Bougainvillea nach Tibet verkaufen: Kleine Händler auf der Quick-Hand E-Commerce-Plattform und ihr langsam anlaufendes Geschäft
Among Yang Zhihua's fans on Kuaishou, there is a loyal customer who has already placed over 7,000 orders.
If we assume two items per order, he has bought over 10,000 bougainvilleas from Yang Zhihua. The average order value is about ten euros. There may be four to five hundred varieties, and he buys them individually and continues his business year after year.
Yang Zhihua is a native of Yunnan and the owner of the Kuaishou business "Lili's Bougainvillea Plantation". Seven or eight years ago, this company was still a traditional nursery business that supplied real - estate companies with plants for greening. Today, the annual sales on Kuaishou exceed ten million euros, which is the highest amount on the entire platform. About 70 to 80 percent of the customers come from northern China. In cities covered with snow in winter, a bougainvillea for about ten euros is an excellent home decoration.
This is not a story of a "traffic miracle". In the community of small and medium - sized merchants on Kuaishou - Commerce, similar growth processes are silently taking place in different industries, just at different speeds.
A retired man from northern China shares his daily plant - growing experiences in his greenhouse on Kuaishou and sells imported amaryllis flowers. In the peak season, he achieves a monthly sales of over 500,000 yuan. A couple from Hubei who moved to Yunnan achieves a monthly sales of 300,000 yuan with succulents. A young man who has been working with Xiangyunsha (a traditional Chinese fabric) for years has built a group of loyal customers on Kuaishou who "only wear Xiangyunsha". Then he began to expand his business globally.
What they have in common is that they are not very large, only have small teams, and are not necessarily internet natives themselves, but all have found a sustainable growth strategy based on trust relationships on Kuaishou - Commerce.
In an era when e - commerce, especially live - stream commerce, has entered the stage of a stock market, these examples of "small and resilient" merchants can answer a question that the industry is interested in: Are there still real growth opportunities for small and medium - sized merchants on the platform?
Successful businesses with different backgrounds have the same starting point
Yang Zhihua remembers that when he decided to engage in e - commerce around 2017, the voices around him were unanimous. His family was firmly against it and finally only reluctantly agreed to "invest a little and give it a try". His business colleagues were even more direct: "You're crazy. You have too much money."
Two real problems made him make the decision. The company had mainly dealt with plants for greening before, but the payment process was extremely slow. "Every day we sold a lot of plants and trees, but every Chinese New Year was like a vicious circle. We spent the whole day looking for debtors." At the same time, his other business, a clothing store, was undermined by e - commerce. Customers would come to the store, try on the clothes, choose the colors, and then place an order online. "We became a large fitting area."
The start of the transformation was extremely difficult. First, he opened a Taobao store, but couldn't achieve high sales. Later, live - streaming on Kuaishou emerged, and the team decided to give it a try. The first hurdle was that no one was willing to appear in front of the camera. So Yang Zhihua had to introduce a rule: Those who didn't appear in front of the camera had to pay a fine. His wife Lili was pushed onto the stage as a live - streamer, and he took on the role of the photographer.
One can imagine the early live - streams. The speakers would use standard phrases, suddenly switch to the local dialect, and sometimes end the live - stream by saying: "I'm not doing this anymore." "It was really a strenuous journey because no one had any experience with this new thing."
The turning point was in the product category. Bougainvilleas grow everywhere in Yunnan, but for customers from the north, they are a "novelty that blooms even in winter". The team published videos about plant growth from October to April every year. This contrast was the best marketing tool. Customers from Shandong, Hebei, Liaoning, and even from Gansu and Ningxia flocked in.
Yang Zhihua told a story that he remembers best. An official from Chengdu who worked in Tibet built a three - story plastic greenhouse at an altitude of over 4,000 meters in the Ali region and installed heaters just to grow bougainvilleas. The plants were sent from Yunnan and took over a month to arrive. On the day the flowers bloomed, all the herders in the village came to see. "Because they had never seen it before."
"In the past, our business was limited to the areas around Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan, within a radius of five to six hundred kilometers. Now, a Kuaishou store also has customers from Tibet." Today, some of his former colleagues who called him "crazy" back then have closed their nurseries and sold the trees as firewood, while others had to switch to another industry. In contrast, he has built hundreds of thousands of fans, a team of over 40 people, and a group of loyal customers on Kuaishou for whom plant - growing has become a lifestyle.
This is not an isolated case. Xiao Feng from Liaoning was previously engaged in food e - commerce, but the business was not successful and was shut down. In 2024, his father retired and began to publish videos about plant - growing on Kuaishou and do live - streams in his free time. "In the afternoon, he had nothing to do, so he did a live - stream to see if anyone wanted to chat with him."
At first, there were only five or six people in the live - stream. But the father has a likeable northern Chinese personality and can convey plant - care knowledge well. So more and more viewers came, and at peak times, thousands of people were online. When the number of fans increased to 30,000 to 40,000, Xiao Feng saw the opportunity. He helped his father plan short videos that "got millions of views" and contacted importers from Holland and South Africa to secure the supply source. In April 2024, they officially started selling, and now they achieve a monthly sales of over 500,000 yuan in the peak season.
