Since the official launch of TikTok Shop in Japan, the cumulative GMV in the first month reached approximately $3.36 million, with an average daily GMV of $100,000 in July, peaking at nearly $290,000!

Japanese influencer Kyogoku Ryu topped the TikTok Shop Japan "beauty category" GMV chart with a live broadcast GMV of over 100 million yen!

His single live broadcast GMV broke 200 million yen, earning him the title "Japanese Li Jiaqi."

Interestingly, the one who achieved this honor, Kyogoku Ryu, is also Chinese. How did he do it?

Kyogoku Ryu was born in Shanghai, China. At the age of 12, he moved to Japan with his family and received education there like any other student. He truly embarked on the professional hairdressing path after graduating from high school and entering a beauty vocational school, then honed his skills at beauty institutions in Tokyo's Ginza and London, and finally opened his personal studio, Salon Ryu, in Tokyo's Akasaka in 2017. In Japan, beauty vocational schools are a mainstream career choice, especially in big cities like Tokyo and Osaka.

He also founded Kyogoku Co., Ltd. and created the brand KYOGOKU PROFESSIONAL, with business covering hair dyeing, washing, CBD formula products, and even CBD-infused food such as capsules and gummies, extending from hairdressing to beauty and personal care products. Ranking No.1 in the beauty category on TikTok Shop Japan, the brand quickly rose to fame with its "professional quality + live interaction" full-link operation model.

In high-end beauty salons in Japan, especially in areas like Ginza and Omotesando, customers need to pay an extra "nomination fee" if they want to specifically request a particular hairdresser. A high nomination fee often means that the hairdresser is already recognized as a "master" in the industry.

Japan has a group of very influential hairdressing masters, and hairdressers in Japan are considered "artisan" professions with certain social status.

Since the opening of his personal studio, Kyogoku Ryu has gradually increased his nomination fee, from about 10,000 yen initially to 555,000 yen in 2024, aiming to create a high-end image of "luxury beautician" and emphasizing "heartfelt service for each individual, tailor-made artistry."

Kyogoku Ryu's fame was not achieved overnight but through a typical path of "professional competitions + teaching + media exposure." For example, he won first place at the 2018 Alternative Hair Show in the UK, which is known as the "Oscar" of the hairdressing industry. He has also appeared on Japanese TV shows and industry magazines as a "celebrity hairstylist" or "world champion hairstylist," enhancing public awareness.

His performance on TikTok Shop Japan has been explosive, reaching a GMV of 17 million yen in a single live broadcast and accumulating a GMV of over 100 million yen in a very short time. He also co-hosted a TikTok Shop live broadcast event with another top live streamer, "Hada Eri."

Kyogoku Ryu's team almost guarantees that there is always someone online for live broadcasts, with 24-hour uninterrupted streaming, strengthening traffic and fan stickiness. At the same time, the brand's own offline counters' clerks also start live broadcasts, quickly amplifying brand exposure and sales conversion.

And in terms of building connections with influencers, KYOGOKU offers influencers a 20% commission. Under the circumstances of "high average order value + stable brand image," this commission strategy is attractive enough for cooperation.

Under this comprehensive strategy, KYOGOKU ranks No.1 in the beauty category on TikTok Shop.

Even before TikTok Shop landed in Japan, he was already active on channels like TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Douyin, and WeChat Video, building a fan base of tens of millions. This constitutes strong initial traffic support for live shopping.

He has accounts on domestic platforms such as Douyin, WeChat Video, and Weibo, and is familiar with the domestic short video + live shopping model.

TikTok Shop's global GMV has surged from $1 billion in 2021 to $33.2 billion in 2024, and the Japanese market is in a period of rapid development of social e-commerce. Kyogoku Ryu's entry into the market at this time is quite timely.

Kyogoku Ryu innovatively combines Japanese variety show "live commentary" with Chinese-style "limited-time flash sales," and integrates high-ceremony customer experiences (such as private car pick-up, psychological counseling, aromatherapy consultation, etc.), forming an attractive live broadcast style and conversion method.

Japan's entertainment live broadcast industry is already quite developed, with entertainment coming before e-commerce in live broadcasts.

The long-term "entertainment live broadcast/cheering culture" has precipitated a large number of hosts with strong on-camera performance and mature interaction capabilities; many "talent agencies" are responsible for recruitment, training, scheduling, and business orders, and these hosts' personas and interaction paths for live shopping are almost ready-made.

Japan has a mature agency system: unified topic selection, scripting, scheduling, and after-sales docking, which can quickly transplant "entertainment expression" to "product explanation + conversion."

Japanese users are willing to pay for "professional explanations + scenario demonstrations," and live broadcasts are a good scene to explain "details and craftsmanship." Consumption habits value quality and service experience over pure low prices, which matches the stable persona and long-term companionship of entertainment hosts. Japanese live broadcast fans have high stickiness, and the cheering culture is strong, naturally suitable for a combination of "limited edition, co-branded, membership peripherals + live broadcast pre-sale."

Currently, Kyogoku Ryu has about 350,000 followers on his TikTok account. The average playback volume of a single live shopping video is close to 100,000 times, with 1-2 short videos posted daily, and 2-3 live broadcasts carried out simultaneously.

As a hairstylist, he not only showcases products in live broadcasts but also explains them with professional knowledge, enhancing viewers' trust and purchase desire. He also focuses on emotional connection with the audience, providing personalized advice and care, meeting the high demands of Japanese consumers for service experience.

Live shopping mainly focuses on hairdressing, beauty, and skincare products, especially those related to his own brand "KYOGOKU." The average selling price of live shopping products is 4,353.4 yen (about $29.48), higher than the average transaction price on TikTok Japan (about $15), in line with its high-end positioning.

In TikTok Shop's global e-commerce ecosystem, the beauty and personal care category is undoubtedly one of the most leading categories. According to the latest data, this category accounted for 22.5% of the global GMV in 2024, about $2.49 billion, ranking first among all categories.

For example, in the US, beauty and personal care products accounted for about $1.34 billion in sales on TikTok Shop, accounting for 79.3% of the total sales in the US market. In Indonesia, 9 of the top 10 stores and 8 of the top 10 best-selling products are from the beauty and personal care category.

Similarly, in the Japanese market, TikTok Shop's beauty and personal care category has quickly become one of the main categories.

Japan's TikTok dividend is large, but the entry threshold and operational requirements are also high. The more one understands Japanese culture and can combine professional endorsements, the more popular they are.

Kyogoku Ryu, with his identity as "the world's number one beautician," early content accumulation, and strong brand operation capabilities, quickly became the sales champion on TikTok Shop Japan.

This is not only a reflection of his personal strength but also reflects the huge potential of the current social live broadcast e-commerce model in the Japanese market—professional influencers, IP endorsements, own brands, live broadcast monetization, forming a complete and efficient business closed loop.