On the background board of the live broadcast room, in addition to the screen full of bags, there is also a conspicuous slogan: "Save advertising money! Offer really low prices! Bags are sold by pound!"

The live broadcast room once topped the sales charts. "The number of people online increased nearly 10 times, and the number of viewers for the entire live broadcast reached 946,000." Tang Ling was stunned by the rising number of viewers.

This is the first time that Tang Ling's store has sold bags live by "weighing pounds". 39.9 yuan can buy a bag weighing 3 pounds, which adds up to about 3 or 4 bags, and the average price of one bag may be less than 10 yuan.

Within two days after the live broadcast ended, Tang Ling's store sold a total of 2 million yuan worth of bags. "It is difficult to estimate how much this live broadcast has contributed to the overall sales, but the real-time number of online users and the amount of interaction are several times higher than usual."

Yuan Haiyang, who sells men's clothing, tried to sell clothes by weight in his live broadcast room in late October. After tasting the sweetness for the first time, he enjoyed it and continued to do several "selling by weight" special shows. At the peak, the number of viewers was twice that of the daily live broadcast. With more people watching the fun, the speed of fans increasing much faster than before.

01 Clothes are now sold by weight

Live streaming sales always brings us surprises in unimaginable ways.

In the past, the products we most often bought by kilogram were snacks, vegetables and fruits on the shelves. It is hard to imagine that one day on Taobao live broadcast, even clothes and bags can be bought by kilogram.

On the evening of October 30, in the live broadcast room of Ocean Select Men's Wear, the anchor started introducing the clothes directly at his workstation, and a few big words were written on the display screen next to him: "Hot-selling down jackets sold by pound." There was also an electronic scale next to it, which was quite impressive.

The number of people online in the live broadcast room continued to grow, and the number of viewers reached 70,000, twice the usual number. During the four-hour live broadcast, Yuan Haiyang sold more than 20,000 yuan worth of clothes, including down jackets sold by weight and regular clothes.

This is not the first time that Yuan Haiyang has sold clothes by weight through live streaming.

In June last year, Yuan Haiyang started selling men's clothing on Taobao Live. In the first three months, each live broadcast only brought in three to five orders. As the live broadcast time increased, the number of viewers in his live broadcast room gradually reached 30,000 to 40,000 this year, and the average transaction volume of a live broadcast remained at around 10,000 yuan.

But Yuan Haiyang sometimes finds the conventional live broadcast boring. He often watches how others sell clothes on short video platforms and what new tricks others have in their live broadcasts.

In October this year, Yuan Haiyang saw a live broadcast on a short video platform. The background was a warehouse-style shelf filled with clothes, just like the bulk biscuits in the supermarket that need to be weighed. He suddenly had an idea, "Can clothes also be sold by weight? This will also give consumers a feeling that it is relatively cheap."

In the past, his logic for selecting products for live broadcasts was to use 80% seasonal clothes and 20% off-season clothes. Off-season clothes were relatively cheap, and he sold them to fans at low prices as a benefit. This summer, he found a batch of down jackets leftovers, and on the evening of October 27, he tried to sell them by kilogram on Taobao Live.

The novel live broadcast format has an immediate effect. Yuan Haiyang clearly felt that there were more people in the live broadcast room, the interactive data also increased, and the anchors were visibly happier. "Suddenly, there were more people chatting with the anchors, and selling goods was not so boring anymore."

In the next few days, Yuan Haiyang tried the live broadcast method of selling by weight several times in a row. The number of spectators at the peak period reached 30,000 to 40,000, nearly twice the usual number. As a result, the store accumulated a lot of new fans.

02 “Selling by weight” is popular?

On October 30, Tang Ling prepared the first "by-pound" live broadcast. She also announced on Weibo, "Which store is the best by-pound? Look for 'KaKa' for bags on Double 11." Unlike Yuan Haiyang, she did not sell the remaining inventory by-pound, but directly used the regular-priced bags she usually sells.

