With the rise of video streaming, has the “shopping” feature disappeared from Xiaohongshu?

Recently, some users have discovered that the "Shopping" entrance at the bottom of the Xiaohongshu APP homepage has been replaced by the "Video" entrance. Behind this change, how can we understand the current product logic of Xiaohongshu? What changes have taken place in Xiaohongshu's layout attitude in e-commerce business? The author of this article interprets it, let's take a look.

“Shopping” in Xiaohongshu is gone?

Some users have discovered that the homepage of the Xiaohongshu App has been revamped and upgraded, and the important "shopping" entrance at the bottom of the homepage has disappeared, replaced by "video".

The "Video" page is presented in the form of a single-column video stream, with only one video displayed on each page. You can manually scroll down to browse new videos. There are horizontal buttons such as like, favorite, forward and comment below each video.

Xiaohongshu version before update

Xiaohongshu updated beta version

It is reported that before the independent video entrance appeared, the video streaming function launched in December 2022 had already been hidden in the notes. At that time, users entered the video notes in the information flow and slid down to enter the single-column video stream.

Two months later, the video gained the first-level entry of Xiaohongshu, and at the same time, it also raised many new suspense:

• Where does the product logic of the new version of Xiaohongshu come from?
• What changes will merchants’ operations and investments see?
• Is Xiaohongshu’s attitude towards e-commerce finally clear?

1. Video streaming is advanced and supports search

"The revised test of the new video streaming entrance started in the second half of last year, and in fact, it is not just the video entrance, so the current one is not the final official version." A person close to Xiaohongshu revealed that the initial test version was only for 5% of users, but it has not yet fully covered.

He pointed out that the product department has not yet finalized the launch time of the final official version. "We are still in the stage of discovering and solving problems. The final form is expected to be determined by the test results. Everything is subject to change."

After comparing the test versions of Xiaohongshu in different regions and on different devices, Yibang Power found that, apart from the replacement of "video" with "shopping", there are indeed some differences in the updates of other details. For the sake of clarity, Yibang Power has sorted out the update details worth noting in the latest test version as follows:

1) The "shopping" or mall section replaced by "video" has been moved to the upper channel column, alongside "recommendations" and "follow" channels. "Live broadcast" has also been moved to a relatively front position in the upper channel column. In the latest test version, "follow", "recommendations", "shopping", "live broadcast" and "nearby" are listed in the channel column in sequence, and users can switch channels by swiping the page left or right.

The updated beta version has been adjusted to the upper channel bar

2) The "Video" page has an independent search button located in the upper right corner of the video page. Currently, the search results of the video stream do not support filtering video content separately, and are basically the same as the search results and recommended content of the main page search box.

3) A new "available for purchase" label is added to the search results. Notes under the available for purchase label are all "product notes" with product purchase links. Users can click the product card in the lower left corner of the note to go directly to the product order page for purchase. It is reported that in early 2022, Xiaohongshu launched the "Go Home and Open a Store" plan and launched product notes for the first time. Users can "shop while browsing" in the Xiaohongshu information flow, and product notes can also obtain exclusive traffic.

New "Available for purchase" label in search results

4) A shopping cart button has been added to the personal homepage. In the test version for some users, a shopping cart entry has appeared in the upper right corner of the "Me" or personal homepage, where users can directly view the purchased items and related product recommendations. At the same time, the shopping cart entry originally located in the menu bar on the left side of the personal homepage has not been cancelled. In the test version, users can access the shopping cart from multiple entrances including the mall.

Added shopping cart entry to personal homepage

Regarding the change and intention of adding an independent "video" entrance, Xiaohongshu officials said that "the function is still under testing." Xiaohongshu officials did not respond to the release time of the official version of the App.

2. New traffic is coming, how can merchants capture it?

"I'm still looking forward to it." A home furnishing industry businessman said that the new video streaming entrance may mean additional traffic.

"With more traffic, everything will be easier. Xiaohongshu's traffic is more competitive in price than other platforms, and merchants will prefer the platform with cheaper traffic and can achieve the same business goals." A service provider said that the short video ecosystem may bring some new growth and transaction forms, "but it is not unfamiliar to many merchants who have been trained by short videos and it is easy to get started."

Ebrun has learned from multiple sources that in response to the newly added video streaming section, Xiaohongshu's delivery tool Quanzhan Zhitou has also launched corresponding functional updates and introduced the "video streaming advertising delivery" scenario. The latest upgrade introduction of Quanzhan Zhitou shows that when customers use the Quanzhan Zhitou advertising type to deliver video notes, the notes will be delivered to the information flow, search, and video stream.

The official product manual of Xiaohongshu's full-site smart investment mentioned that video streaming is a new delivery scenario to help customers supplement traffic. The official delivery case shows that a beauty brand with sufficient budget and a lot of video notes saw an increase of more than 100% in the number of interactions on the day of the test video streaming delivery.

According to relevant service providers, the length, content and recommendation mechanism of videos in video streams are almost the same as those in information flows, so merchants do not need to make adjustments in the production of short videos for the time being, but whether there will be changes in the future remains unknown.

Some merchants are pessimistic, believing that adding scenes does not solve the actual problems of merchants. "Just like adding pictures and texts to Douyin, it does not bring much new traffic to Douyin." The merchant said that there are two difficulties that brands are currently facing on Xiaohongshu: first, commercialization cannot be closed-loop; second, the results of the delivery are difficult to quantify. The emergence of the video streaming function has not solved these problems.

