The audience in the live broadcast room trusts Lao Huang, not only because of his frank live broadcast style, but also because of his veteran status. No one has questioned this identity, and it is difficult for counterfeiters to casually report the code name of their troops, "People who have been soldiers know it as soon as they hear it." ”
Lao Huang, 41 years old this year, once served on duty on the snowy plateau, driving a military vehicle through the Qinghai-Tibet no-man's land; he also worked as an apprentice in The Fourth Society, a well-known "emerald town" in Guangdong, and lost 300,000 yuan of funds due to business mistakes.
Today, Lao Huang is already a partner of a well-known jadeite store, controlling the supply of the factory, and often chats with the audience in the live broadcast room.
He has witnessed the prosperity of the jadeite industry and caught up with the trend driven by Taobao live broadcasting. In the introduction of the old Huang Nan cavity and the northern tune, it is like a painting of life style that goes south and breaks into the north.
From the Snowy Plateau to the "Emerald Land"
Lao Huang, full name Huang Zhihong, once worked as a car soldier on the snowy plateau. He and his comrades-in-arms went to the Qinghai-Tibet line from Golmud to Lhasa all year round, and the mission was more than 20 days. Lack of oxygen is the most common symptom, and the more difficult emotion is homesickness.
Lao Huang said that sometimes everyone sang the popular "One Two Three Four Songs" in the army, and some people cried when they sang and sang.
In 2002, Lao Huang retired from the army, and his former comrades-in-arms also went to all walks of life. After running freight for more than a year, Lao Huang followed his wife into the jade industry, and the two processed and sold jadeite together.
In the next 20 years, Lao Huang's life will be spent in a city called "Sihui", a county-level city in Guangdong with a permanent population of only more than 500,000, but it has the largest jadeite processing base in China and even the world.
Old Yellow life photos
The most prestigious jadeite trading market here is called "Tianguang Market", covering an area of 30,000 square meters and open 24 hours, which originates from the decades of planning and layout of the industry and the local municipal government. In the 1990s, a merchant opened a jadeite factory in Sihui, but although it closed down due to poor management, it trained more than 200 workers who mastered the art of jadeite processing.
The people of Guangdong were full of thoughts, and this group of workers began to mine their own stone and process it for retail.
Merchants from Guangzhou saw that there were finished jadeite products here, so they received it and sold it all over the world. Gradually, merchants across the country heard of the name Sihui, and the place where jadeite was traded was moved from a corner of the market to an abandoned park.
Since the 21st century, jadeite has become a pillar industry in Sihui City. According to public information, the city's population engaged in the jadeite industry exceeds 100,000.
When he first came, Lao Huang was just as hairy as every newcomer: as an apprentice under the teacher Fu, the sword technique was getting better and better, and he felt that he could get out of the master, and the merchants in Guangzhou came and picked out all the apprentice's works and threw them away, and the rest were packed and bought.
Lao Huang couldn't avoid being scolded, "Wasting materials and wasting time, I must be scolded." ”
A year later, the hard and boring apprenticeship was finally over. Lao Huang opened his own factory to supply other jadeite shops. At that time, he also tried to catch up with the fledgling e-commerce trend and open his own Taobao store, but finally gave up due to poor operation.
By chance, Lao Huang, who set up a stall selling jadeite, met the Taobao shop owner "Treasurer", who was also a partner of Lao Huang's later "Taobao Beauty Charm Jade Shop".
The "treasurer" said to Lao Huang: I will take the goods from you, but you also need to provide me with high-definition photos of jadeite products, "Taobao store shelves to use." ”
Photographs were also needed to sell goods, which were unheard of at the time. Lao Huang had to work hard to seriously study taking pictures, and even bought a latest iPhone 6 at that time, and finally took a satisfactory product map. Their cooperative relationship has since stabilized, and after 3 years, the "cooperation" has further upgraded and become a "partnership".
Because a new species has emerged: live streaming.
