Xiaohongshu has been revamped again! What does it mean for brands?

Xiaohongshu changed the "shopping" option at the bottom of the homepage to the "video" option. What is the real significance of this change? What new challenges does it bring to merchants? The author below gives you a detailed analysis and some inspirations and thoughts about the revision of Xiaohongshu's page. Let's take a look.

If you often visit Xiaohongshu and are familiar with it, you will find that Xiaohongshu has made another change. The "Shopping" option at the bottom of the homepage has been changed to "Video". What is the real significance of this change? What new challenges does it bring to merchants?

This issue will take you through a detailed analysis of some inspirations and thoughts after the revision of the Xiaohongshu page.

1. Xiaohongshu Tab Bar Redesign

1. Revision timeline

Official data show that from 2019 to 2020, 97% of creators on the Xiaohongshu platform have published video notes, and the number of videos published on the platform has increased by 4 times. Since the launch of the "Video Account" in August 2020;

Qu Fang, the founder of Xiaohongshu, announced that the company would embark on a "second venture" and move towards "Community 2.0 with more diversified video content expression."

On December 30, 2022, Xiaohongshu video streaming will be 100% online;

On January 5, 2023, the "Shopping" entrance on the original bottom Tab bar was replaced by "Video" , and the user experience is basically similar to that of short video platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou.

2. Before vs After

When we click on a video in the video column of Xiaohongshu, various video notes will appear on the Internet. For video lovers, this is a natural thing. At the same time, if we think about it from another angle, Xiaohongshu has opened a separate column for video notes, so is it mainly encouraging bloggers and companies to post video notes?

Compared with graphic notes, video notes are more intuitive and expressive. Is this official move to promote the closed-loop transaction rate of Xiaohongshu? We don’t know, but merchants will definitely increase their investment in video notes in the future. At the same time, the cost of video notes is higher, which means that if companies want to get high exposure, the investment cost will be higher.

Here are some brands that reflect several problems. Let’s take a look at what the author [Zhuang Jun] thinks;

Q1: Will the location of the shopping entrance before the revision be gradually weakened or cancelled?

A1: No. Xiaohongshu has always wanted to be a closed loop of e-commerce, and it is obvious that the threshold for people who want to open a store on Xiaohongshu, whether they are individual bloggers or merchants, is getting lower and lower.

Q2: What are the differences in video length, content, and functions after the revision compared to the Douyin short video platform?

A2: Actually, they are all about presenting content. As long as it is a content platform, video and live broadcast are inevitable trends in the Internet economy. As a platform that started with pictures and texts, Xiaohongshu naturally needs to be updated and iterated.

Q3: Will Xiaohongshu become more and more like Douyin? What is the essential difference between it and Douyin and Video Account?

A3: No. Xiaohongshu still has its own attributes, which is called a platform for planting seeds for the mind. For users, especially girls, it can even be called a "pocket guide". Of course, the 30% of male users can also think so.

The difference between it and Douyin is that Douyin is still entertaining in nature. If merchants want to build a brand, Xiaohongshu must be used to promote products.

The Douyin section is based on the average order value. If the average order value of a product is low, the decision-making cost is low and the product will sell faster. However, if a merchant has a high-priced product, it is necessary to plant the seed in Xiaohongshu’s mind.

Of course, I think the trend of video accounts this year is also quite good. What is the difference between Xiaohongshu and it?

For example, after a merchant has done some private domain, some users are already in the private domain, which can promote the transaction of products. But I think this year's video account will gradually become more social and do fission.

Q4: What are the essential differences between the revised version and the regular version of video notes?

A4: There is no difference in essence. The video content is still the same as before. It’s just that the arrangement of some indicative icons has changed. After the revision, when watching videos from the video entrance, you will find that the interactive functions such as following bloggers, liking, collecting, forwarding, and commenting are all placed in a straight line, which is more in line with people’s behavior when watching videos (most people are used to holding their phones in their left hands).

There is a probabilistic scenario that different groups of people may accidentally follow a blogger or like a video while watching videos. Compared with Douyin and Kuaishou, the revised version of this function will be more humane.

Q5: What is the essential difference between video streaming and ordinary video?

A5: If some businesses are doing advertising now, they are actually doing it as usual. However, there is no obvious difference in the video stream of the information flow section. We may provide additional information after communicating with the official later.

2. Three dimensions to look at Xiaohongshu's revision

1. From the official perspective of Xiaohongshu

(1) What is the purpose of the Red Book?

Xiaohongshu has actually always wanted to be a closed loop in the e-commerce sector. As a practitioner, one of my students lamented that this year, it was obvious that many bloggers or merchants who had never worked on Xiaohongshu before began to enter Xiaohongshu and even opened stores on Xiaohongshu.

So according to the growth trend of the e-commerce sector, there should be a greater growth this year, but the specific growth situation still depends on the specific data.

(2) E-commerce efforts: live streaming

After a closer look at the revised version, you will find that live streaming is placed together with shopping. If the live streaming section is always at the front, there is no doubt that Xiaohongshu is promoting the live streaming section. And we can also clearly feel that if some merchants have a high average order value, the live streaming section of Xiaohongshu is even more necessary.

2. User perspective

(1) User experience : more friendly and more obvious entrance

Now when we open Xiaohongshu and search for some notes, its position has obviously changed.

Search can better obtain graphic notes . First, in the past, if Xiaohongshu wanted to promote a video at a certain time, some notes would be ranked higher in the search function. But after the separation, more graphic notes will appear in the search bar. If you want to watch a video, you can directly click on the video.

