Dressing while talking: A livestream success story

Wearing a microphone and standing before her livestreaming camera and lights, Xu Xiaomi speaks faster than normal. The 26-year-old is able to introduce every detail of a dress as she puts on it to show potential buyers how the dress looks on a body. She also tells buyers how she feels about the dress.

Xu's livestreaming room is located in the Shunhe e-commerce livestreaming industrial park in Linyi, Shandong province. The six-story building where Xu performs is home to more than 100 livestreaming operators.

Linyi is a major wholesale trade hub. The city has 123 markets selling around 30 types of goods, ranging from costumes to building materials. It provides convenient resources to e-commerce operators.

Last year, total trading volume of the Linyi market stood at 483 billion yuan ($69 billion).

With its 31 logistics centers, the city is also a major transportation hub in China, providing easy access for business runners.

Born into a poor family, Xu has been working hard to earn a living for herself and her family.

"I am too busy to spend time on things like entertainment," she said, adding that she usually can't go to bed until 5 am.

"Life is much better than when I was a little girl," she said.

The best performance of her livestream, she said, was a nearly six-hour promotion one night in April. During the promotion, she raked in 12 million yuan in orders, including clothing and cosmetics.

Xu now has more than 150 people working in her livestreaming business.

Her aim for next step is to reach annual sales of 1 billion yuan, she said.