Double Olympic gold medalist Yang Qian’s hairpins become best sellers

(Snapshot from Weibo)

Double Olympic gold medalist Yang Qian’s duck-shaped barrette and carrot-shaped hair band have suddenly become best sellers on major e-commerce platforms in China after causing a sensation on Chinese social media .

Yang, the 21-year-old shooter, won the women’s 10-meter air rifle, making her the first gold medal winner at the Tokyo Games on July 24, and bagged her second gold medal in the mixed 10-meter air rifle team event three days later.

On July 24, searches for duck and carrot hairpins like Yang’s soared by 4,237.37 percent and 2,115.67 percent, respectively, on Chinese e-commerce giant Taobao from a day earlier.

Chen Gengping, the owner of a Taobao store, had been selling duck and carrot hairpins before Yang’s success. After the shooter claimed her first gold medal, the product’s price was set at 3.8 yuan ($0.59) each, including shipment costs.

Chen’s store sold 70,000 duck and carrot hairpins in three days, a dramatic increase from the previous monthly sale volume of 800 pieces.

Chen has had to work until midnight in recent days as online orders surged. “My two customer service personnel were really busy, and I recruited five more temporary staff to meet the soaring demand,” the owner said.

Fueled by booming online sales, wholesalers have recently been snapping up the duck and carrot hairpins in Yiwu, China’s small commodities trade hub in eastern Zhejiang province.

Mao Xuxia, a hair accessory vendor in the city, said staff at her factory worked frantically to make the products as orders poured in.

Mao added that she sold up to 100 of the duck and carrot hairpins a day before Yang Qian won her first gold medal, but her daily sales volume has exceeded 10,000 pieces over the past few days.