'Three Sheep' is back.

Xiao Yang, the founder of Three Sheep, once had over 120 million fans in China. Photo: Threesheep .

On April 8th, Three Sheep Company (Hefei) launched its self-operated e-commerce app, "Xiao Yang Zhen Xuan." The event attracted attention and quickly topped the trending topics on Weibo. According to experts, this move aims to reduce dependence on larger platforms. However, the company's employees will continue to broadcast on Douyin simultaneously.

Prior to the substandard mooncake scandal in September 2024, the Three Sheep group, along with the brothers Da Yang and Xiao Yang, led the online sales industry in China. Xiao Yang's fan base once reached 120 million, making him one of the most popular KOLs in the country.

Following suspicions of selling counterfeit goods, exaggerated advertising, and deceiving customers, the Hefei Market Supervision Administration investigated and determined that the company had violated the law. The company was fined nearly 69 million yuan (242 billion VND). Simultaneously, its sales broadcasting activities were suspended.

Three sheep returned to photo 1

The three sheep continue to use Xiao Yang's image to advertise their new app. Photo: Upstream News.

Speaking to Upstream News , Peng Hongyu, a media expert and graduate of Tsinghua University, suggested that the Three Sheep group released their own app to prepare for the risks associated with the platform. “Since last year, the influence of internet celebrities has declined. The cost of driving traffic is increasing. The trend is that they have to build their own apps,” Peng said.

Sharing the same view, Mr. Dai, an e-commerce expert, believes that Three Sheep is concerned about the risks of encountering faulty products and having their accounts suspended by the platform in the future. If that happens, years of hard work will be wasted. However, this ambition is not easy for Three Sheep to achieve.

The image of the Big Yang brothers was severely damaged after the fake mooncake scandal. A large number of fans abandoned them and no longer trusted the products they advertised.

After its launch, the Xiao Yang Zhen Xuan app only achieved over 1,000 downloads despite being a hot topic of discussion online. The software continues to exploit Xiao Yang's image to attract customers. Sales on the app are also very limited, mostly at zero. The best-selling item, garbage bags, only sold just over 60 units.

The app launch marks the first activity of Three Sheep after more than 200 days of silence. However, the Ocean brothers and Little Ocean, along with other well-known broadcasters from the company, have yet to appear. The company declined to comment to the press regarding these individuals.