With 670,000 followers in one month, the Zibo duck head guy started to sell goods

This article starts from the changes in the popularity of Zibo tourism and analyzes how different Zibo people respond to and utilize this wave of traffic. It shows a microcosm of how to realize the popularity by following the story of the duck head boy. The arrival of regional traffic has given Zibo people new opportunities. When the traffic fades, they are also trying to find new ways to continue to play the role of the "Zibo" label. Recommended for friends who want to understand the regional traffic realization and how merchants respond.

"We are no longer fighting for money, but for the honor of Zibo."

In March this year, a group of college students went to Zibo to barbecue and became a hot topic on the Internet. Countless Zibo people did not eat barbecue to "give way" to tourists from other places, paid attention to their words and deeds, and spontaneously went to the station to give tourists local specialties. Merchants also stepped up their efforts, not raising prices or taking holidays, and maintained the hard-earned attention with enthusiastic and simple performances.

In the context of the Internet, traffic means competitiveness and also means profit. The industrial city of Zibo experienced the sweetness of traffic for the first time. Its 4.7 million local people carefully wrote Zibo's traffic story together.

When abundant traffic falls on individuals, different people have different choices.

Some people take a Buddhist approach to business and continue to live their lives, adding fuel to Zibo's popularity, while others take advantage of the traffic and explore more possibilities.

Tourists accidentally discovered an old man riding a tricycle and selling mung bean cakes. The old man updated his location on the social platform every day, but the old man remained "Buddhist". He sold a cart of mung bean cakes every day and went home after selling out all the cakes in 20 minutes. The young man selling duck heads in the Badaju Market started a short video business after being influenced by the tourists' short videos. He attracted 670,000 fans in a month and also started live streaming online to sell goods. He sold 1 million yuan in his first live streaming show.

After the May Day holiday, traffic in Zibo began to return to normal, and the individuals who carried the traffic and made up the overall traffic in Zibo began to tell different stories. Although the choices were different, each individual still could not do without the label of "Zibo".

1. Duck Head Brother’s first live broadcast, not selling duck heads

The real name of Duck Head Boy is Yi Yang. The sudden influx of traffic once forced him to suspend his business, but now, he has begun to actively use the traffic in Zibo and started his own live broadcast to sell goods.

From May 18th to May 21st, Brother Yatou conducted a total of three live broadcasts to sell goods. The first time was in cooperation with Langsha, the second time was to sell his own duck heads, and the third time was a combination of the two, preparing for long-term live streaming of goods.

The first live broadcast of Yatou Xiaoge was in cooperation with a merchant and started on time at 9:00 am on May 18.

The first time that Duck Head Brother, who became famous for selling duck products, sold goods, he did not sell snacks and fresh food. The 64 SKUs sold during the live broadcast were basically shoes, clothing and household items, but fans still paid for them - according to data from Chanmama, the live broadcast on May 18 lasted eight and a half hours, and the sales of goods sold through the live broadcast reached 1 million to 2.5 million yuan.

Brother Yatou also showed his appointment letter as "Langsha Brand Promotion Officer" in the live broadcast room, and he even went to the brand headquarters in Jinhua, Zhejiang for this live broadcast.

But compared to the anchor, Duck Head Brother was more like a "mascot" in the first live broadcast. The product explanation was all done by the female anchor and assistants in the live broadcast room. From time to time, Duck Head Brother said a few words on the side, showed his talents, or put on clothes to act as a model in the live broadcast room.

The second live broadcast of selling goods was held in Shandong on May 19. The only product sold was a duck product priced at 49.9 yuan per 600 grams, which came from Duck Head Brother’s own shop "Yiya Brother Food Store".

The layout of the live broadcast room was rough, but after returning to the home court, Duckhead brother behaved more naturally and casually in the live broadcast room, and actively interacted with the fans in the live broadcast room. The account for this live broadcast chose the account of Duckhead brother's younger brother. A fan of Duckhead brother told "E-commerce Online" that this was because Duckhead brother's live broadcast settings were not perfect enough, and this live broadcast was more like a "test". "When the new content can be released stably in the future, I will often broadcast on my own account."

There was not much stock for this live broadcast and it was sold out as soon as it was put on the shelves. Many fans complained that the inventory was too small. Gray Pig data showed that Yatou Xiaodi's sales in the past 7 days were over 20,000 yuan.

The third live broadcast was on Duckhead’s own account, which brought together the products from the first two live broadcasts. But it was more like a “product selection meeting”. Duckhead counted the fans’ needs during the live broadcast and prepared for the long-term promotion of products in the future: “You have to choose what you need. Wangzai (the fans’ nickname for Duckhead) doesn’t know what is good, so you just choose what you want.”

Although the locations and categories of goods sold are different, every live broadcast of Yatou Brother is still inseparable from the label of "Zibo". When explaining the products, he will "take advantage" of Zibo's popularity from time to time. Fans and viewers also asked in the live broadcast room "When will you sell Zibo specialties?"

2. Start a company, sell goods through live streaming, and accelerate monetization

A local netizen from Zibo told E-Commerce Online that now every pot of duck in Brother Yatou’s shop can be sold out in less than half an hour. "He will be in the store less often, and when he is sold out, he will close the door to prevent congestion. Some netizens have asked before whether the store is closed, but in fact it is sold out."

When offline sales reach their peak and he has sufficient online traffic, monetizing the traffic by bringing goods to customers may be the next entrepreneurial direction for Brother Yatou.

