Last Updated on November 20, 2024 
Jeffrey Hau
What is XiaoHongShu?
XiaoHongShu, founded in 2013 by Miranda Qu and Charlwin Mao, is a Chinese social media and e-commerce platform that thrives on user-generated content (UGC). It enables users to share insights and recommendations on a wide range of topics, fostering communities where people with similar interests can connect.
This UGC model has given rise to influencers known as Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs), who offer expert advice, and Key Opinion Consumers (KOCs), who share personal product experiences. These influencers build loyal followings, and many users rely on their opinions when making purchasing decisions.
XiaoHongShu has changed the way people shop online. Rather than just buying products, users turn to the platform to research and gather recommendations before making a purchase. It’s become a go-to space for users seeking reassurance from others before trying something new, whether it’s a product, service, or a restaurant.
While it shares similarities with Pinterest, particularly in its community-driven content, XiaoHongShu stands apart by integrating e-commerce directly into the platform. Unlike Pinterest, which is primarily about entertainment and inspiration, XiaoHongShu is a “social commerce” platform where users can both discover products and purchase them seamlessly through its “Shop” feature.
XiaoHongShu’s Target Demographic
In China
As of June 2024, XiaoHongShu’s users in China skyrocketed to an amount of 212 million users. XiaoHongShu’s main user demographics in China are female, who make up 70% of XiaoHongShu’s Chinese users.
These female users of XiaoHongShu are mainly located in Chinese Tier-1 cities, which are more urban and well-developed, such as Shanghai and Beijing.
The majority of these users are also between the age range of 25 to 34 years old, and most of them are urban, white-collar workers with a higher income range.
As the main users’ demographics are female, these users of the platform are also more interested in more feminine topics such as fashion and beauty.
Outside of China
The cultural significance of XiaoHongShu also lets it reach out to the international market.
XiaoHongShu’s overseas users mainly consist of four main demographics:
- Chinese Tourists
- International Students
- Chinese Migrants
- Overseas Chinese Population
XiaoHongShu’s international user base mostly relies on Chinese people living overseas, and we believe that this is due to the nature of XiaoHongShu’s content, which is mainly in the Chinese language.
However, these native users in foreign countries scattered across the globe such as Europe, America, Australia, and New Zealand amounting to a total of 86 million users are high-value users to XiaoHongShu as a social commerce platform, as these users are usually high-income groups, meaning that they are capable of and willing to spend their money on products, making them an attractive target for businesses on XiaoHongShu.
Besides overseas Chinese users, overseas Chinese users in Southeast Asian countries like Malaysia and Singapore have also built their own community on the platform, with a total of 2 million active users between these two countries.
Why is XiaoHongShu So Popular?
Authentic User-Generated Content (UGC)
A major factor that brought XiaoHongShu to fame is its emphasis on authentic user-generated content.
Unlike other social media platforms that are highly infused with promotional content from brands, XiaoHongShu focuses on letting users express their genuine thoughts on their topics of interest.
Users can post content to share their own experiences or recommendations on products while exchanging opinions with other users through discussions on the platform’s comment sections.
For example, a popular category of product reviews on the platform is beauty product reviews, which aligns with the interests of female users. A good review post requires the reviewer to provide comprehensive information on the product usage, and also the ability to summarize the pros and cons of the product clearly.
XiaoHongShu’s unique UGC-focused mechanism also gathers information on the same topic from different users with different perspectives, allowing users to access all this information to follow which is the most relatable to them.
According to research from the University of Leeds, the herd mentality means that humans prefer, and have higher trust in facts that are backed by other people’s opinions.
In this case, the platform of XiaoHongShu perfectly caters to this behavior. Users of XiaoHongShu can get opinions from other users on certain topics or products before making their purchase decisions.
Real users can provide unbiased recommendations and opinions to help you make better purchase decisions. With this information, you can avoid disappointing purchases and only get satisfying options.
Personalized Feed According to Interest
Another specialty of XiaoHongShu is its well-designed and advanced algorithm. The homepage, known as the ‘Explore’ page is the first thing presented to users when they visit the platform.
Although it is named as the ‘explore’ page, rather than promoting new content for the users to explore, the content of the explore page of each user is actually precisely tailored to the user’s interests by the platform’s algorithm.
Whenever users interact with a XiaoHongShu note, such as liking, saving the note, or searching for specific topics, every user’s actions are detected by XiaoHongShu’s algorithm.
Then, the algorithm will study the content of the note to identify the topics of interest of the particular user. When it has a clear vision of the user’s interest, more relevant notes to the user’s interest will be recommended on the user’s ‘Explore’ page.
Besides the algorithm’s analysis of users’ interests, the platform also recommends notes to users in different ways, like through location.
For example, the ‘Nearby’ page only shows notes posted in the same geographical location as the user, aiming to show relatable notes based on geographical proximity with the user.
In addition, when users enter the search function, the platform also recommends trending search topics to the user to stimulate users interest in viewing the content.
Great Algorithm for Filtering Good Content
Apart from personalizing content recommendations for users, the platform’s powerful algorithm also works as a filter to ensure that all users are only introduced to useful, high-quality content.
A unique feature of the platform’s algorithm is the technique it uses to evaluate and filter out the best content creators for the platform, known as the ‘sandbox’ method. New users creating content will be put under an observation phase known as the ‘sandbox’ phase lasting from a week to a month.
