Top Chinese fashion blogger Gogoboi launches luxury boutique on WeChat
Blog now, buy now: Gogoboi's WeChat boutique, called Bu Da Jing Xuan, sells a curated selection of luxury goods
A recent collaboration between Thomas Ye Shi, aka Gogoboi, and a number of Western luxury e-commerce sites and department stores may offer a clue. Last week, Gogoboi announced the official launch of his WeChat boutique, called “Bu Da Jing Xuan (不大精选)”, on his WeChat account. This is not the first time that he has turned the app into a mobile store. Business of Fashion reported that Gogoboi sold lifestyle products, such as Gucci fragrances and Keecie bags, to his followers in the past.
The new boutique that will sell a curated selection of luxury goods, however, creates a new business model that is different from Gogoboi’s previous partnerships with a variety of monobrands. The blogger said in a statement that all of the products on his Bu Da Jing Xuan WeChat store would come from international luxury e-commerce retailers including Yoox, Net-A-Porter, Farfetch, Revolve, Mytheresa.com, and SSENSE, as well as department stores such as Harrods and Luisa Via Roma.
As China’s top fashion blogger on Weibo according to an Exane BNP Paribas ranking, Gogoboi built up his fame with his harsh and acerbic comments on Chinese celebrities’ fashion tastes and luxury apparel. His sharp personality, which is deemed as candid and humorous by many Chinese online users, has helped him quickly gain a significant following on both Weibo and WeChat. This has led many prestigious luxury brands, such as Louis Vuitton and Fendi, to come to him to form partnerships in recent years, which in turn, boosted his popularity further among the luxury and fashion circles.
Gogoboi has more than 7 million followers on Weibo and the viewership of his posts on WeChat can exceed 100,000 on average. The blogging style of Gogoboi has changed significantly as he has become more famous and developed closer relationships with brands. He is now much less harsh than he was before.
On WeChat, his posts embrace a wide range of topics to cater to different interests and tastes of readers, which include fashion trends, popular luxury items, mix-and-match tips as well as celebrity gossip. As an opinion leader in this field, luxury items that get mentioned and recommended by Gogoboi have great potential to become the most coveted products among Chinese affluent consumers.
As a result, the new WeChat boutique that supports a “see now, buy now” model is a smart way for international luxury e-commerce retailers to connect with wealthy consumers directly. As readers go through Gogoboi’s articles on WeChat, they can directly place an order for the items they like. The mobile store also promises customer service from 8 am to midnight everyday. To celebrate the launch, consumers currently can get a 15 percent discount on Yoox products.