Can Xiaohongshu’s buyers’ first 618 shopping event support the platform’s e-commerce ambitions?

Why is this year's 618 promotion difficult but Xiaohongshu chose to challenge it? This article will help you explore the reasons and understand why Xiaohongshu has such great ambitions for this year's 618. This article is recommended to bloggers and operators who want to run the Xiaohongshu platform, so that they can understand the characteristics of Xiaohongshu and deeply explore the characteristics of buyers.

When talking about this year's 618, even Li Jiaqi couldn't help but complain that it was "too difficult". Indeed, after years of competition, the difficulty of live streaming has reached the next level, and the 618 promotion period is no exception. Is there really no new opportunity for live streaming? At present, a popular view in the industry is that in addition to Douyin, Kuaishou and Taobao, Xiaohongshu and Video Account are the most likely new outlets for live streaming.

In order to verify this point of view, Xiaohongshu and Xinbang recently joined hands to create the "Focus 30 Xiaohongshu E-commerce Business Monthly List 618 Live Broadcast Season Special Edition", and selected a "Focus30 Buyer List" from the dimensions of content performance, sales data, growth rate, vertical track, etc., and hope to talk about Xiaohongshu's live broadcast business first.

Since Xiaohongshu put forward the slogan "The buyer era has arrived" in August last year, this is also the first time that Xiaohongshu buyers have participated in the 618 shopping event.

What are the differences between Xiaohongshu buyers and live streamers? Has their value been verified by the market? What are the opportunities and challenges of Xiaohongshu? By analyzing the "Focus30 Buyer List", we may be able to get some answers.

1. Live broadcast rooms with GMV of tens of millions appear frequently, and Xiaohongshu buyers fight for the first time in 618

During this year's 618, the performance of top buyers such as "Zhang Xiaohui" and "Dong Jie" remained stable. Among them, the live broadcast transaction amount of "Zhang Xiaohui" once again exceeded 100 million yuan, and the GMV of a single product exceeded 10 million yuan.

However, observing the "Focus30 Buyer List", we find that Xiaohongshu buyers are not a single case of success. At a time when 618 is becoming more and more inward-looking, Xiaohongshu still has many buyers with GMV of tens of millions and millions. From the "Focus30 Buyer List", we can see that professional buyers who have deeply cultivated vertical fields, amateur buyers who have grown rapidly from zero foundation, and transformation buyers who have switched from external sites to Xiaohongshu have become the main force of the list.

Unlike other platforms, Xiaohongshu has stronger strategy attributes. Many users are used to searching for various strategies and checking life guides on Xiaohongshu. A large number of content creators are publishing vertical content on Xiaohongshu, some of which are refined and some are in-depth. In such a content soil, many vertical buyers were born. They achieved performance breakthroughs by deeply digging and looking for good vertical products and good brands.

"Xingren" is a boy who has lived alone in a small town for 10 years. By focusing on the home furnishing track and sharing high-cost-effective home furnishing products with fans, "Xingren" has accumulated 760,000 fans on Xiaohongshu. During the 618 period this year, the monthly GMV of "Xingren" exceeded 5 million yuan.

"Rong Erduo'er" has created the persona of "Ms. Rong, a nagging, fashionable, happy and sincere best friend" to share the sweet girl's urban vacation style outfits. She has attracted 800,000 fans on Xiaohongshu, with a single-game GMV of over 24 million yuan, and has created many hot-selling products with a single-game GMV of one million yuan.

In fact, Xiaohongshu buyers have been subdivided into multiple tracks such as fashion, beauty, home, food, maternal and child education, sports and outdoor, and a group of benchmark buyers have emerged in each track, including "missDuansasa" in the fashion track, "Winnie Wen" in the beauty track, "Zhang Zhenglin (the yard is being renovated)" in the home track, "Xiao Xiao Xiao Xiao Xiao Xiaoer" in the food track, "Four Babies Combined Life" in the maternal and child education track, and "Zhao Andy" in the sports and outdoor track.

As for the emergence of amateur buyers, it is due to Xiaohongshu's more accurate algorithm traffic recommendation and relatively friendly community atmosphere. On Xiaohongshu, as long as the content shared is sincere, useful and professional, even an amateur can be recognized by Xiaohongshu users. This is why many amateur buyers can complete their account by updating diligently and providing sincere and interesting content.

The food buyer "Xiao Xiao" is a typical amateur, but through very high-frequency food broadcasts, he started with 0 fans, and his fans increased to 76,000 in half a year, with a monthly GMV of over one million.

Home buyer "Zhang Zhenglin (yard renovation in progress)" attracted a lot of fans by sharing the renovation process of his own county yard, and achieved a monthly GMV of 800,000 yuan when he had 10,000 fans.

With the development of Xiaohongshu's e-commerce, a number of external Vs including "bbgillian代王", "writer Zhang Meng", "Xiaoxiaoxiaoxiaoxiaoxiaoer", "Zhang Yueer Masani", and "HZIRISXY" have also begun to settle in Xiaohongshu.