Li Jun of Tangdou Succulents took a different path. In 2020, she came from Hubei to Yunnan and learned from her sister how to sell succulents in the online business. At that time, the succulent market was still a niche, but consumers were fascinated by the colorful succulents in the videos and were willing to place orders. The conversion rate was good.
In 2024, Li Jun and her husband opened their own Kuaishou account. The platform provided them with support in generating traffic at the beginning. Now they achieve a monthly sales of over 300,000 yuan in the peak season. They do six to eight hours of live - streams every day and have almost no breaks throughout the year. Most of the fans come from the three northeastern provinces, and the age ranges from 30 to 60 years old. The repeat - purchase rate is very high. "If someone has placed an order and is satisfied, they will also order other varieties."
Her husband is responsible for product selection and delivery, and she appears in front of the camera for the live - streams. A couple who moved from another province to Yunnan has built a small business on Kuaishou with a niche product category.
The basic concept of Kuaishou - Commerce: The trust - based business of small and medium - sized merchants
The repeat - purchase data of Lili's Bougainvillea is amazing: Apart from the extreme case of the customer with 7,000 orders, many old customers have also placed hundreds or thousands of orders. The average order value is about ten euros, and there are hundreds of varieties. Customers try a new variety each time, and over time, the number of orders becomes very high. "A long - term business cannot be based on fraud."
The biggest trust problem in flower e - commerce is transportation damage. When plants are sent from Yunnan to northern China, the transportation takes several days, and it is almost inevitable that the plants will lose leaves and flowers. Lili's Bougainvillea offers a "life guarantee". If the plant dies within 30 days, it will be replaced for free or the money will be refunded. "We keep this promise, and that's why we have won some old customers. If the word - of - mouth is good, they will also recommend us to others."
The ability to keep this promise is based on quality control on its own plantation. From cultivation, pruning, fertilization to packaging and shipping, the entire process is self - controlled.
Even the customer service consists of fans. A flower lover named Xiao Li from Yichang, Hubei, was initially just a buyer. Because he has a lot of plant knowledge, he was invited by Yang Zhihua to work as a customer - service employee. Xiao Li can better understand the needs of flower lovers and is therefore more convincing. He has now worked in this team for seven or eight years and has become a core member.
The way Xiao Feng's father builds trust is different. Xiao Feng only sells imported flower bulbs and strictly avoids domestic bulbs. "I have also bought and sold domestic bulbs, but I don't want to do it anymore." Imported bulbs have an established classification system, and the quality is more reliable. So there are very few returns in their business. Xiao Feng sums up his sales strategy in two words: honesty.
In contrast to flower merchants who are "groping in the dark", Dayangzi, the founder of Cheng Sijin, has brought complete experiences. He started in the industry at the age of 19 and worked in a traditional Chinese clothing factory in live - stream e - commerce. At the end of 2022, he founded his own company.
His confidence comes from the old fans he has built in the past seven or eight years. Nowadays, these fans buy almost everything he offers. This trust - based relationship, which is similar to a "neighborhood pub", was his most important asset in the start - up phase.
Of course, there were also setbacks. When he started in winter, it was the off - season. Dayangzi tried to improve the situation with inventory, but almost lost many old customers. He remembers clearly: The buyers who came because of the low price were not the same as the previous high - quality customers. "When it comes to the value of design and processing, they don't understand. They only look at whether it is beautiful and cheap." The price strategy did not lead to higher sales but made the old customers who valued quality think that "the product is no longer good". The trust was gone, and the customers left.
He quickly changed course. Based on high - quality materials, he chose double processing costs to maintain the quality. If you keep getting better, others will recognize it. "Since then, he has not changed his position. He only offers products made of silk and Xiangyunsha and pursues a high - quality strategy.
With quality, you win repeat customers, and repeat customers replace advertising investments. This is directly reflected in the data. The actual delivery rate of Dayangzi's business is more than four times that of his competitors. This is also remarkable in the high - end women's clothing industry, where prices often amount to several hundred or thousands of yuan.
The user profiles of these examples overlap greatly. Most of the customers come from northern China, are older, and are mostly female. The data of Lili's Bougainvillea shows that the regions with the most fans are, in order, Shandong, Hebei, Liaoning, Tianjin, and Beijing. 80 percent of Dayangzi's fans on Kuaishou are over 50 years old. "Most of them are well - educated women who really enjoy life."
Providing service for this group requires extra patience. Lili's Bougainvillea has special requirements in training live - streamers and customer - service staff. Older users may not be able to clearly express what they want and have different levels of understanding. Sometimes they can't find access to customer service in the live - stream session when prompted. "Only when the customer service takes the initiative to contact can you get in touch with them."
These seemingly "cumbersome" service details precisely form the competitive advantages. The age structure of Kuaishou users provides a natural foundation for these product categories that require patience, expertise, and long - term trust.
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