Elderly people livestream selling products all night long

More and more grandparents aged 60-80 are becoming online merchants, diligently livestreaming on e-commerce platforms. They sing, chat, and sell goods all night long until morning.

Uncle Polo is hired by many brands to advertise - Screenshot

Their age is an advantage, helping them easily reach viewers' emotions and be affectionately called "grandpa" and "grandma" by their grandchildren - customers on social networks. However, this path also contains many challenges and requires support.

Join the livestream session, buy things for grandparents

At 2am, the channel "Ba 5 Thu" (from An Giang ) was still active on the TikTok Shop platform with more than 90 accounts watching the livestream. The viewers were mostly young people, calling Mrs. Thu "grandma", chatting and shopping together.

"Keep it up grandma", "When you have enough orders, come down grandma", "Does your back hurt when you sit like that?"..., many young people sent messages to encourage Mrs. Thu, many of whom placed orders online so that she could soon meet her target and rest early.

Looking at the phone screen, her face wrinkled due to old age, Mrs. Thu smiled and said: "There are 4 more orders, please come and choose, when there are 30 orders, I will send them down. Here are tissues, a pack
300 sheets...".

The livestream starts at 1am, and when sales are slow, she can rest until 3am, but when her grandchildren support her a lot, she can relax more. The income she earns is used to cover her and her grandchildren's food and living expenses, and to pay for treatment when she goes to the hospital.

When asked about the reason for livestreaming to sell goods, she shared: "I went to apply for a job but because I'm old, people didn't accept me." During the COVID-19 pandemic, her children guided her to livestream on TikTok to sing, and the audience gave her items (flowers, gifts...) and exchanged them for money, so she had some money coming in. After that, she researched and decided to livestream to sell goods. "I bought the goods myself to use and sell, sometimes the platform sent them, sometimes people sent them...", she said.

The items that Mrs. Thu sells are quite diverse, such as t-shirts, slippers, tissues, laundry detergent, lipstick, food... Interspersed with product introductions and stories, she sings over and over again the call: "Click on the shopping cart, we click on the shopping cart. Click to buy for you, we click to buy for you...".

When completing the order quota, Mrs. Thu couldn't help but be happy: "Thank you, everyone, for coming to support us. We have enough orders, grandma will come down and listen." Before ending the sales session, Mrs. Thu did not forget to sing a vọng cổ song.

On online platforms, there are more and more groups of workers aged 60 - 80, diligently selling goods through livestream sessions. Typical examples include the channel of Ms. Ngo Thi Tuong (74 years old), or the channel of "Mr. Vui" - a blind person, who used to sell lottery tickets, but now switches to livestreaming to sell goods and do affiliate marketing...

These "grandfathers and grandmothers" have become online market traders, coming from many regions and many different ethnicities. With just a smartphone, they can open a stall and interact directly with customers. In addition to TikTok, Facebook is also a platform that the elderly take advantage of to do business.

Many people have turned their age into an advantage, helping them make their own mark, some have even become influencers on social networks.

Typically, the channel "Uncle Polo" (real name Luu Quoc Tan, 67 years old, living in Ho Chi Minh City) has more than 1.5 million followers and received more than 24 million likes, many videos trended and reached 10 - 20 million views.

Thanks to his elegant dress and dignified conversation, he became a sought-after influencer. Besides receiving commissions from affiliate marketing, he also has a significant income when many brands in the fields of fashion , health, beauty... are willing to pay to invite him to promote their products and images.

Channel "Mrs. 5 Thu" is chosen by many young people as a shopping channel - Screenshot

Reducing risks for older traders

According to Mr. Nguyen Thanh Dao - Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City Advertising Association, Vice Chairman of Vietnam Advertising Association, the trend of online shopping is growing strongly, anyone can become an influential seller, own a large number of followers, thereby improving their life, even getting rich quickly.

"E-commerce opens up opportunities for everyone, regardless of gender, age or appearance. As long as you know how to take advantage of it, have charm, skills and passion for selling, anyone can succeed," Mr. Dao emphasized.

For the elderly, online sales not only generate additional income but also bring joy to life. However, Mr. Dao noted that the Law on Advertising (amended and supplemented) was passed by the National Assembly in mid-2025 and will take effect from early 2026, which clearly stipulates the obligations of advertising carriers, including those participating in online sales.

Therefore, sellers, even the elderly, need to clearly understand their responsibilities and rights, comply with the law, carefully research legal information about the product, avoid the risk of violations and fully declare taxes.

Master Nguyen Pham Hoang Huy - head of digital marketing department (FPT Polytechnic) - said that customers often trust to buy products from the elderly because of the closeness and familiarity, just like when they choose to buy at the market or grocery store.

However, the group of elderly traders also faces many barriers such as: insufficient communication skills to inspire, limited use of technology, and vulnerability to being bombed or scammed. There are cases where scammers send QR codes or malicious links, traders think they will receive payment for their purchases, but in fact their money is stolen.

To ensure safety, Mr. Huy recommends that sellers should register their business activities so that authorities have a basis to support them when problems arise, and at the same time reduce the risk of accidentally selling poor quality products.

Need to support small traders to limit risks

Master Nguyen Pham Hoang Huy said that more and more small traders and affiliate marketers are turning to social networks and e-commerce platforms to increase their income, especially through evening livestream sessions. In addition to those new to the business, many small traders from traditional markets and stores are switching to livestreaming to diversify their sales channels.

"Livestreaming at night is often the most competitive because it attracts more viewers than in the morning or at noon. Many elderly people livestream until 2-3am, taking advantage of the time when they have trouble sleeping and easily reaching customers," said Mr. Huy.

Many older people, who come from a background of small traders in the market, need training in technology and anti-fraud skills. Local training courses, combined with media coverage, will help them understand what to do and what not to do, to avoid risks for both the traders and the customers.

PLUM BLOSSOM

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/nguoi-gia-livestream-ban-hang-xuyen-dem-20250824223701678.htm