Second, it has stronger filtering capabilities. You no longer need to search for keywords in the search bar and filter note types. You can just click on the page. When users search, their intention is very clear about what kind of content they want to search for, and the reading time of pictures and texts is shorter, so users can get it better after separation.

(2) User Mindset

Senior users . The platform’s users are divided into age groups. As senior users, their reading habits will be the same as in the past.

New users are a new group of people who may have only recently come into contact with Xiaohongshu. They are still young and can develop new reading habits.

For example, he is already used to using TikTok. Sometimes when I open this video, I wonder "Is it TikTok or Xiaohongshu?"

The revision will not change the positioning of the Xiaohongshu platform, it will just provide users with one more choice.

3. Brand Merchants’ Perspective

(1) What does supporting video streaming mean to businesses?

I think it is also an additional option. Going deeper, merchants can have one more option to test - whether the video streaming method will make the advertisement more obvious, or better make a relevant display.

Because in the past, we relied on some content that appeared in the recommended section. If users knew that it was an advertisement, they might not watch it. But they might still see it in the video stream.

We still need to wait for the merchant to provide some specific feedback later.

(2) What can you do on Xiaohongshu using short videos?

In fact, this point has been talked about a lot. Merchants are just trying to plant grass, gain exposure, and close deals. That’s basically it.

(3) Will it affect Xiaohongshu’s advertising proportion and decision-making?

I think brands only care about what Xiaohongshu can bring to them. For businesses, video streaming or short videos only care about one thing: whether it can bring me greater exposure, or whether it can increase sales.

Small changes don’t exactly take center stage.

(4) Which type of merchants is more suitable for advertising on Xiaohongshu’s video stream?

According to official courses, video streaming currently has a positive effect on brands that are relatively weak in streaming.

(5) The necessity of paying attention to Xiaohongshu marketing: high traffic cost-effectiveness

Why is Tmall's traffic more expensive than Xiaohongshu? For merchants and brands, they will naturally tend to choose the platform with cheaper traffic and the ability to achieve their business goals.

In terms of mental penetration and the population, Xiaohongshu has a relatively high cost-effectiveness in traffic among so many platforms. More e-commerce people are willing to open stores on Xiaohongshu. To put it bluntly, it is a problem of traffic succession.

A home furnishing brand we recently came into contact with reaped the benefits of Xiaohongshu in the past, but because it did not pay attention to its operations on Xiaohongshu, it still focused on Tmall. In addition to discovering that Tmall's traffic was becoming more and more expensive, some of its competitors also grew up completely from Xiaohongshu.

So they will invest more in the Xiaohongshu section this year.

I understand that some brands have very high average order value, with a set costing about 3,000 to 4,000 yuan, and a single item usually costs more than 1,000 yuan. However, they are doing very well on Xiaohongshu because they value Xiaohongshu. Xiaohongshu does not do much sales or ranking, and provides these merchants, especially small and medium-sized merchants who pursue quality, with a platform that can differentiate themselves.

The consumers of Xiaohongshu love life, so the brand's average order value is naturally affordable. Of course, apart from the average order value, these brands understand the consumers of the group better, such as Dyson and Tineco . Brands that understand the psychology of the consumer group better will do better in Xiaohongshu.

Other brands that have been trying to earn sales by selling at low prices are actually unlikely to have long-term profits. Although they can sell their products, after doing some calculations from the merchant's perspective, including labor costs and various other expenses, they will find that the path of small profits but quick turnover is not a long-term solution.

There will be more opportunities for niche brands in the future on Xiaohongshu . So on Xiaohongshu, products with high average order value sell well. In fact, the reason is not only the understanding of users, but also the creation of products for users.

Some of the brands that are doing well now, no matter from what angle, basically customize products and content for a certain group of people.

Customization does not mean taking a product and customizing it according to the user’s ideas, but rather that the brand specifically serves this type of people. Therefore, in addition to the design, appearance and price, the content and emotions of the brand’s products are all created for the customized group of people.

Only under such conditions can a brand do better, and Xiaohongshu can help you amplify it better.

3. Zhuang Jun’s opinion on the change of Xiaohongshu

I think Xiaohongshu is a platform that anyone doing e-commerce must use. The only difference is the importance and investment ratio. It depends on what the company focuses on. If the company focuses more on selling goods, Xiaohongshu is a traffic generator for them.

But if you want to incubate a new brand, become a cutting-edge brand, or capture people's minds faster than your competitors, you must invest heavily in Xiaohongshu.

Xiaohongshu has actually been slowly gaining momentum, gradually transitioning in a gentle manner, and slowly presenting better content to users and brands.

IV. Conclusion

Xiaohongshu has its own ideas behind every change, but it will eventually return to a closed-loop transaction. When Xiaohongshu begins to realize that traffic is beginning to leak out, it will take measures to keep the traffic within the site.

The revision of the bottom tab bar has opened up a larger gap for Xiaohongshu in advertising revenue. Once users develop a habit of watching videos, the keyword search rate in the search bar will decrease. Xiaohongshu is also investing more in the accuracy of algorithm recommendations, which will most likely bring greater opportunities for advertising revenue.

What do you think of the new version of Xiaohongshu? Let’s discuss it in the comment section and communication group.

Author: Zhuang Jun Creative Team

Source: WeChat public account "Zhuang Jun (ID: zhuangjunweixin)"