Emerald Live Streaming
Lao Huang believes that live broadcasting is the general trend of the e-commerce process. "There are no more people now than before. People used to like to visit physical stores, and now people don't want to go out and can buy things at home. But things still have to be picked, or you have to look at the spot in the video. "All in all, live streaming is the trend.
But when live broadcasting was just emerging, not many people believed in the ability of live broadcasting to carry goods.
In 2016, Lao Huang set up his mobile phone in front of the stall and started his first live broadcast. He had no experience, and he lacked momentum, and it only took half an hour to finish hastily.
"Oh well, I sold one." Lao Huang smiled and showed off, "A customer from Ningbo." ”
But in the market of tens of thousands of people to eat crabs, the pressure is always heavy. The stall owners around him all looked at Lao Huang like a joke, and saw that his face was feverish and his heart was weak, "At that time, his face was thin, and he felt that he was laughing at me, so he didn't stick to it." ”
In 2016, Taobao Live was launched, and seeing the potential of this platform, Lao Huang proposed to the "treasurer" to make Taobao live broadcast.
The "Law of True Fragrance" was soon staged, and live broadcasting became the standard for every jadeite merchant. The introduction and shouting of goods in the Tianguang Market came and went, and it was transmitted to every potential buyer in Tiannanhaibei through the mobile phone screen.
A set of data released by the "Four Sessions Release" shows that the Four Sessions Jade Live Broadcast covers mainstream live broadcast platforms such as Taobao, and the relevant practitioners exceed 50,000 people.
In 2020, Lao Huang himself also went from the behind-the-scenes supplier to the front of the stage, responsible for taking care of the third branch of Meizhiyun Jade. At present, the monthly sales of the third store are 250,000-300,000 yuan, and the first store and the second store have set up a professional live broadcast team early, and the turnover of a single store is nearly 2 million. The sales of the three stores are tens of millions of yuan a year.
In addition to Taobao live broadcasting, Facebook live broadcasting is Lao Huang's side business. Overseas buyers of Beauty Jadeite are all over New Mattei, as well as Canada, where Chinese are gathered.
Win or lose, noble and ups and downs
I asked Lao Huang: "They all say that the jade industry has a deep water depth, have you ever been recruited?" ”
Lao Huang replied to me with a proverb: "I often walk by the river, where are the shoes that are not wet?" ”
There are countless counterfeiting processes in the jadeite industry, for example, Lao Huang has encountered many times "B material", that is, stone soaked with hydrochloric acid. This practice can cover up the impurities inside the jade, and even hide the sky and the sea, and deceive the eyes of some experts.
Even after nearly 20 years in the jadeite industry, Lao Huang still can't avoid "wet shoes": in 2020, he spent 1800 yuan to buy back a two-finger-sized Piece of Myanmar Mocui, which can be sold for at least 5,000 yuan after cutting and processing.
He thought he had picked up a big leak, until the polishing factory called, Lao Huang's heart sank: it was not MoCui, just an ordinary piece of domestic ink jade, and the market price was only one or two hundred yuan.
The jadeite industry has its own peculiarities, and even veterans who are proficient in this way will inevitably lose money.
From 2012 to 2014, Lao Huang lost nearly 300,000 yuan before and after, almost all of his wealth, in exchange for a bag of scrap piled up in the corner of the house.
Now, he concentrates on supplying the partner store, appears in the live broadcast room on time, introduces jade knowledge and products to the audience, and occasionally mentions his military career.
Old yellow live streaming with goods
The hand that only held the steering wheel at first, later held the carving knife, and now in the live broadcast room of thousands of people, the lines of jade are rubbed.
In the live broadcast room, Lao Huang believes in the business experience of "thin water and long flow" and "does not do a hammer deal." "On Taobao, he wants to use the trust he has gradually accumulated to open a new path in life. This is also the choice of many veterans.
Taobao once showed that more than 10,000 veterans started businesses on Taobao.