To turn small demands into big business, Xiaohongshu is the way to go

Xiaohongshu is like a big market, connecting a good life with niche businesses. Users search for what meets their needs, and merchants perceive user needs and develop their businesses. This article will give you an example, you can take a look.

No matter how busy she is, plus-size women's clothing designer Han Xiuxiu will open the Xiaohongshu fan group before going to bed every day to see what OOTDs the girls have shared. When this group was first established, these girls didn't even dare to report their height and weight, and they didn't have the confidence to wear suspenders or tube tops.

Yi Ding, the manager of a root plant brand, uses live streaming as a way to relieve stress. After explaining plant care methods to his fans, he often jokes, "Why don't you send them back so I can help you take care of them." But his fans say, "I won't take them back because I've become attached to them."

Tian Huan, the manager of "Tiewa Commune", insists on posting cooking videos, including stir-frying, stewing, and hot pot. The neatly arranged kitchen and a beautiful, oily iron pot are often crowded with fans who love cooking.

Zeng Mohan has two accounts, one to promote his own mattress brand "Half-Day Leisure", and the other to be a mattress buyer, doing reviews, popular science, and promoting products for "peers".

Xiaohongshu is like a big market, connecting a good life with segmented businesses.

Users like to shop on it because different people can find things that suit their tastes and meet their needs; merchants like to shop on it because they can be the first to perceive the new ideas and new demands of young people today, and can also have their skills, interests and expertise recognized and supported, thus developing into business opportunities.

It doesn’t matter if you can’t keep the user at once. As long as you have the same hobbies and love life, you will meet again.

1. Only by “listening to advice” can you go further!

Han Xiuxiu only joined Xiaohongshu in November 2022. From the very beginning, she used a different way to make friends with users.

While other brands are writing about trendy outfits and posting beautiful pictures in their notes, she is teaching buyers to fight against "body anxiety." "Your body anxiety is not your problem, but the clothes themselves are not well designed. Don't be PUA by ugly clothes." She said when chatting with buyers.

This is also Han Xiuxiu's personal experience. After graduating from the Fashion Design Institute, she entered some large clothing brands as a designer. However, what made her uncomfortable was that almost no brand's fitting models were plus-size models, and the plus-size women's clothing on the market at that time did not have much aesthetic appeal. This made her, a designer who wore plus-size clothes, very embarrassed, so she founded her own brand of the same name. "If the brand doesn't even have plus-size models, how can it make beautiful clothes that plus-size people can wear? Why can't plus-size girls wear fashionable and beautiful clothes?"

In recent years, Han Xiuxiu's brand has sold well in e-commerce channels, and communication with customers is more based on the product itself. But after coming to Xiaohongshu, she found that there are too many girls who are anxious about their body shape, and they need to rebuild their confidence before sharing their designs.

This has also formed her unique business philosophy: "I don't like blunt sales calls. I believe that the customers who come to buy my clothes are definitely looking for what they need. I just need to truly convey my survival skills and aesthetic perception as a plus-size girl." Causing emotional resonance is her business strategy to retain customers.

Han Xiuxiu repeatedly emphasizes "anti-body anxiety"

Her member group on Xiaohongshu is also changing. At first, everyone was embarrassed to tell their height and weight, but Han Xiuxiu insisted on encouraging everyone, "From today on, dress up carefully every day, look in the mirror before going out, and you can spend the whole day with a smile." Gradually, more and more people began to share their outfits, and the group became a "fashionable paradise for plus-size girls."

"They get energy from me, and I get as much energy and feedback from them as I do from them. I will incorporate these into my product design and keep improving it." Han Xiuxiu said. Now, the monthly sales of the "Han Xiuxiu" brand average over one million, of which Xiaohongshu channel accounts for 60%.

The underwear brand "Ben Xi Xin Chuang" initially only wanted to make comfortable basic underwear, but it was user demand that led the team to the "small chest underwear" track.

The managers Yoyi and Xiaoni were marketers of an underwear brand and they resigned from their jobs to start their own business. At that time, almost all brands in the underwear industry were following the trend of "size-free underwear", but after research, they found that the products were not suitable for small breasts because they did not have any support and were easy to become loose; and some French-style underwear that focused on small breasts, although good-looking, were not practical enough and lacked comfort.

