Why is XiaoHongShu so useful for online shopping in China?
Xiaohongshu’s founders quickly realized the app was being used for shopping advice by people who weren’t traveling anywhere, but were instead buying stuff via family, shopping agents or online. The following year, they added online shopping features, marking their entrance to China’s booming e-commerce market. The private company doesn’t regularly release figures for sales generated through its site, but in 2016, Wired reported the app had generated $200 million in annual sales.
One of the most popular Chinese social media sites, Little Red Book (Xiaohongshu) started in 2014. It caters primarily to those who enjoy shopping and features articles of apparel, cosmetics, and more! This Chinese social media and e-commerce site has become well-known within China and is now beginning to make an impact beyond the country’s borders thanks to its strategic and well-targeted communications.
You can forget about rising to the top of China’s booming e-commerce market if you don’t incorporate the Little Red Book into your strategy, especially if you’re in the beauty or fashion industries. In this article, we’ll enlighten you on this site’s wonderful resources for expanding your business’s presence in China.
Statistics on Little Red Book's Popularity
Little Red Book (or in Chinese – Xiaohongshu) has more than 300 million active users, and this number is growing rapidly. The vast majority of its users are female, which makes it a fantastic resource for all Chinese and international firms in the fashion and cosmetics / beauty industries.
Since most users of Little Red Book are members of China’s Millennial and Gen Z generations, it’s an ideal venue for marketing to these demographics. It has many features, such as sharing images and videos, advertising products, and interacting with one’s fan base. Although you can’t publish in-depth articles there, you can still interact with your audience in a variety of ways thanks to the focus on lifestyle photographs and high-quality material (like Instagram).
More than 70% of information published on Little Red Book is user-created. One of the most effective ways to attract new users is through user-generated content (UGC) and important media personalities (such as Nano- or Micro-Influencers, KOLs or KOCs).
LRB Micro- Influencer & E-commerce
The users of the Little Red Book app are young, professional women aged 18 to 35. Little Red Book is an e-commerce platform that is trend-aware and allows shoppers to find new products, leave reviews, and exchange ideas and tips, all of which result in thousands of user-generated content posts every day, much like its connected clientele, which is almost exclusively female and primarily urban.
With a built-in store, live broadcasting, shopping notes, and short films, this app has all the makings of a serious time sink. It’s a fantastic resource for enhancing the purchasing experiences of Chinese consumers by introducing them to brands through content that doesn’t feel too promotional.
Which products do better in terms of sales?
Little Red Book is a fiercely competitive marketplace for fashion and cosmetics goods both in China and outside because the app’s primary user base consists of Chinese women. A social network where users create and share their own content.
The app’s community is largely responsible for its popularity among Chinese consumers; its users actively contribute recommendations, tips, and reviews that other app users can use to improve their own shopping experiences. One of the most popular in China’s online community, it serves as a fantastic resource for consumers and businesses alike by providing a forum for the evaluation of goods and services.
People in China frequently use the APP to learn more about a product before buying it. It’s a huge boon to Chinese consumers who otherwise have a hard time distinguishing between authentic and knockoff companies.
Particularly popular are skincare and beauty items (including dietary supplements) from overseas companies that can be hard to find on other Chinese e-commerce platforms. Users in China may easily find what they’re looking for by browsing the app’s content tags, and the app also incorporates certain aspects of more conventional search engines like Baidu.
As we’ve established, the app’s highest-grossing categories are fashion and cosmetics, followed by other luxury items, the tourism industry, and lifestyle-related firms. Great for connecting Chinese consumers, the platform also benefits from the mutual aid of its user base and the firms who advertise on it.
When compared to other Chinese e-commerce platforms, how come this one has proven so successful?
To begin, the app’s user base has expanded beyond Chinese women in China; members of the global Chinese diaspora are already downloading and using Little Red Book. This means it’s become less difficult to market to Chinese tourists and expats. It’s an opportunity to learn about Chinese consumer tastes and buying habits, which can provide foreign enterprises a competitive edge in the country.
Combining a product rating and review forum with an e-commerce platform makes it easy to purchase the best product after finding it. Without a doubt, Little Red Book closes product sales faster than any other e-commerce platform.
In order to guarantee its usefulness, Little Red Book has global agreements with major cosmetics and apparel companies. In keeping with the trust of Chinese consumers.
Finally, the software takes advantage of users’ inherent confidence in one another to function. Realizing that trust is the most vital aspect of doing business for the Chinese, it becomes clear why Little Red Book has been so successful. The content of Little Red Books is entirely provided by its users in the form of testimonials and suggestions for various businesses and tourist destinations.
Key Opinion Leaders and the user-generated content they create are Little Red Book’s greatest marketing assets.
Little Red Book’s success can be attributed in large part to the high level of trust shared by its members, who are, for the most part, fashionistas. Users that regularly share photos of themselves trying out new products and commenting or advising on their use are rewarded by the platform or the brands they promote with a commission. Key Opinion Leaders are extremely powerful individuals who may single-handedly catapult a product to overnight fame.
The fact that they have devoted fans who put their faith in their decisions is their greatest asset. Over time, they’ve earned the respect of their fellow online readers, who eagerly await each of their posts. The larger their following (measured by the number of likes, comments, and shares on each new article), the greater their sway. They can hold a live stream or a Q&A session about a foreign brand that other users don’t know about, so introducing them to the brand and driving traffic to its online store.
Although it’s true that working with a Key Opinion Leader can help spread the word about your business and help you attract a loyal customer base, the cost of running an influencer campaign can quickly add up. Naturally, the higher the profile of the KOL, the more the cost of the campaign. When compared to other e-commerce sites, Little Red Book is far and away the most fruitful environment for influencers.
Therefore, we advise collaborating with Nano- or Micro-Influencers, of which we have a database of over 10,000 that we can match to practically any sector.