On the Internet, if you search for Duck Head Brother's real name "Yi Yang" on Qichacha, you can find out that "Shandong Yiya Xiaoge Food Co., Ltd." was established on May 5. The company's main shareholders are Zhu Rencai and Gong Bin. Zhu Rencai is Duck Head Brother's childhood friend. Duck Head Brother himself also appears among the main personnel as the financial director. Another shareholder, Gong Bin, also has a "Shandong Tangyuan Culture Media Co., Ltd." under his name.

The two companies, one of which provides Internet live streaming services, and the other provides Internet food sales. From the sudden popularity on April 22 to the establishment of the relevant company on May 5, Duck Head Brother had already aimed at monetizing live streaming sales within 14 days.

Born in 1999, Duck Head Brother has repeatedly stated that he is a "young entrepreneur" and is worried about the turnover of his duck shop. He said that many people watch but "only look and don't buy", resulting in his lowest turnover in the entire street. "180,000 people flocked to that street, and I sold the least in the entire street. 6,000 is my daily turnover."

After suddenly taking over the traffic, Brother Yatou has been managing his Douyin account carefully. He not only posted talent videos, but also helped families looking for their relatives and promoted Yiyuan's cultural tourism, and did charity work. He quickly attracted nearly 670,000 fans in one month, and also monetized the traffic through live broadcast rewards. His childhood friends, younger brother and others have also opened Douyin accounts, posting content related to Brother Yatou to attract traffic.

However, judging from the three basic elements of e-commerce, namely "people, goods and places", Brother Yatou's live streaming sales are still quite insufficient.

The first is "people". From several live broadcasts of selling goods, it can be seen that Brother Yatou's team is mainly composed of relatives and friends. Brother Yatou himself is also very unfamiliar with live broadcasting and often finds himself in an awkward situation of being unable to speak. Many viewers also asked in the live broadcast room to "talk more about the products".

The second is the "goods". In addition to the direct supply of Langsha Group, "E-commerce Online" observed that some of the so-called welfare products in the live broadcast room were actually not discounted: the welfare products sold at 9.9 yuan in the live broadcast room, after clicking on the link, you will find that the daily price is also 9.9 yuan.

The duck products that were subsequently sold through live streaming were outsourced to Qingdao Lu Se Lu Xiang Food Co., Ltd. This company not only provides OEM services, but also offers cold chain delivery and other services. Currently, Brother Duck Head still relies on the OEM supply chain, and his bargaining power is not strong, so it is difficult for him to get a more advantageous price.

Finally, on the "field" of the live broadcast, Brother Yatou used the Langsha live broadcast room for his live broadcast on May 18, and the overall setting was more complete. However, the live broadcast room for selling goods on May 19 was not perfect, and the picture quality of the live broadcast was a bit rough. Compared with the green screen, scene and other settings of other professional anchors, it seemed less professional.

If he wants to convert traffic through live streaming, Brother Yatou needs to continue to dig deeper into "people, goods, and places".

3. Zibo’s post-traffic story, heading in different directions

After May Day, traffic in Zibo began to return to normal.

The WeChat Index shows that Zibo reached its traffic peak on April 30. Although the popularity has fluctuated since then, it has shown an overall downward trend. On May 18, when Brother Yatou brought goods, the overall popularity index dropped by 28.73%.

In the past 7 days, Duckhead has lost more followers than he gained.

The traffic has returned, but Zibo has already established itself as a tourist destination, and the "battle of honor" of 4.7 million people has been won.

The main reason why Duckhead Brother is accelerating his online monetization is that the popularity of Zibo is slowly fading. As the popularity of Zibo fades, Duckhead Brother's popularity is also declining. In the past 7 days, he gained 2,828 fans and lost 6,437 fans, with the loss of fans far exceeding the gain.

The "entrepreneur" Duck Head needs to seize this wave of traffic and complete his online transformation. He is also a microcosm of merchants in Zibo's traffic. From passively accepting traffic at the beginning to actively using traffic to start live streaming, putting duck products on the shelves, communicating with fans about their needs, and later planning to sell Shandong agricultural products, all of these are more in line with Duck Head's personality and are more likely to be accepted by fans and audiences attracted by "Zibo".

Some Zibo pancake shops and pastry shops have also opened online stores to sell their products online. Some Zibo specialty purchasing agents have delivered Zibo delicacies to all parts of the country through social platforms and second-hand trading platforms. Merchants have "gone online" and have new publicity and sales channels.

Wang Bin, a barbecue oven merchant, once "did not have enough barbecue ovens to sell" during the barbecue craze in Zibo. Now he feels the decrease in orders. He told E-Commerce Online that this wave of traffic in Zibo has enabled him to improve the quality of his barbecue ovens. "This wave of traffic in Zibo has led to the emergence of many barbecue oven manufacturers. Our competitive pressure has increased. Now we are competing with other manufacturers in design and quality. We cannot damage the reputation of Zibo barbecue."

In contrast, there are "Buddhist" merchants. Ye Zi, who drives Didi part-time in Zibo, has also felt the decrease in tourists in Zibo and suspended his Didi side job. "I drove Didi before to create a friendly image for Zibo and make a little money for myself. Now that there are fewer tourists, I won't compete with professional drivers for business."

When traffic falls on individuals, each individual makes different choices under the traffic.

Some people live their own lives and become part of the traffic, while others choose to accelerate monetization and explore more possibilities in the traffic.

The popularity of the Internet is fleeting. After the traffic in Zibo fades, the merchants that were once in the traffic also need to think about the path after the traffic, either monetizing the traffic or digging deep into quality to attract consumers. Merchants are trying hard to seize this wave of traffic, but they still cannot do without the "Zibo" label behind them.

The tide is slowly receding, but there are still more possibilities for Zibo’s traffic story.

Author: Shen Songnan

Source: WeChat official account: "E-commerce Online (ID: dianshangmj)"