Will Xiaohongshu change its direction again in the second half of 2024? How to sell goods in the e-commerce era!

As a platform integrating e-commerce and social media, Xiaohongshu's e-commerce market environment has changed significantly in 2024. This article analyzes the top 100 products with the highest monthly sales from February to July, providing brands with in-depth insights into the current status of Xiaohongshu's e-commerce market and user purchasing habits, helping brands seize market opportunities in the second half of the year.

At the beginning of the year, we analyzed the overall environment of the Xiaohongshu e-commerce market. With the development of the past six months, the e-commerce market environment of Xiaohongshu has also undergone certain changes. This issue also selected the top 100 products with monthly sales from February to July 2024 from 15 categories for analysis, to help everyone understand the current situation of the Xiaohongshu e-commerce market and users' purchasing habits in a timely manner, and to provide a certain reference for brands that want to enter the Xiaohongshu e-commerce market in the second half of the year.

01

1. Market size continues to grow

The overall market sales volume from February to July 2024 showed a significant increase compared with August to December 2023. During this period, the total sales of the top 100 products in each category were close to 1.5 billion yuan, an increase of about 25% over the previous period. This to a certain extent shows that Xiaohongshu's e-commerce market continues to grow.

(Data source: Qiangua)

From the sales of various categories from February to July 24, as shown in the figure below, the top five categories in terms of total sales are still apparel, medical health, underwear and home wear, personal care and food. Their total sales are all over 100 million, and there is a certain increase compared to the previous situation where only 4 categories exceeded 100 million.

(Data source: Qiangua)

As shown in the above figure, except for the shoes and boots category, the total sales of products in other categories have increased compared with the previous period. The sales growth of medical care, food, and underwear and home clothes categories ranked in the top three, among which the food category was particularly obvious, with its total product sales increasing by 50% compared with the previous period.

As the Xiaohongshu e-commerce market continues to grow, it provides brands with more development opportunities. Brands considering entering the market can choose the right products based on market trends and platform characteristics.

2. The core selling price is still mainly within 100 yuan

Although Xiaohongshu's content still tends to focus on low-order products, the core order range has changed. The number and sales contribution of absolutely low-priced products (0-10 yuan) have decreased compared with before. The core order range of products is (30-100 yuan), and related products account for about 41% of the total, and sales contribution exceeds 51%.

(Data source: Qiangua)

The average customer unit price of each category of products is analyzed (as shown below). Except for luggage and underwear and home wear, the average customer unit price of other categories of products has decreased. (PS: The decrease in customer unit price may be closely related to the season. For example, the customer unit price of spring and summer clothes in the clothing category is obviously lower than that in autumn and winter.)

(Data source: Qiangua)

The three categories with the lowest average unit price are pets, home furnishings and cosmetics, with their average unit price below 30 yuan. The low unit price and low decision-making products in these categories have lowered the average unit price of the entire category to a certain extent.

• Pet products are mainly low-unit-price products such as pet toys, cat litter and freeze-dried food. The average unit price is between RMB 19 and RMB 23, contributing nearly 42.5% to sales.
• In the home furnishing category, products with an average customer unit price of less than RMB 20, such as storage boxes, tissues, and dishes, contributed nearly 30% of sales.
• In the cosmetics category, products with an average customer unit price below 20 yuan contributed more than 31% of sales, among which false eyelashes products had an average customer unit price of around 15 yuan, but accounted for nearly 15% of sales.

The categories with higher average customer unit price are mainly healthcare, luggage, shoes and boots, etc. Among them, the average customer unit price of healthcare is the highest, which is closely related to the high decision-making characteristics of its products and requires a certain customer unit price to support it. Therefore, its average customer unit price is around 92 yuan.

With the entry of more and more overseas health brands and the rise of traditional Chinese medicine on Xiaohongshu, competition in the healthcare category will become increasingly fierce.

The low-decision categories are still dominated by the quick decision logic, and the overall product unit price is low. However, the high-decision products maintain the mainstream unit price of around 100 yuan, and will not lower the product price to cater to the quick decision path of the Xiaohongshu platform.

