(Photo/Tianfu Morning Post)

You probably can’t imagine why people are paying to see others eat, drink and have fun, but this business is gaining momentum in China.

Paying between 5 and 20 yuan on Xianyu, a second-hand trading platform under Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, you can get a service provider to drink bubble tea for you, and most of the providers will take pictures and videos to explain the taste to you.

Customers of this service believe that they can get a similar experience to drinking bubble tea themselves while avoiding waiting in long queues and gaining weight.

According to a service provider on the platform, providers shoot videos as feedback, describing the color, flavor and ingredients of the tea to their customers.

Moreover, service providers also mark the time and date in the video to prove that the service is exclusively customized.

Aside from drinking bubble tea, some service providers are also eating hot pot and other kinds of food like French fries, fried chicken and kebabs for their customers.

It takes over 30 yuan to have someone try hot pot, as the cost is comparatively higher, said one service provider. The customer can even get a digitally-altered photo of themselves sitting around the table as feedback.

Cat and dog petting is also popular on the platform. Some service providers are paid to pet animals, as customers may be allergic or have little time for their own pet.

Though it is still a niche market, such customer-oriented services have reflected the diversity and may become a new trend of future consumption, said Zhao Ping, director of international trade research department under the Academy of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.

“However, this service still needs to stand the test of market operation and profitability if it is to emerge as a new industry,” Zhang added.

Qi Xiaozhai, head of the Shanghai Society of Commercial Economy, noted that the internet and marketers have also come into play in driving personalized consumption.