From studios to streets: Chinese livestreamers chase sales in Seoul

Tourists walk past a cosmetics store in central Seoul's Myeong-dong shopping district, April 10. Reuters-Yonhap

The streets of Myeong-dong in Seoul are still calm at 9 a.m., untouched by the day’s rush — except for a group of livestreamers already busy talking to their viewers.

They are not street performers, as one might expect in a busy commercial district. Instead, a group of three stands beside a small cart, showcasing hats and jackets in front of a smartphone mounted on a tripod.

“This hat model was newly released in early April, and I’m the only one selling it online,” one of them, who gave her name as Yi, said. “Now, if you comment ‘1’ in the livestream, I’ll prioritize your order and make sure it’s shipped through a faster delivery service.”

Yi is a Chinese reseller living in Seoul. She and her team primarily source hats and clothing from MLB, a brand popular among Chinese consumers, in Korea, and then sell the items to customers in China through livestreams on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok.

Reselling has long been entrenched in China, driven by a growing middle class in the nation seeking overseas goods. It is not illegal in China as long as the sellers report to customs and pay duties appropriately.

To promote their businesses, resellers have increasingly turned to short videos rather than traditional social media posts in recent years. And now, they are bringing livestream selling to Korea, replicating a model that has already proven successful in China.

Having worked for two years as a livestreamer, Yi initially broadcast from a decorated indoor studio, like many others in the industry. But after finding that Douyin was more likely to promote streams recorded outdoors, she and her team moved outside two months ago.

“Traffic and sales have improved significantly compared to before,” Yi said, “roughly 1.5 to two times higher."

Although MLB has official sales channels in China, Yi said her team’s edge is price. By sourcing in Korea and buying in bulk, they sell at Korean retail prices with only the exchange rate added, which makes the products cheaper than those sold on China's e-commerce platforms.

For example, a coat she sells on her channel costs about 700 yuan ($102.67), compared with around 1,000 yuan for a similar design at MLB’s Taobao flagship store.

Livestreaming has become a major channel for product promotion in China, building on the country’s already widespread e-commerce culture. The model began gaining traction around 2016 when platforms introduced livestreaming features, and surged during the COVID-19 pandemic when consumers were unable to shop in person.

Staffers sort parcels at a branch of China Post in Yangzhou, east China's Jiangsu province, in this drone photo taken Nov. 10, 2025. E-commerce and logistics companies across China were working at full capacity during the annual "Double Eleven" shopping festival. Xinhua-Yonhap

In 2025, nearly one-third of the country's e-commerce sales were from livestreaming channels, totaling 5 trillion yuan in gross merchandise volume, according to research led by China's State Administration for Market Regulation.

Recognizing its potential, some local governments — particularly in rural areas — encourage farmers to sell their own products through livestreaming to promote local agricultural products.

A defining feature of livestream selling is its time-limited nature: Customers can only purchase certain products at discounted prices during the broadcast. This creates a sense of urgency, keeping viewers engaged and prompting immediate purchases.

The sales model is effective because it creates a seamless shopping experience. As soon as the host introduces a product and sparks interest, the sales team drops the purchase link — often at a discount — and viewers are encouraged to buy immediately before items sell out, Ding Ying, a marketing professor at Renmin University of China, said in an interview with Chinese media.

Beyond Korean clothing, K-beauty is another popular category, with some livestreamers broadcasting directly from Olive Young stores. On Xiaohongshu, a major Chinese social media platform known for beauty, fashion and lifestyle content, some sellers stream for hours every day to market these items, many of which are not readily available in China.

Unlike Yi, who appears on camera, these resellers typically film the store aisles and products, showcasing items on request and offering recommendations based on viewers’ needs. Once a purchase is made through the platform, the reseller adds the item to a cart during the livestream and ships it to China later.

Livestream channels on Xiaohongshu where resellers sell Olive Young products / Captured from Xiaohongshu

Liao Xinyi, an office worker in Beijing, once purchased a face mask through a livestream like this. She said it had been difficult to find a reseller she could trust, but when she came across the channel on Xiaohongshu, she felt she had finally found a reliable one.

“It’s hard to tell whether a reseller is selling authentic products based on posts alone, and I don’t want to take risks when it comes to skin care,” Liao said. “But during a livestream, I can see her adding the exact items I want to the cart — how could that not be authentic?"

However, livestreaming is not officially permitted by Olive Young, according to a company official, except in a limited number of stores and for select influencers working through its China entity.

Yi also noted that outdoor live-commerce streaming is still uncommon in Korea, and passersby sometimes report her team to local management, causing disruptions.

“If possible, we would prefer to stream indoors, as the environment is more comfortable,” she said. “Outdoor streaming is unpredictable and can be very cold in winter. But going indoors means less traffic and, ultimately, fewer sales — so we don’t have much choice.”

Alice Li is a reporter with the South China Morning Post. She is currently based in Seoul, writing for both The Korea Times and the South China Morning Post under an exchange program.