With the previous research data and the feedback from bloggers and users on Xiaohongshu, the team felt that the market for "small-breasted people" had not been fully covered, so they moved closer to this group in product development and developed "small sticky strips" to replace steel rings, while having the stability comparable to steel rings. Once the product was launched, a single Xiaohongshu note sold 980,000.

Users recommend the "small glutinous rice strips" craft created by Benshixin

With this experience, the team has been doing a regular job of studying the recent pain points of small-breasted girls collected from Xiaohongshu at weekly meetings. This also allowed the team to usher in another hit product, the "Shengsheng Cup", in the summer of 2023 .

At that time, the pain point of the crowd was the styles on the market that "small breasts look big". Many coasters were not breathable, and the shapes were only designed to make them look big, but the curvature was unnatural, which was not suitable for office occasions. At the same time, some styles did not have a good effect on collecting side breasts, and some styles were not so stable and easily emptied.

To address these pain points, the team spent nearly half a year developing coasters, which had to be natural in shape, breathable enough, and slightly gathered. Every time a batch of samples was made, the team would find dozens of seed users to try them on and make modifications based on their feedback. The team didn't feel that they had succeeded until the "sisters" who worked at the factory said they couldn't take them off after putting them on .

"We are still constantly looking for the right group of people for our products," Yoyi said. The more feedback the team receives, the more they feel that they cannot simply categorize groups of people and needs. For example, the team has received feedback about "large underarms and small breasts." Many people now exercise, and back training will make their underarms bigger, so bras for small breasts will be a bit tight, so they need to be equipped with extension buckles or develop special products.

In her communication with users, Xiaoni found that "authenticity" is always the best way. "Only by expressing yourself authentically can you attract more and more like-minded people and get authentic feedback. At the same time, we will not define users. Sometimes, definition is a kind of pressure. Every girl is diverse," Xiaoni said.

2. Young people are willing to pay for "understanding me"

"Tiewa Commune" mainly sells handmade iron pots. The owner, Tian Huan, loves to cook and always calls himself "a greedy blacksmith." On Xiaohongshu, he keeps the habit of sharing the cooking process. Over time, fans began to wonder, "How can I sell the pot? It looks very useful."

This is very similar to when he first started his business. At that time, Tian Huan often went to the market and added many people on WeChat. After returning to his hometown of Enshi, Hubei, he posted his daily life of ironwork and cooking on WeChat Moments. Friends on WeChat gradually developed trust in him by observing his life, and then placed orders for his products. Some people even sent the pots they bought from Germany, Japan and other places to Tian Huan for tasting, and by the way, became seed users for Tian Huan to develop new products.

After running an e-commerce store for many years, Tian Huan found that the most suitable platform for managing customers is Xiaohongshu. "On Xiaohongshu, most users who can see your content are also interested in life and cooking. People who love cooking understand the importance of pots and pans , are interested in my content, and develop trust through continuous and professional communication, and finally make transactions naturally."

Tian Huan posted his cooking routine

This business also starts with "understanding". After graduating from university, Tian Huan worked as a "Beijing drifter" and sold second-hand houses. He was attracted by the ironware made by Japanese craftsmen by chance, and returned to his hometown to pick up the ironwork of his ancestors, and begged old blacksmiths to accept him as an apprentice. They initially made tea sets. Hong Huang, a big V who "understands ironware", contacted Tian Huan on Weibo and directly pointed out that "people who understand tea don't use ironware to drink tea, it will mix the taste, it's better to make something practical." In this way, they changed from tea sets to pots, and after more than two years of adjustment, they finally made the desired pot shape.

Since then, "authenticity" has become the background color of Tiewa Commune. "People who know the business will understand you, and novices will trust you ." On the homepage, Tian Huan will directly point out the shortcomings of the pot - heavy, with production marks, and will rust if not maintained. He also teaches everyone how to open and heat the pot. Some fans do not know how to maintain it, and leave a message in the notebook "What should I do if the pot is rusted", and the old fans will take the initiative to guide the novices.

Like Tiewa Commune, "understanding me" is also the way Yangzhidao manages its users and selects bloggers.

