Xiaohongshu buyers have always been on the opposite side of the merchants

In the Xiaohongshu e-commerce live streaming section, there is a gap between buyers and merchants. Successful buyers can make money through live streaming, but there are very few merchants who really make money through Xiaohongshu e-commerce live streaming. In this article, we will look at three different types of participants in the Xiaohongshu e-commerce live streaming ecosystem.

In the Xiaohongshu live e-commerce ecosystem, there are three types of participants:

The first type is merchants who use the logic of Douyin’s broadcast to do Xiaohongshu’s broadcast, with the mechanism fully utilized and crazy BD.

This logic is actually fine now, because Xiaohongshu's e-commerce live broadcast section is currently in a situation of "unequal supply and demand", and most buyers are out of stock. This is the bonus period of Xiaohongshu's early live broadcast. At this stage, relying on the logic of Douyin BD live broadcast, it can also be broadcast and sell goods.

But this short-term bonus is not sustainable, and this model will become increasingly difficult to do. It is only a matter of time. Why do I say that? Grafted things are indeed the fastest, but they are not necessarily suitable, nor can they truly meet the real needs of the native ecosystem, because the community has its own native nature. You must follow the native direction to better meet the native needs. The logic of Douyin’s live broadcast is different from the buyer live broadcast logic that Xiaohongshu wants to follow, and it does not meet the native needs of the community. Therefore, it can be done in the short term, but it will not be sustainable in the long run.

The second way is to negotiate the live broadcast while releasing the expert notes.

There are quite a lot of such merchants. It doesn't matter who I invest in. I spend money not only on cooperation with experts who are willing to put our products in the live broadcast room and sell them.

Don't worry, if you invest in notes and also send you live streaming experts to sell goods, the live streaming will not be able to sell much. Of course, it is not ruled out that some merchants will find experts who are good at both notes and live streaming, and whose products also meet the requirements of live streaming, and the live streaming effect is also very good in the end, but this is definitely a low-probability event, and few merchants can encounter this.

Instead of focusing on the amount of live broadcast output, it is better to invest in some experts who have better note content and add the condition of live broadcast cooperation. This will definitely sacrifice some experts who have good note content but are unwilling to do live broadcasts. Perhaps the actual effect brought by these experts is much better than that brought by live broadcasts.

The third type is the buyers who really make money.

The account is positioned as a buyer's account. The notes not only promote products but also preheat live broadcasts. The live broadcast frequency is high and the pallets are not messy. Most of them are "front shop and back factory" type buyers. They have their own stable suppliers or supply chains, or they are directly the brand managers. Among 100 SKUs, 80 are their own goods.

The logic is also very simple. The real buyer live broadcast is based on product selection and aesthetics. Buyers contribute their own aesthetics to select products, and even customize some products according to the needs of fans. This can only be achieved if you have your own supply chain or deep cooperation with suppliers. There may be a small number of brands whose ready-made products do meet the needs, and we will choose to cooperate, but the proportion will not be too high. There are still few such products, and even if we cooperate, they will not become the main products. We can only say that they are sold along with them.

Aren’t these buyers standing on the opposite side of the merchants? If you have a very popular product, you don’t need buyers to bring it, and buyers are not willing to bring it. How many real buyers are willing to put aside their own selection logic in order to earn some conversions? If you don’t have a very low volume product, then it depends on whether your product matches my selection and it is a small probability event.

Currently, in the e-commerce live streaming section of Xiaohongshu, buyers and merchants are separated. Good buyers do make money, but the merchants who really make money from Xiaohongshu's e-commerce live streaming are just exceptions and can be counted on one hand.

If merchants want to carve out a niche in Xiaohongshu’s live streaming e-commerce, there is only one way: to become the manager of an account!

There are two key roles in Xiaohongshu e-commerce: "buyers" and "managers". The former are creators who communicate between brands and consumers, while the latter are both the person in charge and creator of the brand.

On the one hand, it is the sense of trust brought by the real content; on the other hand, the company’s own products must also be in line with the manager’s product selection palette.

Compared with buyers, managers can better convey brand concepts and empathize with consumers from the perspective of managers. People themselves have emotional value and can naturally give products and brands a sense of sensibility.

For Xiaohongshu users, they may not be the most price-sensitive group, but they are definitely the most emotional and the ones who can best understand the brand.

People are communicative, and the interaction between people always surpasses any one-way output of content and brands to people. Compared with traditional brands with one-way expression, it is actually easier for managers to impress Xiaohongshu users.

Regarding the brand opportunities in Xiaohongshu’s e-commerce live streaming section, I vote for the manager. What do you think?

above.