3. Branded product sales accounted for 40% of total sales

From the perspective of the brands of related products, after half a year of development, the total sales of branded products accounted for about 40%, which is a certain increase from the previous 33% of branded sales. However, overall, Xiaohongshu's sales are still dominated by non-branded products.

(Data source: Qiangua)

In terms of price range, the prices of non-branded products, which account for a relatively high proportion of sales volume, are mostly within 100 yuan, accounting for more than 84%. Categories with low demand for brand attributes mainly include clothing, jewelry accessories, underwear and home clothes, etc. This shows that users still pay more attention to the cost-effectiveness of wearable products rather than brand awareness.

The core sales contribution range of branded products is between [50-200 yuan], accounting for nearly 51% of sales. The categories that rely more on brand attributes include skin care, healthcare, and personal care and cleaning.

The sales contribution of branded products on Xiaohongshu e-commerce is increasing, with typical categories including healthcare, food, underwear and home clothes, etc. Among them, underwear and home clothes and healthcare are branded categories in themselves, and higher sales results can be achieved by relying on brand support.

The "Managers" recently launched by Xiaohongshu have also stimulated the vitality of its e-commerce market to a certain extent. These "Managers" have been deeply engaged in their own fields and attracted people with the same frequency by expressing themselves. It can be said that the consumption potential of Xiaohongshu is being stimulated, and more and more new segmented demands are being discovered and satisfied on Xiaohongshu.

02

The following is an analysis of the food and healthcare categories, which have seen a relatively significant increase in sales:

1. Food category

The average order value of products in the food category is relatively low, and the average order value of products with higher sales contribution is concentrated between [20 yuan-100 yuan), which meets the low decision-making characteristics of category users.

(Data source: Qiangua)

At the same time, this category does not have a strong demand for product brand attributes. In terms of sales contribution, products without brand attributes account for approximately 73% of sales.

Overall, the sales contribution of absolutely low-priced products below 10 yuan and high-order products above 200 yuan is very small. Food-related product notes ranked top 1 among 15 categories, with a total of more than 65,000 notes, while the number of top 2 food-related product notes was only around 45,000.

The core products sold in the food category are fresh fruits and snacks, which account for nearly 61.5% of sales. The number of fresh fruit products is close to 130, with an average customer unit price of around RMB 34; and the number of snack products is around 170, with an average customer unit price of around RMB 19.

①Fresh fruit products

Mainly seasonal fresh fruits, such as blueberries, durian, peaches and mangoes, etc. (ps: Compared with the prices of similar products on Pinduoduo and Taobao, the prices of products on Xiaohongshu are significantly higher. For the same 5-10 catties, the prices of products are about 10-20 yuan higher than the same type of products on Pinduoduo. Merchants on Xiaohongshu can get higher profits with higher product prices.)

(Data source: Qiangua)

The following is an analysis of several typical product notes that achieved high sales results:

The notes mainly use direct shots of the product as the cover to directly convey the product quality to users. The content of the notes is generally live shooting to increase the credibility of the video content.

(Image source: Xiaohongshu)

Some products also have their own unique marketing content and methods, such as "pineapple with mango flavor", "guava with the taste of ice cream" and "rely on guava to prolong your life during the fat loss period", etc., attracting users' attention through carefully designed copywriting content; while durian products filmed a large number of passers-by tasting content, and through tasting activities showed users that their durian products have outstanding advantages such as fresh flesh, good taste and low price, attracting the attention of durian lovers.

②Snack products

They are mainly biscuits, dried meat and bread, and their prices are basically the same as those on Taobao, Pinduoduo and other platforms. (ps: Most of these products have corresponding stores on other e-commerce platforms. Selling them on Xiaohongshu can not only directly get good sales results, but also bring exposure and traffic to other platforms to a certain extent.)

(Data source: Qiangua)

The following is an analysis of several typical product notes that achieved high sales results:

The cover of the notes are also mostly direct shots of the products, directly displaying the products and conveying the product quality to users. The content of the notes mainly includes product unboxing, display and real-person tasting.

