After studying 50 business cases, we found the 2024 Xiaohongshu e-commerce business tips

As a social and e-commerce platform, Xiaohongshu has long developed a business model that is different from other platforms. The author of this article analyzes some successful businesses on Xiaohongshu and summarizes three principles, which are suitable for friends who want to operate Xiaohongshu.

There is no doubt that Xiaohongshu is becoming a new business growth area for brands and merchants.

In 2023, after the clarion call of "buyer e-commerce", Xiaohongshu ushered in a year of vigorous commercial development. On the one hand, many well-known buyer live broadcast rooms appeared on the platform, such as Dong Jie's [Dong Life] and Zhang Xiaohui's [Rose]; on the other hand, a group of benchmark merchants also emerged on Xiaohongshu, including old domestic brands that have achieved rejuvenation on the site, and new cutting-edge brands that have "broken through" and achieved a double explosion in volume and sales.

Under the spotlight, Xiaohongshu has taken a unique e-commerce path and achieved impressive results. Official data shows that compared with 2022, the number of merchants with annual transaction volume exceeding 100 million yuan on Xiaohongshu has increased by 500%, and the number of merchants with annual transaction volume exceeding 10 million yuan has increased by 380%.

With the solid growth, more and more merchants are aware of the potential of Xiaohongshu e-commerce and want to join in, but the problem facing them is: as a natural content-seeking platform, Xiaohongshu has a unique business logic. Some business models that are suitable for other e-commerce platforms may be difficult to "work" on Xiaohongshu.

Is it metaphysics to be a Xiaohongshu user? How can we seize the dividends of Xiaohongshu e-commerce? What kind of brands are more likely to "take off" on Xiaohongshu?

As the commercialization of the platform gradually matures, this series of questions has also been clearly answered, and doing business on Xiaohongshu is entering the era of "certainty". Recently, Xiaohongshu e-commerce released [100 Xiaohongshu e-commerce business tips] , screening out merchants and buyers who have performed well on the site in the past year, and summarizing the merchant business index in five dimensions of "sales power, fan power, service power, cooperation power, and content power", hoping to help more merchants find methods and handles to guide the direction of business growth.

After studying this note in detail, Kas found that merchants who are doing well on Xiaohongshu have several common characteristics: firmly grasping product strength, creating high-quality content, and doing both buyer live broadcasts and brand store live broadcasts, expanding their voice while seeking growth.

In this article, Kas will interpret the latest gameplay and brand growth path of Xiaohongshu e-commerce through the practices of six brands: CITIC Children's Books, Oneup, Zou Sanhe, Shannai Jewellery, ItoshIroshI, and Xiyuchun.

01 Xiaohongshu’s winning formula: “Focus on people and understand people”

In 2023, the booming development of Xiaohongshu e-commerce has attracted the attention of more brands and merchants. However, unlike the business logic of other platforms, Xiaohongshu's native business ecology grows on the user's behavior path, which means that if brands want to open up sales on Xiaohongshu, they must pay attention to the real needs of "people".

Looking through [100 e-commerce business tips from Xiaohongshu], Kas found that brands that have achieved "product and effect integration" on Xiaohongshu have consolidated the competitiveness of their products in different directions and found the focus of product creation through Xiaohongshu.

The first is trend insight. Brands that catch up with the trend are more likely to win the favor of users. In the content field, Xiaohongshu once proposed the "15° angle" theory, that is, "content and opinions come from life, but are slightly ahead of life." For brands, the same can be applied to product insights.

ItoshIroshI is a women's clothing brand that focuses on French retro and minimalist styles, mainly targeting commuting women aged 25-45. Last year, the "French style" swept Xiaohongshu, and the brand was keenly aware of this trend and opened a commercial closed loop of "planting grass-conversion" on Xiaohongshu, which increased its popularity in one fell swoop.

The essence of French dressing is to create an effortless beauty. The utilitarian items on the homepage of ItoshIroshI, with their neat lines, texture and fashion, just fit this popular formula. The brand's design concept of "creating a relaxed and comfortable dressing state" also caters to the pursuit of "relaxation" by Xiaohongshu users this year. Since then, the brand has continuously strengthened its French style and entered the live broadcast room of buyers with the same tone, achieving an explosion in sales.

@ItoshIroshI Xiaohongshu account

Second, brands that “listen to advice” have the best luck. From “listen to advice for amateur transformation” to “listen to advice for cultural tourism”, “listen to advice” is not only a popular form of mutual assistance among amateurs, but also a major trend in brand marketing.

