A 16-year-old girl earns six figures a month by selling hair bands!

There is no shortage of new business opportunities in the inward-looking overseas market.

Amazon's wealth-making story has attracted countless people, but many people have also found their own "spring" on other platforms. Especially in recent years, the explosion of emerging platforms such as TikTok has allowed one entrepreneur after another to break out of the vortex of traffic.

One or three people, they focus on the small and beautiful model, starting from scratch and making millions a year, and have become "exceptional cases other than failed entrepreneurs" in the mouths of countless sellers. There is no shortage of people who get rich overnight in the cross-border circle, but the stories of ordinary people who succeed in starting a business with small things may be more suitable for sellers.

The big sellers we are familiar with, in addition to deepening their presence on platforms such as Amazon, SHEIN, and TikTok, are also exploring niche e-commerce platforms in various countries and accelerating their layout, and many have even achieved results.

16-year-old American girl sells hair bands and earns six figures a month

The hair accessories that were considered tacky when we were young have returned to the public's attention in recent years and have transformed into a fashion item. Whether it is bloggers on Instagram or top stars, almost everyone has several hair ties. Searching major domestic platforms, we can find that the average price of the same hair tie is basically 3 yuan or 5 yuan each.

But it is precisely this seemingly inconspicuous hair band that has become a high-priced hot commodity overseas in the blink of an eye.

Dasha Derkach, a 16-year-old American girl, sold this hair band on TikTok for $11.50, which is much higher than the low price of 3 or 5 yuan in China. Moreover, with this hair accessories brand , Dasha has successfully started a business and has achieved a six-figure monthly income.

At first, Dasha was just a pre-professional ballet dancer at school with beautiful and thick curly hair. Based on this, it was difficult for her to find a suitable hair band, so she decided to make some cute and fashionable hair bands by herself.

Dasha said: " I want to make a long-lasting woven cloth that can cover people's hair, especially for those who wear wigs or have curly hair. " So, at the age of 13, Dasha founded the hair accessories brand Enchanted Scrunch, making pure handmade hair ties.

With the help of her mother and Dasha , hair bands of various colors, fabrics, and styles began to appear on Dasha 's social platforms, but the sales performance of hair bands was not ideal at that time, and the promotion on Instagram had little effect. She then turned to TikTok and tried to drive the sales of hair bands through short videos. The result was obvious. The first video Dasha posted received several orders.

Compared to the lack of interest in other platforms, orders from TikTok are obviously an incentive for Dasha .

She insisted on creating videos, continuously producing content that combines hairband design with usage scenarios and demonstrates wearing effects. The number of views of her videos has increased from a few thousand at the beginning to tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands. The highest number of views for a video even reached 25.1 million. Many netizens commented below that they wanted the same hairband.

The popularity of short videos indirectly drives the conversion of orders. The Easter & Spring series launched by Dasha last Easter , priced at $16, was sold out immediately. In order to better sell the hair circles, Dasha not only releases relevant videos of the hair circles every day, but also regularly broadcasts live, responds to netizens' comments and product prices, etc., in order to get closer to consumers.

Today, Dasha has a stable fan base of 500,000 on TikTok, and about 500 orders come from TikTok every week. An interview with overseas media also mentioned that Dasha has sold 40,000 hair bands. With this little thing, Dasha has achieved a six-figure monthly income at the age of 16.

In terms of sales channels, Dasha has expanded from the initial TikTok sales to entering Amazon and establishing its own official website. However, in comparison, the prices on its official website are obviously more popular. On the official website, except for a few products, the average price of most hair bands is between US$11.5, and there are also discounts for new customers; but on Amazon, the average price of its products is mostly between US$12.5.

The editor searched for the word "Scrunch" on Amazon and found that the price of scrunch products is mostly around $9.99. The sales volume in the past month is mostly over 1K, and even reaches 3K or 4K+ in some cases, and they are often sold in packages. In Google Trends, the search term was once very popular, and the search volume for "scrunch bundle" soared, which is enough to show the popularity of scrunch overseas.

Dasha is not the only blogger who became famous with scrunchies. Tina also founded the Canadian hair accessories brand XXL Scrunchie & Co, which mainly sells larger-sized scrunchies. According to foreign media data, she became popular with a video with XXL scrunchies, and all the products in her store were sold out on the same day.

It is not difficult to see that under the "female economy", the demand for hair accessories cannot be underestimated, especially the large intestine hair bands and shark clips that have been popular in the female circle of friends in recent years. Compared with the low price of 3 yuan, 5 yuan, or even 1 yuan on some platforms in China, the hair bands can be multiplied several times or even dozens of times across the ocean, and the high profits have attracted many sellers to rush into the market. However, in the fiercely competitive environment, sellers entering the market still need to cut into the appropriate sub-track.

She made $260,000 in 24 hours, she made money in the clothing industry

Many sellers may enter the clothing market by starting with key areas such as yoga, streetwear, and leisure. For example, the well-known Halara entered the sports and leisure category and has won multiple rounds of financing; Urbani entered the fast fashion category and achieved millions of dollars in sales within half a year of its launch; Aelfric Eden's audience is those consumers who love street culture.