Normally, the bags in Tang Ling's store cost about 30 or 40 yuan each. On the day of the live broadcast of trying to sell by kilogram, Tang Ling would take out more than a dozen bags every hour or so and sell them by kilogram. "39.9 yuan can buy 3 kilograms, which is about 3-4 bags. 59.9 yuan can buy 5 kilograms, which is about 5-6 bags."

"A small pink vegetable basket, a white tote, a khaki bucket bag, and a small mobile phone bag, with a total weight of 2.4 kilograms. A 3-kilogram link is added in the background. 4 bags are 39.9 yuan, 10 yuan each, and sisters who want them can just go and buy them." The "selling by kilogram" every hour lasts about 15 minutes. Every time this happens, Tang Ling sees that the number of viewers in the live broadcast room is increasing rapidly. "The real-time online number has remained at more than 2,000, nearly 10 times the usual number. The final number of viewers reached 946,000."

Fans were all exclaiming "The anchor is crazy!", and the interactive comments in the message area kept coming, "It's so cheap, it's fake", "It's so exaggerated, it's too curly", "I want to know what the quality is like", "It's too crazy to sell it by kilogram, let's try our best", "What are you waiting for, give me 5 kilograms".

On that day, the live broadcast lasted nearly 5 hours, and nearly 3,000 bags were sold in total.

03 What exactly can you earn from “selling by weight”?

When asked whether selling by weight can make money, Tang Ling and Yuan Haiyang basically denied it, but at the same time they both said, "In the future, I still want to try the live broadcast method of selling by weight more often. It is really useful for increasing the number of viewers and fans."

"I have done several live broadcasts where I sold products by weight, but I made almost no money. I can only say that I broke even. The cost price of down jackets is not low to begin with," said Yuan Haiyang.

When he set the price, he also had his considerations. The down jackets that were bought from the market in the summer were not expensive. When he weighed the weight live, Yuan Haiyang did not leave himself any profit margin, "2 catties down jacket sold for 98 yuan."

A thin down jacket weighs about 1 kilogram. In Yuan Haiyang's live broadcast room, this type of down jacket sells for about 100 yuan. But when it is sold by kilogram, it only costs less than 50 yuan. He fixed the price at this point, which not only ensured that he would not lose money, but also made his fans feel that it was affordable.

For Yuan Haiyang, the tail goods and inventory in his hands are not for making money. Whether it is off-season sales or "selling by weight", in his opinion, they are all good marketing methods. "The number of viewers of live broadcasts has indeed increased recently. Compared with the past, it has doubled on average. The number of viewers and the amount of interaction are higher than usual, which is also conducive to the accumulation of fans for the store."

On the other hand, the live broadcast method of "selling by kilogram" is actually a powerful means of "clearing inventory". What clothing merchants are most worried about is inventory backlog, which will not only bring pressure on warehouse rental, but also drag down cash flow - the longer the time is delayed, the longer the clothing cannot be sold, and the price can only be lowered, which will greatly compress the profit margin, affect subsequent new product plans, and even cause losses.

For consumers, the live broadcast method of selling by weight is not only a way to watch the fun, but also a way to get a bargain. Someone commented in a video of selling by weight, "What's the difference between a bag that costs 9.9 and one that is given away for free?"

Tang Ling felt the magic of "selling by weight" and wants to try it again next time. However, she will do her homework carefully and set the prices and products well, "so as not to lose money again."

At the same time, live broadcast rooms selling shoes and pajamas by weight emerged, and "selling by weight" became the traffic code for this Double 11.

Nowadays, consumers pay more and more attention to the affordability of products, are keen to get bargains, and implement frugality in every order. If this kind of cheap goods sold by weight are just outdated in style, but the quality and quality can be guaranteed and the price is cheap, it may be a good thing for price-sensitive consumers to buy them.

Author: Cheng Rumeng; Editor: Zheng Yawen

WeChat Official Account: Seller