"Listening to advice" strengthens the two-way communication between brands and users. Many brands have found that "the earliest user voices often come from Xiaohongshu". Receiving real needs from users and constantly improving products have become the core of brands entering the young circle.

Xinjiang Xiyuchun is a state-owned dairy brand with a history of 68 years. In order to expand beyond Xinjiang, the brand uses Xiaohongshu as an online incremental channel. Xiyuchun's "advisory" journey originated from a new product launch. Users found that the transparent box for yogurt was very practical, and began to "reuse" it, such as using it as a lunch box for rice, as a sealed jar for storage, and for pickling pickles, and proposed improvement suggestions to the official.

@Xinjiang Xiyuchun Dairy Xiaohongshu account

After collecting real feedback from users, Xiyuchun "listened to advice" in time and not only launched a version without partitions, but also modified the buckles step by step, improved the sealing of the lunch box, and added tableware... In the co-creation with users, Xiyuchun took this "buying the casket and returning the pearl" to the extreme, and joked to itself, "Who still remembers that I sell yogurt?" While attracting more users with the selling point of "buy yogurt and get a lunch box for free", "listening to advice" also allowed Xiyuchun to gain a large number of highly sticky fans and promoted the rejuvenation of traditional brands.

Third, by providing "differentiated value", niche tracks can also release monetization potential.

Before coming to Xiaohongshu, the biggest problem Shannai Jewellery encountered was the choice of track and direction. After looking at other cultural and artistic brands, Shannai Jewellery decided to make some differentiated products, namely "light cultural and artistic" - more like accessories than cultural and artistic, targeting young women who love cultural and artistic and handmade beads.

In line with the "national tide" trend, the brand first read a large number of ancient documents and books, integrated Chinese cultural symbols into modern design, and conveyed a lifestyle of returning to nature through the collision of Chinese elements and modern aesthetics. This type of design is very consistent with Xiaohongshu users' preference for "novel and unique" products. A Dunhuang-style sweater chain under the brand sold more than 1,000 pieces in one month. After placing an order, many people posted their orders and said that "the color matching and texture design hit the mark" and "it retains both Chinese aesthetics and modern style."

@Shannai Jewellery Xiaohongshu account

On Xiaohongshu, ShannaiJewellery has received cooperation invitations from many provincial museums and historical sites in China, and has also been invited by overseas brand stores to open overseas stores.

At the internal communication meeting for its 10th anniversary, Xiaohongshu proposed three keywords for its future direction, one of which is "people-oriented", which means starting from the users themselves, "paying attention to people and understanding people". This means that brands must not only do a good job of trend insight and lock in the group of people who best match the product selling points, but also understand the detailed needs of target consumers. The more brands can match product functions with life scenarios, the more positive feedback they will receive on Xiaohongshu.

02 Rules for hot content on Xiaohongshu: Internet-friendly and empathetic

Real and rich content is the foundation of Xiaohongshu. It is worth noting that Xiaohongshu's "decentralized" distribution logic allows every brand and merchant to have an equal opportunity to capture user attention at the starting line of traffic. From this point of view, content is not only the best shortcut for brands to reach users, but also the key to brands' "upward growth" on Xiaohongshu.

In the past year, when content has become a recognized bridge for communicating with users, in order to reach users deeply, brands have launched a content matrix on Xiaohongshu, or established a sense of familiarity among young people through "playing with memes" and "making things happen", expanding their voice, or having close conversations with users through touching high-quality content to achieve a sales explosion.

CITIC Children's Books proves the value of the latter's content. In 2022, CITIC Children's Books began to try to plant grass on Xiaohongshu, initially promoting new books through bloggers. A year later, the brand officially entered the Xiaohongshu e-commerce market, focusing on children's picture books with strong storytelling, and created many popular notes on the site through high-frequency and high-quality content output, and achieved soaring sales through note chains.

At present, @中信童书 has gained more than 120,000 precise fans on Xiaohongshu, and the store’s monthly transaction volume has stabilized at around 1 million, of which the transaction volume brought by popular notes accounts for more than 60%.

By reviewing the business history of CITIC Children's Books, Kas extracted a methodology for creating popular content that can be used as a reference and replicated by businesses.

1. The birth of popular notes stems from the brand's accurate grasp of the content presentation format

On Xiaohongshu, CITIC Children's Books adopts the form of combining pictures, texts and short videos. Specifically, the advantage of pictures and texts is that they are clear and intuitive, which can help users quickly grasp the key points. Books in the form of picture books are very suitable for using pictures and texts for promotion. For example, "Four Seasons of the Little Fox", which tells the story of the little fox's growth, has a childlike style, colorful pictures and the texture of the picture book.