In 2019, Jennifer led her team to incubate the knitted cashmere brand "Yangzhidao" from 0 to 1. At that time, the team found that there were no particularly fashionable items in the cashmere knitting market, so they seized the market gap and founded Yangzhidao to fill the market demand.

Yang Zhidao and Dong Jie have a deep connection. At the end of 2021, when Dong Jie's live broadcast had not yet gained popularity, the two parties reached a cooperation. The basis of the cooperation is "understanding" .

From Dong Jie's Xiaohongshu, we can see that she is a person who spends time enjoying life seriously, and she chooses good things because she "understands". When Jennifer herself was attracted by the good things Dong Jie chose, she felt that she was the representative of "Yangzhidao", and then she naturally became the brand spokesperson.

When working with Dong Jie, she chose the smile shirt, which was not originally the main product of the brand, because she felt that she could explain the logic behind it clearly - the smile shirt can be worn in many occasions, and different combinations represent different moods, and are suitable for different personalities and scenes, so she will smile when she wears it, and this is also a piece she wears in her life. Behind Dong Jie, there is a group of users who love life as much as she does, so that products, life and brands can be connected.

Understanding life, having a lifestyle, and having requirements for life have become the criteria for Yangzhidao to select bloggers for cooperation. Firstly, such bloggers are the representatives of consumers, and they will not just treat "blogging" as a job without real life; secondly, Yangzhidao will also give bloggers the right to choose how to wear and combine clothes, and "leave appropriate blank space" under the overall expression of the "free and unrestrained" style, so that bloggers can blend their own lives into the clothes. Therefore, bloggers wear Yangzhidao and have similar dressing formulas, but each one is a little different.

The clothes of Yangzhidao are detachable, so bloggers have more choices

Jennifer believes that most people who understand life are on Xiaohongshu, so Xiaohongshu's consumers are "difficult to deceive". They are more professional about products than imagined. Whether they are celebrities or bloggers, they have to show their real lifestyle in order to impress users .

3. Users spend money, I teach them to buy the right

Before Zeng Mohan decided to start the mattress brand "Half Day Leisure", he bought mattresses from top brands in the industry at 380 yuan a piece. As a result, he discovered that the mattress industry was plagued by inflated prices and inferior products. A big-brand latex mattress priced at more than 8,000 yuan claimed to have three centimeters of latex, but when it was taken apart, it was found to have less than one centimeter.

This also made Zeng Mohan realize that most consumers are not only unable to disassemble their mattresses to check the ingredients, but also do not know the standards for measuring a good mattress, which easily leads to a situation where they "spend money but may not buy the right one."

In this way, Zeng Mohan began to use the resources accumulated when he started his business to find different professionals to talk to. He visited hundreds of manufacturers and finally focused his attention on three major areas: fabrics, filling layers and springs. "Among them, the filling layer is the most important and directly affects the consumer's sleeping experience."

Zeng Mohan spent nearly a year looking for new filling materials. After "seeing a lot of pseudo-technologies", he found a chemical company. The polymer material developed by the company was previously mainly used in automobile shock-absorbing parts, high-end shoes and clothing as elastic support. This material is also very suitable for mattresses. The two parties hit it off and developed AiR Bounce elastic mesh.

This material has excellent performance, but its production is extremely low and its cost is very high, resulting in the cost of a mattress being 8 to 10 times that of a latex mattress. How can a new brand get the general public to pay for such a high unit price?

After investigating the sales characteristics and target groups of various platforms, Zeng Mohan found that Xiaohongshu is a platform that matches the brand very well. "Xiaohongshu gathers many users who have high demands for life and strong purchasing power." This is reflected in the sales of Banrixian, which competes more with domestic products in the price range of 2,000-3,000 yuan on e-commerce channels; it only sells mid-to-high-end mattresses above 3,500 yuan on Xiaohongshu.

Xiaohongshu can become the main sales channel for the mid-to-high-end category of "Half-Day Leisure Mattresses" because of the trust of users. He opened two accounts on Xiaohongshu, "Half-Day Leisure Mattresses" and "Mattress King Mohan".

Comparison of styles between Zeng Mohan's two accounts

The former is responsible for the promotion of the Banrixian brand, using undecorated images to present the gentle texture of the mattress, allowing users to think of their own homes when seeing the pictures and generate emotional resonance; the latter is Zeng Mohan, who, as a mattress buyer, reviews mattresses to help consumers avoid pitfalls and buy the mattress that suits them best, and even promotes products for other "friendly competitors."

