Fancy a good catch online?

You can buy seafood and other produce from suppliers now doing a roaring business on Facebook Live in these circuit breaker times

Mr Max Kee of Lian Huat Seafood does not rule out expanding his business to sell other products, as he believes "you can sell anything" on Facebook Live these days. PHOTO: LIAN HUAT SEAFOOD

No physical store to flog his wares? That has never stopped fishmonger of 20 years, Mr Max Kee.

His wholesale company Lian Huat Seafood, which usually supplies fresh seafood to wet market stalls and restaurants, now reaches the public via entertaining Facebook Live sessions.

Beamed five nights a week from Jurong Fishery Port, the wry and wiry seafood merchant conducts auctions in a mix of Mandarin, English and dialects, holding captive an audience for at least three hours each time.

His posts garner thousands of comments and more than 30,000 views.

All the 37-year-old Malaysian needs is a tripod, a mobile phone and a bed of ice to display his seafood to glinting advantage.

Viewers "bid" for the items they want by leaving comments on his Facebook Live post. He then verbally acknowledges the order in his jokey monologue.

These days, with many trapped at home looking for new, safe ways to procure fresh produce, he can sell 400 to 500 boxes of seafood each time he ventures online.

Each box costs more than $60, which is the minimum amount for free delivery. His record of late is 700 boxes, when he hawked a seafood package, said to be worth about $200, at the "bargain price" of $138.

This is a far cry from when he started late last year, when he received no more than 20 orders a day.

But he persevered, after observing his younger brother, who runs Octopus Fish Market, successfully sell seafood via Facebook Live in Johor Baru, Malaysia.

On how he has built up his online persona and business, Mr Kee - who has two children aged 13 and 14 - says in Mandarin: "People want to see your sincerity. If you are fake, people can tell. I'm natural, I'm me. There's no script."

Mr Max Kee of wholesale company Lian Huat Seafood beams on Facebook Live five nights a week. He says he can sell 400 to 500 boxes of seafood each time. PHOTO: LIAN HUAT SEAFOOD

His livestream usually starts around 9pm and ends by 2am, from Tuesdays to Saturdays, on facebook.com/JurongLianHuat.

As he chatters incessantly on screen, his team of more than 10 works to prepare and pack the seafood according to customers' requests. Orders are ready for delivery by 11am the next day.

Going forward, Mr Kee, who is a Singapore permanent resident, does not rule out expanding his business to sell other products, as he feels "you can sell anything" on Facebook Live these days.

Indeed, livestream sales is seeing booming business across various sectors - from food to fashion - in these circuit breaker times.

Before that, Ms Lerine Yeo memorably went viral as Singapore's famous "S hook sales lady" in 2018, when she sold 100 pieces of a blouse with metal rings within 15 minutes.

Food-related livestreams, especially, have been fast gaining traction. These include vegetable seller Bedok Fresh Vegis; frozen and chilled meat and seafood supplier Porsh Fine Food; and newcomer SG Lobang Boys, which sells seafood packages.

After circuit breaker month was announced, Mr Heng Jing An, 22, started SG Lobang Boys with a group of friends from various industries.

He chose to bank on Facebook Live, after watching these sessions as a hobby.

He says: "I like to watch the way different hosts talk and have learnt how they sell their products and offer promotions. I can sit and watch other people's livestreams for hours straight."

It has been a slow start for Mr Heng. A recent Facebook Live session on April 11 - just three days after setting up his platform - saw just half of his 20 available seafood packages, priced at $108 each, being sold.

In the future, he plans to launch a website to sell hawker food and other groceries.

Bigger businesses are also cashing in on the lucrative Facebook Live trend.

Gourmet supermarket Taste Singapore in Holland Village started Facebook Live sessions last month, running from 8 to 10pm, Tuesdays to Sundays.

This is in collaboration with Facebook group Singapore Home Cooks, which has more than 200,000 members who share posts on their home-cooked food. Viewers can also get professional cooking tips and hacks from Taste's in-house chefs.

According to Mr Jerrold Quek, 29, chief operating officer of Taste Singapore, engagement through Facebook Live can typically garner up to 600 views and 3,000 comments an episode.

Sales can hit $60,000 weekly, making up almost 30 per cent of the shop's monthly revenue.

This is especially so in these times when people are looking for alternatives to jostling at the supermarkets or stalking online grocery stores with increasingly scarce delivery slots.

Instead of braving the crowds at the wet market, student-care centre owner Karen Lim, 57, orders seafood twice a week from Lian Huat Seafood to feed her family of seven.

With Lian Huat's increasing customer base, she faces fierce competition to snag the seafood she wants.

So she sets up multiple phones prior to the Facebook Live sessions to facilitate her bidding. But she says it is ultimately Lian Huat's quality and after-sales service that won her over.

"When I had an issue with a fish previously, I took a photo and sent it to them. They replied almost immediately and sent an even bigger replacement in my next order.

"Their pricing is reasonable for the quality and they offer money-back guarantee," she says.


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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Sunday Times on April 19, 2020, with the headline Fancy a good catch online?. Subscribe