This represents an perplex opportunity for ball-shaped brands to build their market presence in China. It ’ second why big players like Chanel and Dior are paying then much attention to the platform .
In this post, we’ll give you the low-down on this amazing site. In particular, we ’ ll show you how ball-shaped brands are jumping on Little Red Book in a big way, using it to help drive their growing bearing within the chinese commercialize .
Let ’ s depart with the basics .
What is Little Red Book (Xiaohongshu), and how does it work?
Created in 2014, Xiaohongshu, besides known as Little Red Book, or plainly Redbook, has grown to become China ’ s foremost fashion and luxury shop chopine .
And now, the tricky part: Little Red Book (Xiaohongshu) isn’t really a shopping platform at all.
preferably, it ’ sulfur beginning and foremost a contentedness sharing locate, where users can post product photos with reviews and tips for other users to read, comment, and save to their boards – like Pinterest .
In fact, some have described the platform as being a intersection search engine, or “ like Instagram and Pinterest sprinkled with a dose of Taobao ” .
In contrast with other e-commerce platforms, Little Red Book focuses on a unique blend of trusted user-generated content, word of mouth advertising, and online community-building.
however you describe it, this curious mix has proven to be a huge score with unseasoned urban chinese women, who often struggle to find trust sources of product information .
But how does the site solve, precisely ?
well, Little Red Book has two sections : the user community, and the e-commerce platform .
source : TheNextWeb
little Red Book users can engage with platform message in three ways :
- Liking the content – similar to Facebook’s “like” feature.
- Collecting the content – saving it under a bookmark for future reference.
- Commenting on the content – interacting with the post and the user.
Little Red Book focuses heavily on building trust and reliability between the platform and consumers, rewarding users for posting suggestions and advice to followers.
By posting unconstipated, quality content, users can quickly attract meaning followings, and can even earn commission by becoming influencers – more on this below .
reservoir : WalkTheChat
In fact, the most democratic posts on Little Red Book tend to be author-tagged lists of convenient, economic, or easy-to-use products .
The popularity of these kinds of posts shows the value of authenticity on the platform, with users rewarding influencers for realism, accessibility, and being relatable.
For an model, let ’ s turn to the following post – a user discussing the trials of finding products desirable for medium skin :
source : TheNextWeb
interestingly, Little Red Book avoid many distinctive e-commerce practices. It doesn ’ t allow anonymous reviews or one-click ratings, for example, rather encouraging detailed, immersive intersection reviews known as “ notes ” .
The site besides includes a eminent focus on security, with modify brands and retailers having to submit an application before being accepted on the platform .
All of this adds up to a unique value proposition for the platform, in that users can share content, review products, and purchase items all from the same place .
Combine this with a strong concenter on hope communities of like-minded shoppers, and it ’ s not hard to see why Little Red Book has resonated so powerfully with users .
now, let ’ s take a look at who precisely is using the platform .
Who is using Little Red Book (Xiaohongshu)?
little Red Book had attracted 100 million users by late 2018 .
crucially, 90 % of these users are in-between or upper-class women with higher degrees of disposable income. This is an incredibly lucrative market for global fashion and cosmetics brands.
Since its establish, Little Red Book has hit some perplex stats. For example, on June 6 2017, Little Red Book held a denounce festival to celebrate the anniversary of its initiation, with sales gross exceeding 100 million RMB in good two hours .
Co-founder and CEO Mao Wenchao has said that 70 to 80% of Little Red Book’s users are women .
other estimates have put this number tied higher, with one source suggesting it could be vitamin a high as 95 %. What ’ s more, over 50 % of these users are between the ages of 18-35, and are living in Tier 1 and 2 cities in China .
And it isn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate precisely on-line users who get to benefit from Little Red Book – the chopine besides launched a brick-and-mortar store in Shanghai in June 2018 .
therefore, that ’ s a flying overview of the 100 million people using little crimson Book.
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But which industries have the best casual of succeeding on the platform ?
Which industries are Little Red Book (Xiaohongshu) best suited for?
With its firm focus on the beauty and fashion markets, Little Red Book has set itself aside from early chinese social media and e-commerce platforms such as WeChat and Weibo .