As the content e-commerce industry enters the second half, many content creators have encountered growth bottlenecks. Xiaohongshu has become one of the channels for many people to seek growth. Relying on their previous fan accumulation and content experience, many content creators on other platforms have indeed broken through their own transaction ceilings on Xiaohongshu.

"bbgillian代王" is a senior purchasing agent. As early as 2020, she became a top anchor on Taobao. After joining Xiaohongshu, "bbgillian代王" has been deeply involved in the home furnishing track. With her many years of overseas shopping experience and senior product selection team, she helped Xiaohongshu users to discover niche brands, and finally achieved a monthly GMV of over one million.

"Writer Zhang Meng" is a best-selling author who has been loved by many users on platforms such as Douyin and Weibo. After becoming a buyer on Xiaohongshu, "Writer Zhang Meng" shared her healthy lifestyle while recommending beautiful and healthy quality products to fans. Half a year after the first broadcast, she became a buyer with a GMV of tens of millions.

On June 3, Doudou Bendou, a blogger with millions of fans, achieved a single-game GMV of over 17 million yuan in his first broadcast on Xiaohongshu. Prior to this, Doudou Bendou attracted the attention of 1.2 million Xiaohongshu users by sharing his own life aesthetics.

To some extent, this 618 is more like a big test: from shouting the slogan "The buyer's era has arrived" to now, after nearly a year of exploration, can Xiaohongshu and buyers find a sales path that is different from traditional live streaming?

At present, it seems that buyers of different tracks and types can achieve certain results on Xiaohongshu and start their own buying career.

2. From shopping consultant to fan friend, Xiaohongshu buyers’ sales methodology

Why can Xiaohongshu buyers achieve the current results? Focusing on niche markets is the biggest difference between Xiaohongshu buyers and anchors on other platforms.

During the 618 period this year, the beauty buyer "Crystal Boss Fang" achieved cumulative sales of over 10 million yuan. A very important reason for this was his focus on the cinema replica beauty track.

As early as 2018, "Crystal Boss Fang", who was still a flight attendant, began posting on Xiaohongshu, sharing foreign cosmetics, cosmeceuticals, etc., and finally transformed into a full-time creator in 2020.

"Crystal Fang Boss" said: "Users are not interested in things they have seen and know whether they are good or not. They like things they didn't know before but found good after using them."

In the end, "Crystal Boss Fang" chose the track of replicating beauty products in cinemas. With the help of the "Challenge 100 Cinemas Around the World" and "1:1 Cinema Reproduction" series of content, "Crystal Boss Fang" attracted a lot of attention from users. "Cinema products are mainly offline, and many users cannot buy or see them. When they see such products on the platform, they will feel very fresh."

In June last year, "Crystal Boss Fang" started broadcasting and became a buyer for Xiaohongshu. During the 618 period this year, he led four cinema brands to achieve a million GMV special event.

In the opinion of "Boss Crystal Fang", to become a buyer for Xiaohongshu, one must first become an Internet girlfriend of Xiaohongshu users. Because "the sisters on Xiaohongshu will do their own homework instead of just listening to you."

When selecting products, "Crystal Boss Fang" insists that "product selection is not about choosing, but about using", and will first try out and do product research. Before the broadcast, "Crystal Boss Fang" will do detailed product preheating and seeding, with the premise of improving the quality of life of users, rather than blindly competing for low prices. In terms of fan operations, "Crystal Boss Fang" will often reply to private messages and answer questions within the fan group.

"Now, there is no need for me to answer questions in the fan group, because many sisters already understand and will directly answer other sisters' questions."

If "Crystal Boss Fang" became the internet bestie of Xiaohongshu users by relying on her professional knowledge of theaters, "Four Kids' Combination Life" is a true amateur development buyer.

Last May, Jingjing, who is also a mother of two, and her neighbor Taozi founded the Xiaohongshu account "Four Kids' Life" to share their life with their children. The two started with zero followers and increased their followers to 60,000 in one year. The GMV of their live broadcasts also increased from 1,000 yuan per show to 5 million yuan per month.

Jingjing recalled: "When we first started live streaming, it was so wild. We even selected products directly from the platform's selection pool. They were all sold at normal prices, without live streaming prices, and the commission was also very low. At the beginning, we relied purely on note sharing and hard streaming, and we didn't make good use of the live streaming tools."

But the two did not give up. Instead, they continued to improve their professional skills and make up for their live broadcast and market experience through frequent live broadcasts and continuous trial and error. "At least we should make it clear why the product is expensive, so that people can understand what they are buying." Jingjing said that at first, "Four Kids' Combination Life" mainly focused on toys, but as the two explored and tried, the main track was changed to children's clothing.

Last year on Children's Day, the GMV of "Four Kids' Life" exceeded 20,000 yuan for the first time. Earlier this year, "Four Kids' Life" and a certain brand jointly broadcast a special show, and the second show achieved a GMV of over 700,000 yuan.