The merchant also pointed out that "for brands advertising on Xiaohongshu, search is a more important function." The middle-office data released by Xiaohongshu in 2022 also showed that 45% of users like to search to assist in decision-making.

"When users search, their intentions are actually very clear, and the reading time of pictures and texts is shorter, which can help users obtain information more directly." A service provider further supplemented the merchant's point of view. He believes that when users actively search for grass-roots, they tend to browse pictures and texts, while the function of videos is more to satisfy users' interests and recommendations.

According to a Xiaohongshu content service provider, video streaming has certain requirements for the number of videos, and the official manual of the whole site smart investment also clearly states that video streaming is "suitable for accounts with a large number of video notes." This may increase some of the delivery costs for brands that have been deeply involved in Xiaohongshu for a long time or have grown up on it. "For mature brands that have been operating on short video platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou for a while, now may be the best time to deploy Xiaohongshu." The above service provider added.

"It's hard to say what impact the addition of videos will have on businesses." People close to Xiaohongshu admitted that the core of adding video streaming entrances is to meet the needs of more users, especially young new users. "However, the background data during the testing phase has shown that users' consumption and browsing of videos are growing rapidly."

Some service providers further pointed out that information flow and video flow are just forms of content carriers. Brands that do well on Xiaohongshu all "customize" their content and products around the crowd in the community. "The brand's product design, appearance and price, as well as the content sentiment, are all designed for this group of people." He said that if these conditions are met, Xiaohongshu can well amplify the characteristics of the brand.

"Xiaohongshu has always hoped that merchants can operate in-depth in the community. It is not as simple as opening a store and posting a link." The above-mentioned person said that Xiaohongshu encourages merchants to publish more high-quality content as creators to drive more users to understand and buy their products. "Merchants on Xiaohongshu need to know how to create content."

3. Xiaohongshu's "Rush" in E-commerce

"Videos have replaced shopping, but the overall e-commerce business has been given a more important position." A service provider said that the upgrade of Xiaohongshu's new version actually "disperses" the shopping entrance and penetrates into more places. "The core of the update is the deeper integration of e-commerce and content."

In 2022, Xiaohongshu further lowered the threshold for opening a store in the "Go Home and Open a Store" plan, supporting mobile phone store opening and quick entry services.

Yibang Power learned that in 2022, Xiaohongshu did a lot of infrastructure work related to merchants, products and communities around e-commerce, including merchant guidance, product tool optimization, etc., and set up official accounts such as "Merchant Potato" and "Xiaohongshu Merchant Academy". In 2022, Xiaohongshu's transaction volume during Double 11 increased by more than 60% compared with the same period last year.

"Xiaohongshu's position on developing the e-commerce sector will not change." People close to Xiaohongshu said that many of the platform's actions in recent years have been to accelerate the transaction loop within the platform.

In 2021, Xiaohongshu cut off external links from Taobao and implemented new regulations on the integration of accounts and stores. It no longer distinguished between mall stores and account stores, and put forward the platform concept of "born from content and growing in transactions", and began to try to open up a closed loop of content marketing to on-site conversion; in 2022, Xiaohongshu issued the "Community Business Convention", emphasizing that "please do not direct transactions to outside the site in personal pages, comments, private messages, etc." In the same year, it launched the "Go Home and Open a Store" plan, and launched "shop while shopping" functions such as product notes.

As early as 2014, Xiaohongshu launched its own e-commerce welfare club based on the attributes of a content community, and also introduced third-party platforms and merchants.

"The user's mindset of shopping on Xiaohongshu was actually formed at the beginning." The above-mentioned person said that Xiaohongshu's e-commerce developed rapidly from 2014 to 2018. With the rapid increase in the user scale of Xiaohongshu between 2018 and 2022, the platform began to focus more on deepening content and community.

Quest Mobile data shows that Xiaohongshu's DAU was 20 million in 2020 and reached 65 million in 2022.

"During this period, most users who entered Xiaohongshu were attracted by the content, and their awareness of the fact that Xiaohongshu can be used for shopping has weakened." He emphasized that Xiaohongshu has always been a platform with e-commerce genes, but the strategies in different periods have different focuses. "The integration of e-commerce and content will become the primary goal of Xiaohongshu at this stage, especially represented by functions such as product notes, which will allow users to shop while browsing, and will be further reflected in the community."

Another merchant close to Xiaohongshu revealed that in the future, Xiaohongshu's shopping entrances may increase to 9, and users can directly purchase products or visit the mall through search results, personal homepages, video streams, product notes, live streaming, merchant homepage stores and shopping channels.

In fact, "videoization" has almost become a consensus among all platforms, which aims to increase user experience and user usage time to enhance the commercial value of the platform. But in the process of pursuing more traffic, how can Xiaohongshu avoid homogeneous competition with Douyin, Kuaishou and even Video Account?

"For now, it seems that Xiaohongshu will still stick to the core of community content creation, that is, 'sharing useful content'." An insider of Xiaohongshu said that when the platform's MAU reaches hundreds of millions, the user base will definitely be wide. In this case, Xiaohongshu will adhere to the community's content aesthetics and direction through incentives and guidance.

Author: Li Mengqi; Editor: Shi Hangqian

Original title: The video gets the first-level entrance to Xiaohongshu!

Source public account: Yibang Power (ID: iebrun), eliminating all e-commerce knowledge gaps.