Ms Márquez also had another 100,000 followers on TikTok.

It's a bright spring morning in Hanover, Germany, and I'm on my way to meet a robot.I have been invited to see the G1, a humanoid robot built by Chinese firm, Unitree, at the Hannover Messe, one of the world's largest industrial trade shows.

Standing at about 4'3" (130cm), G1 is smaller and more affordable than other humanoid robots on the market, and has such a highly fluid range of motion and dexterity that videos of it performing dance numbers andToday the G1 is being controlled remotely by Pedro Zheng, the Unitree sales manager.He explains that customers must program each G1 for autonomous functions.

Passers-by stop and actively try to engage with the G1, which cannot be said for a lot of the other machines being shown off in the cavernous conference room.They reach out to shake its hand, make sudden movements to see if it will respond, they laugh when G1 waves or bends backwards, they apologise if they bump into it. There's something about its human shape that, uncanny as it is, sets people at ease.

Unitree is just one of dozens of companies around the world developing robots that have a human form.

The potential is huge - for business it promises a workforce that doesn't need holidays or pay rises.For some brands live shopping has been a game-changer.

High-end fragrance brand The House of Amouage partnered with Nordstrom in late 2024 to bring their live shopping events to the US.Oman-based Amouage was following up on the success they enjoyed in China. In the 140 live streams they hosted with Chinese influencers on the social platforms Douyin and Taobao in 2023, they sold more than 3,000 units.

The firm's chief creative officer Renaud Salmon says it's helping the company learn about what its customers want."In the past, we would have used customer satisfaction surveys," says Mr Salmon, "but with live shopping, we get feedback right away and I bring that back to my team to help refine our products."