"The identity of a buyer has better established my credibility. Users can trust me and trust the Half-Day Leisure brand behind me. In fact, this is difficult to achieve on other platforms." Zeng Mohan mentioned that "Half-Day Leisure Mattress" plans to double its overall GMV in 2024, and Xiaohongshu's goal is to triple it year-on-year.

Yiding initially started his silver jewelry brand out of passion for it. When his interest developed to a certain depth, he discovered that there were no products on the market that could satisfy him .

This is a business that is played out. After graduating from university, Yiding did not take the postgraduate entrance examination without telling his family, and gave up the police job assigned by the school. After traveling to Tibet, the magnificent landscape and unique ethnic culture gave Yiding a great impact. He has been practicing painting and seal carving professionally since he was a child. In 2015, he founded the silver jewelry brand "Yiding Reincarnation", but because of this, his relationship with his family became cold for three years.

In the following eight years, he combined silver jewelry with everything he loved, such as combining it with camping and designing silver supplies for camping; and combining it with tuberous plants to create the brand Gri:nFingers, integrating silver products into landscape design.

Potted root plants have not been introduced to China for long, and the growth of root plants is slow, so many new players can't grasp the degree, so the maintenance environment is very important. But Yiding found that the green plant maintenance products on the market could not meet his needs.

Therefore, Yiding focused on the category of agave and developed a "one-stop shopping" that sells genuine seedlings, plant soil, flower pots, plant lights, etc. The lamps and flower pots took more than two years to develop. According to the growth characteristics of root plants, the factory was found to customize the spectrum of the irradiation lamps, and then the difference between the plants maintained under special lamps and commonly used lamps in the market was tested in a half-year cycle. The flower pots also use original materials and have obtained technical patents.

"Whatever behavior you take, your corresponding user will be like that." Yiding said that he hopes his users all like and love agave, so they will grow agave and gain emotional value from it.

Yiding doesn’t like to go out, and most of his communication with users comes from Xiaohongshu. Xiaohongshu was not Yiding’s original choice, but he found that some platforms cannot post long copywriting, but plant care is more descriptive and research-oriented, so he came to Xiaohongshu, which has more vertical groups and is suitable for long copywriting.

Yidingfa's Popular Science on Tequila

Yiding now broadcasts frequently. “If you want to truly learn the subject of plants, it’s not about how well you grow them yourself, but how well you can teach others to grow them.” In Yiding’s heart, Xiaohongshu has become a bridge connecting people with similar interests. This bridge not only increases sales, but also enables effective co-creation among users.

Summarize

The above-mentioned brands are all good businesses that have emerged in segmented tracks. Some have discovered the needs of vertical users, some have established trust and tacit understanding with users, and some have won fans with professional services. There are many similar opportunities in segmented tracks on Xiaohongshu.

In the rise100 e-commerce annual list recently released by Xiaohongshu, you can also find a variety of subcategories, such as designer furniture brands, children's book brands, toy brands, high-end goose down bedding brands, etc.

Their story answers a very important question: What can you get by doing e-commerce on Xiaohongshu?

The answer is that even newly established brands and niche markets can achieve monthly sales of millions and quickly accumulate brand effects . The premise of all this is that professional and sincere people use their expertise and operate the platform with care, and this persistence is seen by users who live with care and love the platform, and users inspire new ideas. In addition to a single transaction, the two-way trust between consumers and brands will also last for a long time, allowing the brand to continue to grow.

As Jennifer concluded, Xiaohongshu can easily help brands find gaps in the market, which is determined by the user's mindset, and users are more willing to express their needs on this platform. For merchants, if they want to seize the e-commerce dividends of Xiaohongshu, instead of spending time studying the platform's traffic algorithm, it is better to go back to the starting point and learn how to have a good dialogue with their consumers to obtain more development possibilities.

Many merchants expressed that they are glad to come to Xiaohongshu. Everyone has their own personality and can gather together to do something meaningful. More things may happen here.

Author: Su Qi, Editor: Jin Yufan

WeChat public account: Dingjiao (ID: dingjiaoone)