The clothing brand See the Way I See, which we are going to mention in this article, focuses on spreading positive messages about mental health. With this model, the brand has achieved annual sales of $2.6 million and even created a record of making $260,000 in 24 hours.

It is understood that See the Way I See was founded by 24-year-old girl Sophie Nestico. Due to severe anxiety during school, she dropped out of school to study part-time, and designed some small stickers with positive quotes that could heal herself and regulate her anxiety.

Sophie said: "I only had 500 yuan at the time, and I used it all to buy the printer and cutter needed for stickers." After making the stickers, Sophie posted these stickers with positive quotes on the Internet and started her first small business. Unexpectedly, these small stickers became an instant hit, and Sophie also gained a lot of fans.

It is only natural that these stickers that can arouse empathy and have positive energy become popular.

In an overseas interview, Sophie mentioned that more than 900 million people in the world suffer from mental health disorders, among which anxiety and depression are the most common diseases. Many people always avoid the topic of mental health, but Sophie hopes to pass on more positive energy to people who have psychological pressure like her through her designs.

So, Sophie founded the brand See the Way I See, which mainly sells high-quality sweaters and cardigans, with prices ranging from $20 to $75, all with positive quotes. The stickers emphasize positive self-talk and affirmations, such as "Everything will pass" and "Breathe", and similar phrases will be placed on clothes so that people who wear these products will never be without empowering thoughts.

It was these positive quotes that drove the explosive sales of Sophie's products. The 100 sweatshirts originally designed were all sold out in just two days.

Since then, Sophie has come up with a marketing model, using TikTok to sell limited-edition clothing, releasing a batch of clothes for a limited time every month, preheating them on social platforms in advance, creating a sense of purchasing tension and product scarcity while arousing fans' desire to buy. As a result, every time See the Way I See releases a product, it is sold out in seconds after it is put on the shelves.

Sophie mentioned in the promotion of her brand that she made $260,000 in just 24 hours, and her current bank account has more than $400,000, also based on this model. And according to the media, her annual income exceeds $1 million.

However, unlike most sellers, Sophie does not spend money on traditional advertising, but mainly relies on social media for a lot of word-of-mouth communication. This low-cost, high-driven model allows it to improve product competitiveness while retaining more profits in its own hands. Data shows that Sophie has 187,000 followers on Instagram, and nearly 600,000 followers on TikTok.

By sharing her own anxiety stories, the process of product creation, positive quotes, and her understanding of mental health topics, Sophie has created a community full of understanding and empathy, successfully establishing a deeper emotional resonance with fans. While improving brand loyalty, it also makes its products more warm, thereby driving single-volume conversions.

Compared with similar products, See the Way I See products may seem simple, but they are carefully designed and made of fabrics. Their quality is far superior to similar products. They also have functions such as comfort and healing, which provide more possibilities for them to stand out from the clothing market. At present, its product line has expanded to hats, handbags, stationery, hairpins and children's clothing series.

In fact, many sellers in the industry have complained about the clothing category. It is obviously a red ocean market called by countless sellers, but there are always dark horses breaking through the siege. Whether it is plus-size women's clothing, swimwear, heated clothing, or sportswear, there will always be sellers who can find their own piece of land in the segmented track, and then dig deep and shine.

On major data platforms, the segmented apparel market is booming. In the future, as China's manufacturing capabilities continue to improve, I believe that more sellers will carve out their own niche in the segmented market.

Three employees sell shower heads, with annual sales exceeding 170 million yuan

I believe many consumers have a deep question: Will tap water directly contacting the skin cause dry skin, hair loss and other problems? This situation is more common in the United States. Because the local tap water is full of chlorine and heavy metals, many overseas consumers are worried that bathing with tap water will irritate the skin and hair, so they will buy shower heads with filtering functions.

The Amazon filtered shower brand Jolie Skin Co. was born out of this. And with only three full-time employees, it made $4 million in sales in the first year, and the sales in the second year are expected to be between $25 million and $30 million.

Its founder Ryan Babenzien once founded the DTC sports shoe brand Greats. Therefore, when he founded Jolie, he also had his own set of methodologies to ensure the company's gross profit and find enough ordinary KOCs to drive sales, such as beauticians, chefs, pet owners and other experts who might be interested in filtered shower heads.

These influencers would upload videos of product installation and use on social platforms, which would then drive product exposure and gain the favor of their fans and even other interested users. Therefore, in the first six months of the product launch, the team did not focus on advertising.

The feasibility of this idea was verified by reality, with 7 out of 10 ordinary KOCs contacted by the company responding. That year, 5,000 users posted content related to Jolie, which attracted a lot of consumer attention and became the main source of brand traffic.

Among them, there are many related videos on TikTok, some of which have been played over a million times, and some have received thousands or even nearly ten thousand likes. In Google Trends, the search volume for filter shower heads has also increased significantly. Obviously, this promotion model of using social media to establish one's own brand and gain enough attention is relatively successful.