With the joining of Jingjing's husband, the team of "Four Kids' Life Together" has become stronger and stronger. At the beginning of this year, they also expanded the studio and rented a 140-square-meter flat downstairs from their home.

Jingjing said that in February this year, their income as buyers covered their previous job income for the first time, and in March, the "life of four kids" finally entered a virtuous circle.

For those who transform themselves into Xiaohongshu buyers through other channels, sincerity is the first priority.

"Hehe" is both a UP host at Bilibili and a buyer on Xiaohongshu. In her opinion, the most important thing for a buyer is sincerity. So she will start with brands that she is familiar with and share her real shopping and wearing experience.

"Many of the things I recommend are things I have worn for a long time. From daily commuting to travel and vacation, these products have been with me. When I recommend these products to users, they are also very willing to buy them." "Hehe" said: "I am a person with a strong desire to share. Every time I buy a product that I like and am satisfied with, I want to recommend it to people around me."

Although there were difficulties in product selection, manpower, time and other aspects when he first started as a buyer, with the accumulation of live broadcast experience and the help of team members, "Hehe"'s buyer career quickly got on the right track. During the 618 period this year, "Hehe" conducted his sixth live broadcast on Xiaohongshu, and finally brought in more than 13 million yuan in sales.

"Hehe" and his fans are like friends in real life, and the products carry the stories between them. Some fans wore new clothes bought from "Hehe"'s live broadcast room to interviews and finally got the job; some fans and "Hehe" have a magical tacit understanding and left messages saying: "I have tried on everything you want to bring to your live broadcast room today."

As "crystal boss Fang" said, buyers are there to share beauty and present love and ideal life in the live broadcast room. The community background of Xiaohongshu is shopping guides, but shopping is not the ultimate goal, but having a certain life is. Therefore, Xiaohongshu buyers often show a certain lifestyle through notes such as grass-planting collections and life sharing, thereby becoming shopping consultants in a certain segment.

Compared with the shouting style of anchors, Xiaohongshu buyers rarely shout in the live broadcast room, but prefer to promote products to users through their unique aesthetics and tastes. This is because buyers often do not follow the crowd when selecting products, but will incorporate their own aesthetic preferences.

Because of the difference between notes and live broadcasts, the relationship between buyers and fans is closer to that of friends in real life than that of buyers and sellers. In Jingjing's opinion, when opening a store offline, customers often only come to buy things and do not establish any relationship with the store owner, but the logic of buyers is that users like something first and then make a transaction.

Overall, more focused note content, more sincere live broadcast style, and closer fan relationships are the three main characteristics of Xiaohongshu buyers.

3. Live-action lifestyle magazines: opportunities and limitations for buyers of Xiaohongshu

What is the source of Xiaohongshu’s buyer sales power?

When asked about the reason for focusing on cinema products, "Crystal Boss Fang" said that she herself is a beneficiary of cinema products, so she wants to share these products. "I hope that other sisters with skin problems can also see changes."

The core contradiction in the current content e-commerce industry is the contradiction between unlimited information and products and limited consumers. The underlying logic of Xiaohongshu buyers is that more focused content and products bring more accurate users, and more in-tune buyers and fans bring deeper trust, ultimately achieving more efficient sales.

This more accurate information and product screening allows Xiaohongshu buyers to promote high-priced products and niche brands even though their overall number of fans is not high, thus achieving low fans and high GMV.

Home buyer "Xingren" sold a rice cooker worth 599 yuan, which sold over 800,000 yuan per unit. Fashion buyer "Auntie Leg Hair" helped several niche brands achieve GMV of over one million yuan per unit. Food buyer "Xiaoxiaoxiaoxiaoxiaoxiaoer" has nearly 80,000 fans, but she sold over 500,000 yuan of goods in her second show.

Overall, as a latecomer, Xiaohongshu still needs to continuously improve its e-commerce infrastructure if it wants to serve a larger number of buyers and merchant brands.

In addition, unlike anchors on other platforms, Xiaohongshu buyers do not take the big and comprehensive route, but rather prefer the professional route. Looking through the buyers' accounts is like reading a lifestyle magazine. To some extent, today's buyers are like magazine editors back then. Their job is not to recommend all products, but to selectively publish content and recommend products.

The result is that, unlike platforms such as Douyin, Kuaishou and Taobao, Xiaohongshu has taken a differentiated e-commerce route, placing more emphasis on the professionalism of buyers and the interaction between buyers and fans.

This is a new path. On the road of improving Xiaohongshu's e-commerce ecosystem and expanding Xiaohongshu's buyer group, new problems will inevitably arise. In the future, perhaps only more sincere and professional people can become the biggest beneficiaries of this new e-commerce exploration.

Author: Yun Feiyang; Editor: Zhang Jie

Source: WeChat public account "Xinbang"