This content focus, plus the singular demographics of Little Red Book ’ s exploiter base, make it a great paroxysm for lavishness beauty brands like Dior and Chanel, a well as high-end cosmetic brands like Fenty and Lancôme .
The intensity of this marketplace focus has besides helped Little Red Book to secure $ 300 million USD in series D fund from investors, including e-commerce titan Alibaba .
A makeup listing on Little Red Book. informant : Creative Union
however, Little Red Book besides features a lot of content about life style products such as nutritional supplements. Posts concerning tourism and oversea destinations are besides popular, with a set of travel bloggers getting in on the action .
Helpfully, Little Red Book also features an “explore” section, letting viewers explore other users’ content on topics like fashion, food, and travel.
There ’ second besides a “ nearby ” segment to alert users to shopping experiences in their physical environment .
Tourism posts on Little Red Book. informant : Jing Travel
These features help show the versatility of the platform, with huge opportunities for global brands throughout the life style and beauty industries, including cosmetics, clothe, and change of location products .
future, we ’ ll take a look at how global brands are using Little Red Book to drive sales .
How are global brands using Little Red Book (Xiaohongshu)?
Currently, there are around 8,000 verified brands featuring products on Little Red Book , including many major global brands.
even Kim Kardashian is getting in on the military action, creating an official report in deep 2018 to help promote her makeup line, KKW .
In an feat to appeal to the local audience, a fortune of ball-shaped brands are translating their packaging into Mandarin, and are partnering with Chinese key opinion leaders ( KOLs ). This includes Chanel, Gucci and Dior, all of whom have all enlisted chinese celebrities for their ads .
This kind of betrothal can take a lot of effort at the local anesthetic degree, and potentially requires input from translators and production agencies .
In late 2018, Little Red Book also opened a “brand partner platform”, a feature aimed at connecting brands with influencers and KOLs to arrange for sponsored content.
Little Red Book ’ second trade name collaborator platform. source : market To China
Using this serve, companies on the platform can be connected with any of its 4,800 influencers by searching content tags. Companies can besides view key metrics such as an influencer ’ s number of likes, modal hits and comments per post, and fan counts .
Since the unveil of this avail, many ball-shaped lavishness brands ( including YSL, Shiseido, and Fendi ) have entered into official collaborations with KOLs, helping to drive extra interest in their products .
The platform has besides invited actresses from democratic television drama series to join Little Red Book as smasher bloggers, sharing their makeup routines to their hearing of followers .
Little Red Book’s strong focus on content integrity has made it a lot easier for users to know when they’re viewing a paid ad, and when they’re viewing authentic content.
For model, influencers must register any pay promotional links with brands, and users failing to disclose gainful posts can be reprimanded .
so, what can we expect to see from Little Red Book in 2019 ?
What you can expect to see from Little Red Book (Xiaohongshu) in 2019
Given the perplex growth we ’ ve seen from Little Red Book over the last five years, we can expect significant extra emergence in 2019. however, as the platform continues to grow and evolve, it besides has to face a number of problems .
One thing the platform is looking to address is the number of “ window shoppers ” : users finding products on Little Red Book, then purchasing them on Taobao or other apps alternatively .
To combat this, Little Red Book has stopped companies from inserting links within contented encouraging users to visit early e-commerce sites. This helps to keep shoppers on the app. however, if users still want to shop elsewhere, they can .
Another problem is the charge from some users that the site has become besides commercial and no longer encourages the same originality from users. Given the variety of message that sets Little Red Book apart from early platforms, this will be important for the company to address .
Whatever 2019 has in store, global brands will want to make certain they don ’ thymine miss out on what Little Red Book has to offer !
Don’t miss out on this innovative platform
short Red Book has seen amazing growth over the past five years .
What ’ s more, it ’ s committedness to meaningful community interaction and user integrity means it ‘s likely to attract a distribute more users in 2019 .
If you ’ re a ball-shaped luxury or life style brand looking to boost your presence in the chinese market, it pays to take the time and effort to build your casualness with this unique platform .
Once you’re ready, you can jump right in by establishing an official account, making your products available, and engaging with your community of fans and consumers.
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When you ’ re done here, be sure to check out our update on the 2019 Chinese social media landscape .
Need more help on marketing to a ball-shaped hearing ? Join our exclusive webinar with Global Marketing Strategist, Joel Backaler :