On Amazon, Jolie is also very popular, and has become the leading brand of filtered showerheads on Amazon. On the platform, searching for the word "Jolie" reveals that its products include filtered showerheads, replaceable filter cartridges, etc., which are few but good. The price of filtered showerheads is $165, and the price of filter cartridges is $36.

Good traffic and high popularity drove Jolie's sales to soar, making it profitable within 5 months of its establishment, and the key was that it only had 3 full-time employees. Its revenue also increased accordingly, with sales reaching 4 million US dollars in the first year, and the gross profit margin of its products was as high as 85%.

Currently, Jolie has sold more than 140,000 shower heads, and the sales in the second year are expected to be US$25 million to US$30 million. The key point for Jolie to quickly become popular is that the product not only has the functions of removing chlorine and heavy metals, but also comes with installation tools and instructions for use.

The brand slogan " Showering with pure water can naturally improve skin and hair " just hits the hearts of consumers. The concept of beauty and health is consistent with consumers' health awareness. It is not difficult to see why Jolie has become popular. In addition, the market size of beauty and skin care shower heads is continuing to grow, reaching US$2.15 billion in 2023 and is expected to reach US$3.02 billion in 2031, with a compound annual growth rate of 4.91%.

As the market size of the niche skin care and shower segment continues to grow, I believe that more sellers will break through in the future.

It’s so good! Chinese sellers have a huge sales volume on multiple niche platforms

In fact, it is not just the platforms we mentioned earlier, such as TikTok and Amazon, but also many sellers have focused their attention on the niche e-commerce platforms in various countries. The number of Chinese sellers on such platforms is relatively small, and the competition is not so fierce, but it is also difficult to enter. The platform generally requires sellers to have certain qualifications and strength.

OTTO is the largest online retail e-commerce platform in Germany . Its position in the German e-commerce market is second only to Amazon, covering more than 45% of German households. In 2020, OTTO officially opened to Chinese sellers; in 2022, the net sales of its platform exceeded 50 billion yuan.

According to platform data, as of April this year, the platform had more than 10 million active users and more than 300 qualified visits per day, attracting many consumers to stop by.

The cross-border big seller Zhiou Technology has already settled in OTTO and has delivered impressive results. From 2022 to June 2024 alone, its revenue was 138 million yuan, 250 million yuan and 185 million yuan respectively. At this rate, Zhiou Technology's revenue from OTTO will continue to grow this year.

Not only Zhiou Technology, but also 3C big seller Roborock Technology has entered OTTO. Many of the company's smart sweeping robots have been labeled "Sehr beliebt (very popular)" on the platform and are very popular among local consumers.

Cdiscount is a French local e-commerce platform with a full range of products , and its traffic is second only to Amazon in the French market. Its platform products are not only sold locally, but also exported to South America, Europe, Africa and other places. According to similarweb data, Cdiscount has more than 17 million active users and an average daily visit volume of nearly one million.

As early as 2015, Cdiscount had already recruited merchants in China, and Chinese sellers accounted for nearly one-third of the third-party sellers on the platform. The well-known big seller Huakai Yibai also has a presence, but the proportion is lower than that of Amazon.

One obvious trend is that the scale of French e-commerce is growing significantly. The market size will increase by 10.5% in 2023 to 159.9 billion euros, and it is still growing. In addition, its e-commerce currently accounts for only 10% of the total retail trade, so there is still a lot of room for development in the future.

Fruugo is a local e-commerce platform in the UK . It was founded in 2008 and its business covers more than 40 countries including Europe, Asia, and Australia. In 2019, when attracting Chinese sellers, many sellers made considerable profits by relying on the distribution model.

Although the platform's customer base is relatively small, Fruugo's growth rate is amazing, with a year-on-year growth of 200% for three consecutive years. The average number of visits to the independent site exceeds one million. In 2022, the platform's sales reached 65 million pounds.

Due to its rapid development, Fruugo was also selected by the Financial Times as one of the 1,000 fastest-growing companies in Europe in 2021. In September of this year, Fruugo reopened to Chinese sellers, which may become an important boost for Chinese sellers to enter the European market.

It is important to know that the UK e-commerce market is not only the largest in Europe, but also the third largest in the world, with more than 90% of local consumers having the habit of online shopping. Relevant data shows that the total turnover of UK e-commerce is expected to grow to £2660 this year.

Not only some local e-commerce platforms overseas, but also China's cross-border platform Temu has made many big sellers make a fortune.

Companies such as Anker Innovations, Savi, Xiaomi, and Liby have already deployed on Temu. Taking Anker Innovations as an example, the total sales of the two stores exceeded 12,000 units, and Anker Innovations successfully ranked No. 1 in the earphones and accessories sub-category. Savi, a big seller, quietly deployed on Temu and other platforms, and its revenue from Temu and TikTok in the first half of the year reached 60.63 million yuan and 23.74 million yuan respectively.

In addition to the above platforms, there are many niche platforms with great potential. Sellers can choose appropriate niche e-commerce platforms for multi-channel layout according to actual conditions.

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