In contrast, video notes carry more dense information, which can accelerate consumer decision-making and promote conversion. For example, in the videos of CITIC Children's Books, mothers in the editorial department will share their personal experiences, in addition to showing the content of the book in detail, and share their personal insights based on their own parenting experiences, so as to impress users with real experiences.

@Zhongxin Children's Book Little Red Book Account

2. Focus on empathy, hit pain points directly, and provide users with emotional value

If brands want to deeply connect with users, they must understand their most essential needs at the psychological level. On Xiaohongshu, new mothers are often anxious about their children's early education. Therefore, CITIC Children's Books mainly promotes children's picture books such as emotional, social enlightenment, and philosophical enlightenment, focusing on children aged 3-10, and using notes to directly address their parenting pain points.

In March last year, CITIC Children's Books launched a hit note - "If Animals Have Money", a picture book that teaches children how to deal with money. In the note, CITIC Children's Books lists children's "buy, buy, buy" needs in different life scenarios, and uses this as a starting point to introduce the stories of the little animals in the book dealing with money, such as "you can't buy everything" and "visit a few more stores and take a look", and shares the practical money-saving methods provided in the book.

Because of the deep empathy with the mother in teaching her child not to spend money recklessly, this note received 16,000 likes and 19,000 collections on Xiaohongshu, and brought over 200,000 yuan in sales to CITIC Children's Books. Users actively interacted in the comment area, saying, "It's perfect for my son. My son even wants to buy the earth, so I can only buy him a globe."

Since then, the brand has gradually found a way to write popular notes, which has boosted the traffic weight of the entire account. The brand has also produced a series of popular note introduction books, such as "The Little Monster Who Loves to Lose Temper" for children's emotional management, "The Greedy Little Crocodile" to encourage children to bravely express their ideas, and "Seeing Children" to help parents understand themselves and their children, all of which have achieved good sales on Xiaohongshu.

3. “Internet sense” is the prerequisite for brands to “dominate” Xiaohongshu

According to CITIC Children's Books, those who are currently operating Xiaohongshu are all people who have experience in children's book marketing and are heavy Xiaohongshu users. They understand life and have a sense of the internet. They often have great imaginations and write popular notes with high empathy.

The food brand @邹三和 also proves this point. On Xiaohongshu, Zou Sanhe seized the trend of short videos and presented the production process and usage scenarios of the products in a dramatic and life-like way. The brand has set up a video content creation team of about 20 people. The members closely follow the hot topics on the site and produce a large number of notes that are in line with the platform's tone, such as "Zou Sanhe, you are confused if you don't promote this" and "The whole family unanimously agreed to include this in the New Year's Eve dinner list".

@Zou San and Xiaohongshu account

By producing this kind of online content, Zou Sanhe quickly captured the young circle on Xiaohongshu, and related notes also drove brand transactions. In Zou Sanhe's overall output each month, content transactions account for about 70%.

03 Xiaohongshu live broadcast "breaks through": buyers' live broadcast expands the volume, and brands' own live broadcast maintains steady growth

In the past year, Xiaohongshu's "buyer e-commerce" has quickly become popular. The key is that, unlike general e-commerce live broadcast rooms, the focus of buyer live broadcast rooms is not on price, but on the buyer's professional ability and personal style. By establishing a trusting relationship with users, buyers can deeply understand user needs and better convey the value of goods.

For brands, in addition to being able to better serve users, most of the buyers on Xiaohongshu already have a certain degree of fame and a stable customer base, which can serve as an endorsement for them. With the influence of buyers, new brands, especially those with strong product power, can quickly open up sales channels and have a smoother start.

Take the designer original brand ItoshIroshI as an example. Although it has caught the trend of "French style" and "relaxed style", in the long run, its product style is still not mainstream, resulting in a small range of brand reach and insufficient community user awareness.

The breakthrough came in March last year, when ItoshIroshI started cooperating with platform buyers for the first time, hoping to leverage the publicity effect of the top live broadcast rooms to expand the brand's voice and achieve rapid growth. According to the brand, the brand has so far cooperated with more than 100 buyers and reached in-depth cooperation with many top and mid-level buyers. The cumulative transaction volume on the Xiaohongshu platform has exceeded 20 million.