In this phase, the algorithm will analyze the content of each note to verify its quality and authenticity before granting it access to reach a wide audience.
If the content posted is deemed as too promotional, the user will fail in the sandbox phase and the note’s visibility to users will be restricted.
After new users get through the sandbox phase, the algorithm will judge the quality of their notes based on engagement rates from the audience.
The notes will be recommended by the algorithm to a smaller pool of audience first to observe the response of this smaller audience.
If this audience shows interest in the content by engaging with the note through actions such as liking, commenting, and saving, the note is perceived as high-quality and will be rewarded by being recommended to a wider audience.
In this case, XiaoHongShu’s users are guaranteed the best experience to only enjoy the most relevant and insightful content, driving more hype to the platform.
Content for All Parts of the User Journey
As mentioned above, XiaoHongShu is a platform that combines the best of both worlds of social media and e-commerce.
Therefore, the content on XiaoHongShu is mainly product-related, and aimed to assist users throughout their purchasing journey. This journey can be broken down into three main phases:
- The Awareness Phase (Top of the Marketing Funnel): In the awareness phase, users are seeking basic product information to gain awareness of the product, and XiaoHongShu’s role is to stimulate interest in the user about the specific product. For example, the user is searching for a holiday destination suitable for family trips. XiaoHongShu can help these users by providing eye-catching related content, such as image-based notes featuring beautiful scenery of New Zealand to influence the user to visit New Zealand.
- The Consideration Phase (Middle of the Marketing Funnel): In the consideration phase, the user has shown interest in the specific product and is carrying out deeper research on the product for further actions. XiaoHongShu in this phase acts as a detailed information source for users to carry out their desired research on the product they are interested in. For example, users can search for places to visit, dine, stay, and shop in New Zealand on XiaoHongShu to get ideas for their planned trip.
- The Decision Phase (Bottom of the Marketing Funnel): This is the most important phase as it is the phase deciding whether users convert into purchasing customers or not. In this phase, users already have a clear vision and plan about their desired purchase, and are looking for reviews from experienced users to reassure them of their choice. XiaoHongShu’s role in this final phase is to serve as a platform to connect these users with experienced users to get reviews on the places they selected. For example, the users have decided on dining at a specific restaurant in New Zealand, so they are searching for reviews about that restaurant on XiaoHongShu.
After going through this journey, these users have converted into customers and visited the country themselves, they will come back to XiaoHongShu to share their own opinions, closing this loop and the whole cycle continues again on the platform.
Seamless Shopping Experience
XiaoHongShu’s matured e-commerce functions are also a main contributor to its popularity.
The platform is a one-stop solution for users wanting to purchase a product, meaning that they can carry out all the necessary actions in the purchasing process without leaving the XiaoHongShu application.
The whole process includes browsing, researching, and ordering are all available on the platform.
The XiaoHongShu algorithm helps you to browse products according to your interest, the robust content provided by other users assists you in doing your product research, and the XiaoHongShu shop feature allows you to place your order and payment directly to the seller.
The XiaoHongShu shop works just like any other e-commerce platform, equipped with all the related features such as a shopping cart, product wishlist, coupons, and much more!
You can see that the whole process is carried out in minimal steps, without links directing you to other sites for certain actions, making the process short and sweet, even for customers new to e-commerce!
A particularly successful brand on XiaoHongShu Shop is Jellycat. Jellycat is a British stuffed toy brand that gained massive success on the XiaoHongShu shop, where each of its products has achieved hundreds to even thousands of sales on the platform.
This case shows the massive potential of the XiaoHongShu shop as a platform for brands to access a wider, profitable customer base, especially the main user groups of XiaoHongShu with high spending power.
Community Engagement Within Niches
The ability of XiaoHongShu to build niche communities and create cohesiveness among users is amazing, therefore making it a popular destination for users who want to engage with other people with mutual interests.
Interpersonal interactions are available through many features of the platform, such as the Direct Message (DM) feature, allowing users to engage with each other through chatting on the platform.
Moreover, this feature is not just limited between user-to-user. If you came across a note that left you with questions, you can also message the content creator directly through this feature!
Group chats are also supported by this feature, where you can start a group chat with the new friends you made on the platform, or you can join a group chat created by an influencer to interact with their other followers!
Don’t worry that your topic of interest might be too ‘niche’ or ‘not well-known enough’, you can definitely find people who love the same things as you do on XiaoHongShu, thanks to its algorithm and community-building features.
Eager to have exchanges and discussions with other users of the platform? The comment function on XiaoHongShu notes is a great place for that. You can connect with other content creators you love and learn something new in the comment section of their notes!
Besides interactions through the platform, the users of XiaoHongShu also developed ways to interact with others within their niche in real life, such as physical meetups.
Did you know that some KOLs on XiaoHongShu will hold physical gatherings for them to exchange ideas and experiences on content creation?
For example, Chinese KOLs living overseas will have gatherings with other KOLs in the same country to share XiaoHongShu tips while enjoying a good time together
Want to Take Advantage of XiaoHongShu's Popularity?
XiaoHongShu’s popularity is something that many foreign brands want to take advantage of – especially when you take the size of the Chinese market into consideration.
However, it’s also intimidating, mostly because Chinese consumers think and buy things differently from foreign consumers.
But we’re here to change that, by guiding brands and helping them succeed in the Chinese market through XiaoHongShu. Feel free to contact us for a free consultation if you’re interested!
