Online celebrity Cherie is set to earn a lot of money from her Taobao store. (Photo : Weibo)
Zhu Chenhui, a Chinese online celebrity also known as Cherie, has made headlines after reports that she is expected to make more than 150 million yuan ($23.57 million) this year from her online clothing store based on Taobao.
The figure has been emphasized as being more than what Fan Bingbing makes.
Zhu was born in Zhejiang Province in 1990, and moved to New Zealand in 2011 to study at the University of Auckland. Toward the end of 2014, she opened a Taobao clothing store.
Taobao is an online marketplace operated by the Alibaba Group that allows sellers to post goods for sale.
Zhu has also become known for her relationship with Wang Sicong. Wang is the son of Wang Jianlin, the Wanda Group tycoon.
According to data from Taobao, Zhu's store had 873,331 deals as of July, with each deal grossing between 220-240 yuan ($35-$38), totaling more than 200 million yuan ($31.4 million) in revenue.
Sources from Taobao claim that the average profit margin for a clothing store is 45 percent. It is estimated that Zhu could make a net profit of 150 million yuan ($23.6 million) before next year.
Currently, there are around 1,000 online stores on Taobao that sell women's clothing. These stores usually earn revenue of over 1 million yuan ($157,000).
Online celebrities who sell on Taobao often leverage their popularity and the support of their followers to get sales.
The news of Zhu earning more than the Chinese actress is made more relevant because of recent news that Fan is the fourth-highest paid actress in the world, earning about $21 million over the past year, according to Forbes. Fan is the only Chinese actress on the list.
