Ask any young person in China if they know about Austin Li and the answer is most likely yes. With 19 million followers on TikTok, 1.7 million on Weibo and more than 1.6 million people watching him sell cosmetics on Taobao from his Shanghai studio every evening at 8pm, Li is perhaps the most famous livestreamer right now.
如果你问中国的一位年轻人他是否知道李佳琦,最有可能的回答是“知道”。他在抖音上有1900万粉丝,微博上有170万粉丝,每晚8点都有超过160万人观看他在上海工作室通过淘宝卖化妆品。李佳琦大概是现在最火的主播。

Who is Austin Li?
谁是李佳琦?

Lipstick King: The man who sells most lipsticks in China.
口红一哥:中国卖口红最多的男人。

Li was born in 1992 in Hunan province. After studying dance at university and selling L’Oréal cosmetics on the side, Li became a full-time livestreamer for Taobao in 2017 and his stardom has grown steadily ever since. Once, Li reportedly applied upwards of 380 lipsticks during a two-hour livestream session. Within 15 minutes, 15,000 tubes were sold. Speaking with a husky voice, Li is energetic, funny and unassuming. He’s also meticulously careful about his appearance.
1992年,李佳琦出生在湖南省。他大学学习舞蹈,做过欧莱雅的专柜顾问,2017年他成为了淘宝的一名全职主播,随后人气稳步上升。据称,李佳琦曾在2小时的直播过程中试了380支口红。15分钟之内,就卖出了15000支。李佳琦声音有些沙哑,但充满活力,有趣而平易近人。他还十分细致地保养自己的外表。

"Wearing an LV bag is not as good as wearing an Armani 400 lipstick for a girl. Why? The first thing a man sees in you is the color of your lipstick, not your bag," Li said on a livestreamed show, Sina News reported. 
据新浪新闻报道,李佳琦在一次直播上说:“对女孩子来说,拎LV包不如涂一支阿玛尼400的口红。为什么?因为男人第一眼看见的是你嘴唇的颜色,而不是你的包。”

Li once managed to sell 15,000 lipsticks in 15 minutes, he also set a Guinness World Record on September 6 by successfully putting on lipstick on four people in 30 seconds. On March 8, also called the Queen's Day in China, he closed 23,000 deals worth 3.53 million yuan ($508,668) in a five-and-a-half-hour livestream show viewed by 190,000 people. 
李佳奇曾经在15分钟内卖出了15000支口红,他还在9月6日创造了一项吉尼斯世界纪录,在30秒内成功给4个人涂了口红。在3月8日,也就是中国的“女王节”,他进行了五个半小时的直播,有190000观众,达成了价值353万人民币(508668美元)的交易额。

What made him stand out?
是什么使他如此突出?

'Haohaokan' (too pretty to look at) and 'OMG, your lips are a piece of art' may seem overdramatic, but they've become his trademark lines, showing his natural aptitude for entertainment and sales. He also seems to be impartial when it comes to recommendations, which can be hard to find in the current livestream landscape. If he’s not into a particular product, his blunt criticism of big brands helps convey the image of trustworthiness.
“好好看”和“天哪,你的嘴唇简直是艺术品”可能听起来有一些夸张,但这已经成为了他的标签,表现出他在娱乐和销售方面的天赋。当进行推荐时,他也显得非常公正,这在当下的直播界中是少有的。如果他不喜欢某个产品,他就对大品牌直言不讳地批评,这塑造了一个值得信赖的形象。

Finally, he seems to understand female consumers. Some have expressed a desire for fairer skin. Others want to mimic the lifestyles of the rich and famous. As a result, his broadcasts include lines like 'Girls with darker skin will look fairer if they use this shade,’ or ‘A certain celebrity uses this exact same lipstick.'
最重要的是,他能够理解女性消费者。有一些女性表现出了对白皙皮肤的渴望,还有一些想要模仿富豪名流的生活方式。因此,他在直播中会说出像“黑皮肤的女生用这种阴影也会显白。”或者“某一个明星就用了这种口红。”这样的话。

What does Austin Li's fame say about the future of livestream sales in China?
李佳琦的走红对中国未来的直播销售有什么启示?

Li has proven that he can turn viewers into buyers. According to the South China Morning Post, Taobao’s livestreaming platform has a conversion rate of 32 percent, an almost unheard of rate (a 2016 study by Grapevine put the average influencer conversion rate at just 2.6 percent in the US).
李佳琦证明了他能够把观众转变为消费者。据南华早报称,淘宝直播平台的转化率为32%,这几乎是前所未有的(在葡萄藤2016年的研究中,美国网络红人的平均转化率仅为2.6%)。

Technode also recently reported that Tencent has grand plans to expand livestream business Taobao Live this year, with goals to push annual sales north of 1 billion RMB, and will provide professional training for 1,000 livestreamers across multiple platforms and product categories. Looks like we can safely say there are plenty more Austin Li's on the way.
TechNode最近还报道说,腾讯计划今年扩大淘宝直播的业务,目标是将年销售额提高到10亿元以上,并将为1000名不同平台和产品类别的直播人员提供专业培训。看来我们可以放心地说,未来还会有很多的“李佳琦”。