The Chinese blogger who turns his readers into money

High-quality products, powerful advertising and a name who is a symbol of luxury are not always enough to increase sales of a brand. In particular now that sale experiences are ever more fragmented and individual, and channels of promotion can be as viral as dispersive, then ineffective. So, today it's not a news that fashion brands ask for help from specific figures who can guide new possible clients to particular products and so influence sales positively. It Girls, Influencers and Bloggers are now a daily occurrence for a brand and many of them are very popular. Maybe, you missed Tao Liang, the guy who has the power to decide the fate of the luxury Chinese market. 24-years-old and Beijing-based, Tao Liang is the highest authority on bags in China (it's no coincidence that he's called "Mr. Bags") with his blog who has become a reference point for readers who want to be kept informed about the last trends, but also for luxury brands who collaborate with hem to increase their power online and then their sales. 

Tao Liang's superpower is to be able to turn readers and bag-lovers into real buyers in few minutes. His secret weapons are 2.7 millions readers on Weibo, the most important social platform in China, and more than 600.000 followers on WeChat, but also an extensive knowledge of fashion who transformed Tao Liang into a guru of It Bags. The mediatic and communicative power of the blogger has been noticed by some of the most important brand like Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Bergdorf Goodman and Givenchy, with which he teamed up to launch the limited edition pink "Horizon" bag on Valentine's Day – the 80 available bags sold out instantaneously, each priced at $1.270. But how did his success rise?
After the degree at the Columbia University in New York, in 2010 Tao Liang started to build his little online empire on platform Ren Ren, the "Chinese Facebook". His first post with hundreds shares was a list of some trendy, but cheap bags, and at that moment he realized that it could be the key to success.

"Sometimes I would research all day, from morning to night, just to research the release date for a particular bag", Tao Liang explained during an interview with The Business of Fashion, adding “My readers are everything. I’m a reader myself, so I know what they want and need. Frankly, there are hundreds and thousands of shopping maniacs who love to buy handbags, but they need to work and raise children [and] they don’t have time to research and decide which bag is worth buying, what are the latest designs and where best to purchase them. I provide them with such advice".

Today, Tao Liang is one of the most influential fashion bloggers in China, his articles on WeChat are read by hundreds and hundreds of readers, and he can boast clients like Fendi, Céline, Gucci, Stella McCartney and Louis Vuitton, with which he teams up to create online sales strategies targeted to their fans, including simple shopping advice or capsule collections in collaboration with the brands.
It's a very lucrative business not only for his clients, but also for him, who refuses to show his annual income, but it's not hard to image it. Moreover, the blogger has some long-term collaboration with selected companies who pay him with a flat fee. Well, a very profitable full-time job. And this is just the beginning since Tao Liang opened the new blog "Mr. Heels", focused on shoes and it has already 320.000 readers on Weibo. Other plans for the future? The blogger dreams to launch his own Made-in-China high-quality accessories brand. And I think he could do it.