Charles Darwin University has conducted a study and found the least surprising statistic of all time: online sellers are more likely to be engaged if they’re good-looking.

The study explored the influence of physical attractiveness of those selling something online, with a focus on the Chinese e-commerce site Taobao.

Examining data collected from 810 Taobao consumers, 90 percent of which were aged between 20 and 30, 86 percent of the respondents said that they would be more inclined to purchase or continue to watch someone that they were physically attracted to.

Senior Lecturer at Charles Darwin University Zheijang Nguyen spoke about the, frankly unsurprising, results.

“The finding indicates that consumers appreciate the beauty and tend to focus their entire attention and interests on good-looking broadcasters because they are physically attractive and charming,” says Nguyen.

“The physical attractiveness of broadcasters encourages consumers to devote more time and efforts to watching the live streaming of good-looking broadcasters.”

Although Nguyen claims it can be harder to judge if the same attitude to technically hot people in a physical brick-and-mortar setting.

“There isn’t enough evidence to say whether this study can be applied to staff in bricks-and-mortar businesses, but with more companies getting involved with these types of online sales the findings will be relevant to many of them,” explains Nguyen.

Perhaps it falls into the age-old bias that what is beautiful is good. But there’s one thing for sure – pretty bias is around to stay. And to make money from.