@ItoshIroshI Enter the live broadcast room of Xiong Naijin, Wu Xin and Dong Jie

In particular, last October, ItoshIroshI entered the [Dong Life] live broadcast room with new autumn and winter products. Because the simple and fashionable style of the clothes matched Dong Jie's temperament, it attracted the attention and purchase of many fans at once, with sales exceeding 7 million on the spot and the cumulative transaction volume exceeding 10 million that month, winning the first place in sales of [Dong Life] live broadcast room in October.

Therefore, for some merchants in niche tracks, successfully entering a buyer’s live broadcast room with a matching image and style can not only achieve explosive growth in business, but also allow the buyer’s image to enhance the brand image, which is a good opportunity to increase brand awareness.

Of course, "fit" does not mean that the characteristics of buyers and brands must be completely consistent. Merchants can appropriately broaden the range of buyers' choices based on the actual situation of the products and usage scenarios, which can expand the brand's reach and be more conducive to business growth.

Sports brands like Oneup initially tended to cooperate with professional sports bloggers on the platform for live broadcasts, but the number of bloggers in this vertical category is limited, and the influence they bring is also limited. If they want to achieve more growth, they must expand outward.

At the suggestion of the platform staff, Oneup adjusted its goal to cooperate with bloggers whose "fans have sports lifestyle needs" and tried to enter the live broadcast rooms of buyers who specialize in sportswear and fashion wear, successfully reaching more potential users.

@Oneup cooperates with Xiaohongshu buyers

In order to better accept new customers from buyers, Oneup also quickly built a store broadcast room to meet the daily consumption needs of fans and ensure stable monthly revenue. It is understood that Oneup only officially launched Xiaohongshu in August last year, and its monthly sales on Xiaohongshu exceeded 2 million by October last year.

Similar to Oneup, Shannai Jewellery also set up its own store live broadcast room on Xiaohongshu. As a startup brand, Shannai faced many problems when it first entered Xiaohongshu.

On the one hand, compared with mature brands, they have limited staff and funds, and do not have such strong brand appeal . They are a little unsure about cooperating with bloggers and buyers rashly. On the other hand, the brand's beaded accessories are all handmade, which are highly specific and cannot be mass-produced. From a supply perspective, it is difficult to meet the stocking needs of the top buyers' live broadcast rooms. In this situation, the founder decided to "break through" by broadcasting himself.

In the absence of professional buyers, the designer sits in front of the camera to demonstrate the process of stringing beads of different materials together one by one, and slowly shares the production methods and design concepts with the audience, allowing consumers to witness the birth of the entire bead string.

Compared with the common self-broadcasting rooms, Shannai's home is less noisy and more peaceful, which is similar to the "slow live broadcast" style that is most popular among users on the platform, and it touches the hearts of the audience in the live broadcast room. It is understood that Shannai's first live broadcast had sales of over 100,000 without a fan base or investment bonus.

The visible income has strengthened the team's determination to stick to self-broadcasting. Now, around 3 pm every day, fans can see the familiar hands appear in front of the camera. With the continued operation of the brand, its monthly sales on the platform have reached millions.

The Shannai Jewellery case has undoubtedly given a shot in the arm to many brands that are still in the "early" stage . Especially for brands in the niche market, self-broadcasting can better display product details, share product concepts, increase opportunities to communicate with fans, and make the brand's "growth path" more stable.

Through the cases of the above six merchants, we can see that no matter what style, type, or stage the merchant is in, if it can make advantages in product upgrades, content reach, user co-creation, buyer cooperation, store self-broadcasting , etc., and form a set of "combination punches", its path to rise within the site will be much smoother.

The experience of the pioneers does not have to be copied completely, but it is certainly possible to obtain valuable information from them. In addition to the experience summarized by Kas, there are more cases in the [100 e-commerce business tips from Xiaohongshu] mentioned above for reference by merchants in different tracks.

There is no doubt that in 2023, Xiaohongshu will move towards a new milestone in e-commerce with a more steady pace and clearer goals, which means more opportunities for many businesses. Not long ago, Xiaohongshu officially announced that it would become a note-taking and live-streaming sharing platform for the Central Spring Festival Gala, and will launch a companion live-streaming "Everyone's Spring Festival Gala" on New Year's Eve, watching the Spring Festival Gala and buying the same products with users.

It is foreseeable that with the traffic boost from major marketing festivals, both Xiaohongshu's user data and e-commerce data will usher in a new round of explosion. In this period of explosion, in 2024, if brands can actively plan, explore and find an operating method that suits their own characteristics, they will inevitably usher in new development opportunities on Xiaohongshu.

Author: Kas Data; WeChat public account: Kas Data