IT’S A QUIET morning in Darlington, County Durham. But business inside Funky Fidgets, a sensory(感官的)-toy shop, is brisk(红火的，兴旺的). Postmen show up for the first of three daily collections. A customer arrives, dispatch(派遣，差遣)ed by his daughter to buy the latest stress ball(解压球). It is hard to believe that the firm, which ships worldwide and has 14 staff, was founded by an 11-year-old.(很难相信，这家业务遍及全球、拥有14名员工的公司，竟是由一个11岁的孩子创办的。)
达勒姆郡达灵顿的清晨很安静，但感官玩具店 Funky Fidgets 里生意却十分红火。邮递员上门来取当天三次收件中的第一批。一位顾客走进店里，是受女儿差遣来买最新款解压球的。很难相信，这家业务遍及全球、拥有14名员工的公司，竟是由一个11岁的孩子创办的。
Alex, who started selling toys online during the covid-19 pandemic, is one of a growing number of(越来越多的) young British entrepreneur(创业者，企业家)s selling on TikTok, a Chinese video app. TikTok Shop, which lets users buy products without leaving the app, is the source of most of Funky’s orders.(TikTok Shop 让用户无需离开应用即可购买商品，Funky 的大部分订单都来自它。) Around 300,000 small businesses in Britain use it; most of its seller(卖家，商家)s joined in the past year.
Alex 在新冠疫情期间开始在网上卖玩具，如今是越来越多在 TikTok 上卖货的英国年轻创业者之一。TikTok 是一款中国视频应用，其电商功能 TikTok Shop 让用户无需离开应用即可下单，Funky 的大部分订单都来自这里。英国约有30万家小企业使用 TikTok Shop，其中大多数卖家是过去一年才入驻的。
Britain has proved fertile ground(沃土，有利环境) for this new kind of shopping. Its high street(英国商业街（城镇主要购物街）)s have declined faster than those of its European neighbours, and British consumers have embrace(欣然接受，拥抱)d Chinese-style live commerce(直播带货). Around 57% of Gen Z and Millennials watch shopping streams such as TikTok Shop live, where sellers can broadcast themselves packing orders and chatting to customers.(约57%的Z世代和千禧一代会观看 TikTok Shop 等购物直播，卖家在直播中打包订单、与顾客聊天。) In turn, viewers can watch staff pick and pack their items in real time(实时地). And it’s not only youngsters who are hooked(上瘾的，着迷的). Mason Miller of The Fat Butcher, a butcher’s shop some 70km north of Funky Fidgets, reckon(估计，认为)s 60% of its customers on TikTok are 40- to 60-year-old women.
英国被证明是这种新型购物模式的沃土。英国商业街的衰落速度超过欧洲邻国，而英国消费者也欣然接受了中国式的直播带货。约57%的Z世代和千禧一代会观看 TikTok Shop 等购物直播，卖家在直播中打包订单、与顾客聊天，观众则能实时看到员工拣货、打包自己的商品。而且上瘾的不只是年轻人。Funky Fidgets 以北约70公里处有一家肉铺 The Fat Butcher，其店员梅森·米勒估计，该店在 TikTok 上的顾客有60%是40至60岁的女性。