In a market cluttered with numerous platforms and mega-marketplaces, there is a platform that is standing out among brands who are seeking a meaningful connection with Chinese consumers: Xiaohongshu.
The platform has fostered an online space where a large community of Chinese Gen Z at the center of China’s urbanization and consumption upgrade are sharing their lifestyles, from cosmetics and beauty to fashion, education, food, travel, entertainment, fitness, and childcare. With ordinary users who actively share their real-life experiences and provide helpful advice to the rest of the community, users are attracted to the platform to look for guidance on all things lifestyle-related. The authentic, user-generated content in turn helps consumers make better-informed consumption decisions in all aspects of their lives.
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Zhou Rui, brand solutions general manager at Xiaohongshu, said: “With over 43 million creators sharing real and useful experiences that happen in their lives on Xiaohongshu, ranging from day-to-day happenings to significant milestones such as marriage and pregnancy, the platform has become a diverse content hub.”
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“Many users turn to Xiaohongshu to seek inspiration from the content, or to search for information, tips and advice whenever they face any problems in their lives or before they make consumption decisions.”
By leveraging its unique positioning in the Chinese market, brands such as LVMH, L’Oréal and Coach, among others, are finding success by tapping on Xiaohongshu.
Through partnerships with Xiaohongshu, brands are seeing significant outcomes. Under Armour, for example, harnessed the digital trends and social sharing habits of female mathletes in China, and used the platform last year for two 360-degree campaigns aimed at empowering female athletes in China and fulfilling their needs for different kinds of sports. By leveraging the resources of Xiaohongshu, these users were exposed to the professional products and sports experiences that Under Armour represents, and encouraged to join the brand’s sports community. As Under Armour looked to deepen its connection with women, other than robust online efforts on Xiaohongshu, the campaigns also extended to offline sports carnivals in Hangzhou and Chengdu. As a result of last year’s efforts, searches for the brand on Xiaohongshu rose 190 percent in Q1 this year, and sales of Under Armour’s bra products went up by 33 percent.
In another case, in August last year, Bobbi Brown was seeking to rejuvenate its Vitamin Enriched Face Base product in the China market. While gaining data insights from Xiaohongshu that revealed huge user demand for makeup bases that give a flawless finish with no creasing, Bobbi Brown also learned that there weren’t any brands with a high brand recall, which meant there was an opportunity for it to position its product more effectively.
By analyzing big data, Bobbi Brown also found that users in China have an impression of its Vitamin Enriched Face Base as having a tangerine fragrance. The team at Xiaohongshu suggested the brand give its product a nickname, “orange cream,” which is easy to remember and helped to differentiate it from other products. By tapping influencers on the platform and using the nickname, Bobbi Brown increased mindshare and made the makeup base a hit product in the category while rejuvenating a dated product into another Bobbi Brown bestseller.
For Coach, Xiaohongshu is the way for the brand to connect and attract new consumers. Caroline Zhang, general manager of Coach China, said the brand was an early adopter of Xiaohongshu, “launching an official brand account in 2019 and engaging with the platform prior to that.”
“We leverage Xiaohongshu as a seeding platform to attract and better understand Chinese consumers – especially the younger generation – that is looking for new lifestyle and shopping options,” Zhang said. “The features of the platform are in line with the prevailing shopping habits of the Chinese consumer – they tend to seek recommendations for new products and ideas online.”
Zhang said in addition to sharing new product launches, brand news and events via its official brand account, “we engage with celebrities and KOLs to connect with a larger audience.”
“Based on our customer segmentation, we launch the iconic products to meet their different needs,” Zhang explained. “We are also able to engage with some of our key customers and brand fans – whom we call KOCs (Key Opinion Consumers) – to better understand and leverage their recommendations and preferences to not only appeal to a wider audience but to also have a more direct dialogue with targeted segments.”
Regarding some of the unique ways Coach is leveraging Xiaohongshu, Zhang said Coach started an in-house KOL engagement program about three years ago “that encourages our sales associates to become brand ambassadors through a series of empowerment initiatives.”
“Our Coach KOLs have been engaging with Xiaohongshu significantly, forming a direct channel of communication with consumers by introducing new products, sharing videos, and organizing live streams, all of which has bolstered our online sales,” Zhang said, adding that “Xiaohongshu is a unique platform where we can show a true and diversified expression of our brand’s lifestyle and creative vision.”
And in fact, many brands that use Xiaohongshu not only as a platform for direct marketing but as a “product marketing strategic partner”, find they reap a lot of benefits in not only connecting with their consumers but also listening to their feedback and iterating accordingly. According to Zhou, 81 percent of Xiaohongshu users said that they had become interested in making a purchase “after browsing products and services on our app, with recommendations leaving an impression on them.”
But Zhou added that to enable that to happen, authentic and informative content is key to gaining the trust of users.
“Xiaohongshu empowers brands to have in-depth conversations and real connections with users and influencers, so they can co-create good products and content.”