(Image source: Xiaohongshu)

Some products have even been linked to topics related to "fat loss," gaining wider user attention and conversions.

In addition to the low-unit-price products mentioned above, there are also high-unit-price products in the food category that users are willing to pay for, such as original-cut steaks, beef ribs, and seafood prawns (as shown in the figure below).

(Data source: Qiangua)

There are only 9 related product links, but the total sales of related products reached over 8.26 million in just 5 months.

(Image source: Xiaohongshu)

The cover of the notebook is a direct shot of the product, highlighting the product's unit price advantage, such as "99 yuan for 4 boxes...", "199 for 5 kilograms...", "69.9 for 3 kilograms", etc. At the same time, some products are associated with the topic of "fat loss" that users pay close attention to.

Selling goods on Xiaohongshu may have certain advantages in terms of product prices. Individuals or merchants who have certain relevant product resources can try to sell goods by posting notes.

Not only can products with low average order value, such as fresh fruits and snacks, be sold on Xiaohongshu, but products with high average order value and high quality can also attract Xiaohongshu users to consume.

2. Healthcare category

The sales prices of medical and health care products are concentrated between 50 and 200 yuan, accounting for about 54% of the total sales.

(Data source: Qiangua)

From the perspective of efficacy, healthcare products can be roughly divided into: weight loss, female tonic, wart removal, hair care and anti-aging, etc. Among them, the top 5 products in terms of sales contributed nearly 17%.

The following are some typical hot-selling products in some subcategories for analysis:

① Weight loss products

(Data source: Qiangua)

EAFIT's weight loss products alone generated sales of nearly 25.6 million yuan in 5 months. Its notes mainly promote products to users through endorsements by celebrities, models and weight loss experts. (Link: New dividends for e-commerce! 3 merchant cases to talk about the closed-loop e-commerce business of Xiaohongshu!)

(Image source: Xiaohongshu)

In addition to the above products, there are some other products that also have certain "weight loss" effects, such as Viagra's Dehumidifier and Ashwagandha, which also achieved high sales results.

②Female nourishing products

(Data source: Qiangua)

The related products mainly include Bazhen powder, bird's nest, progesterone powder and instant fish maw, etc., with a total sales of more than 750w. The notes mainly focus on product ingredients, user pain points, etc., share health knowledge with users in the notes, implant related products, and promote product conversion.

(Image source: Xiaohongshu)

③ Wart removal effect

(Data source: Qiangua)

There are 20 product links with the same wart removal effect and 7 related brands, which can generate a total sales of more than 13 million in 5 months.

The notes mainly focus on user pain points. The cover directly hits the pain points to attract user attention. At the same time, the content directly points out the relevant symptoms of "warts", popularizes relevant knowledge to users, introduces products, and plants seeds for users.

(Image source: Xiaohongshu)

The medical and health category has strong requirements on the brand attributes of products, with branded products accounting for more than 84% of sales. Related products that want to occupy a certain market share in the medical and health category need to be supported by brands.

03 Conclusion

1. Xiaohongshu's e-commerce market is still growing, with an increase of nearly 25% compared to the previous cycle. For brands that want to expand their sales channels, Xiaohongshu is a business channel worth paying attention to.

2. Judging from the decrease in the number of absolutely low-priced products and the decline in sales share, products in all categories follow a gradual increase in sales; the increase in the proportion of brand sales is due to the influx of a large number of brands, who try to gain more market opportunities by educating users and improving product awareness.

3. Providing traffic support from the "Buyer Plan" to the "Manager Plan" helps them achieve sustained growth in their business on Xiaohongshu, showing that Xiaohongshu is actively building an e-commerce business segment and providing more support and opportunities for brands.

Some managers who insist on conveying their life attitudes to users in their own unique way can choose the Xiaohongshu platform to share their lifestyles, impress users, gain traffic exposure, and achieve the improvement of personal value and growth of commercial profits.