In fact, after three years of doing them she still wonders why 2,000 or 3,000 viewers tune in daily to watch her scale fish and clean shrimp.
The 36-year-old seafood vendor at Trai Bo Market in Bien Hoa City, Dong Nai Province, says one of them even drew 20,000 viewers.
“They don’t just watch for a moment; they follow my fish-selling live stream for eight to nine hours.”
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Hai Anh operates a TikTok channel for live-streaming fish sales, boasting nearly 300,000 followers. Photo courtesy of Hai Anh |
Anh and her husband set up their market stall in 2014. Occasionally, when business was slow, she would turn on her phone to live stream and chat with strangers to pass time.
Over time she noticed that her sales had improved, more new customers began to visit her stall and loyal patrons messaged her to ask for the new address even when she had to relocate one time.
Anh’s live streams not only increased traffic to her stall but also caused her online sales to shoot up as, impressed by the affordable price of her fresh seafood, viewers began placing orders through her streams.
Now online sales account for half her revenues.
On average she and her husband now sell around 100 kilograms of seafood daily—double their previous volume.
Her social media presence has also flourished, amassing over 297,000 followers and 6.1 million likes.
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Le Quoc Truong runs a TikTok channel with 295,000 followers and 63.7 million likes, where he live-streams the sale of banana fritters. Photo courtesy of Truong |
Le Quoc Truong, a deep-fried banana vendor, boasts a TikTok account with 295,000 followers and 63.7 million likes, which amazes many people.
“All of this is thanks to my two daily live streams, where I simply show myself frying bananas,” the 33-year-old vendor says.
“I have reached these numbers over three years.”
Like Anh, Truong did not intend to use live streams to boost sales. One day, while minding the stall for his wife on Truong Cong Dinh Street in Soc Trang City’s District 2, he tied his phone to a pole and began streaming himself frying bananas and chatting with viewers for fun.
“I did not expect so many people to watch my streams, and so I continued doing so,” he says.
Now he streams twice daily for three to five hours, attracting an average of 1.5 million views each time.
Before starting the streams his stall sold about 100 fried bananas daily, mostly to local customers. Since he gained online fame sales have risen to 300 a day, and on busy days he even has to tell customers to come back the next day.
He has also expanded his business, selling deep-fried bananas and batter for customers living far away. At first only a few people ordered, but now he sells 100 kilograms of batter daily.
A video of Hai Anh selling fish attracts 15 million views on social media
Anh and Truong are among many small vendors who have unexpectedly risen to fame by live streaming their daily work on social media.
Unlike professional sellers or influencers, most of these vendors stumbled upon live streaming without realizing they were part of “shoppertainment,” a booming new trend.
The term “shoppertainment,” a portmanteau of “shopper” and “entertainment,” first appeared in 1993 but gained recognition in 2016 when international e-commerce operator Lazada popularized interactive live stream selling.
A 2024 report by Accenture and TikTok highlights “shoppertainment” as a driver of e-commerce growth and predicts it will uncover US$1 trillion in value in the Asia-Pacific market by 2025.
In Vietnam, hundreds of small vendors ranging from market sellers and chicken farm owners to night eel fishers are using their social media accounts to live stream, VnExpress surveys have found.
These people rarely sell their products directly but share their daily work, and locals visit their stalls or place orders via phone to buy from them.
According to Vu Dieu Thuy, CEO of Kolin Academy and a live stream training expert, the authenticity and community connection of these vendors’ live streams are key to their popularity.
She says viewers are becoming tired of overly staged content and aggressive sales tactics, and so live streams showing raw and unedited daily life make them feel relatable and pique people’s curiosity.
The candid camera showing the vendors in their unguarded moments often adds charm to these live streams, making them more engaging. “All these elements combined have made market stalls’ live streaming a preferred content trend on social platforms,” Thuy says.
Associate Professor Do Minh Cuong, deputy director of the Institute of Business Culture, Vietnam Association for Enterprise Culture Development, believes that daily live streams are effective marketing methods for small vendors. “Turning ordinary work into art while weaving in personal branding is a smart way to boost business.”
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Kim Chi, 37, from Binh Tan District, HCMC, draws foreign customers to her duck stall through live streaming, as of December 2024. Photo courtesy of Chi |
Many vendors like Kim Chi, a roasted duck seller in HCMC, have also enhanced their skills to attract more viewers and expand their customer base.
With her charming personality and fluency in English and Chinese, Chi’s live streams draw a global audience. Many international viewers living in or visiting HCMC visit her stall out of curiosity.
The 37-year-old woman from Ben Tre Province has been selling roasted ducks in HCMC for 12 years. In the past her shop mainly served regular customers, but everything changed when she started live streaming, with her stall’s popularity soaring and sales nearly doubling.
She says: “Fame has made me more stringent about product quality. Social media has truly helped small businesses like ours thrive.”
