From buyer ecommerce (买手电商) to founders as IPs (创始人IP) and merchant-led livestreams (店播), it seems the lifestyle social platform Xiaohongshu (Red) keeps innovating ways of social commerce without top livestreamers (at least conventional top livestreamers).
But are these livestream-based ecommerce tactics diverse manifestations of one master plan, or just unrelated explorations in different directions? Are they just new names given to the same old livestream ecommerce formula? As Double 11 looms large, it is worth examining Xiaohongshu’s latest moves in social commerce a little closer.
Buyers
Buyer ecommerce was first launched by Xiaohongshu about a year ago, also ahead of Double 11. At the time, it was to convert its 'expert users” (达人) who are experts in “seeding' (raising awareness and desirability of certain products or services) into livestreaming sellers. These expert users turned into 'buyers' (as in fashion buyers), or 'personal shoppers' as they are knowledgeable about the merchandise they sell and some are already trendsetting influencers.
Buyer also refers to the celebrity-turned-livestreamers that already made huge sales in the previous 618 Shopping Festival, such as actresses Dong Jie and Teresa Cheung Siu-wai. They offer a slower, quieter narrative-based livestream that tells the story of the brand sold, styling suggestions or even just general chat on the stream that is differentiated from top streamers on other platforms. They also represent a more sophisticated lifestyle for many.
Top buyers
Fast forward a year, buyers have evolved into various types. Top buyers now include fashion media figure Hung Huang and comedian Li Dan. Hung actually opened a buyer boutique called BNC (薄荷糯米葱) that specialised in Chinese designers in Beijing 15 years ago, one of the first of its kind, and she feels that her new channel is a spiritual successor or resurrection of BNC, or BNC 2.0.
Li Dan, however, is very different as he answers viewers’ questions and gives comedic but sincere answers. Viewers tend to discuss buying snacks from his channel as paying for tickets to a stand-up (mostly sit-down in this case) show. Li Dan’s channel needs this justification because it does not provide the lowest price compared to other platforms. The difference is made up by the “emotional value” provided by Dan’s performance.
However, some pundits feel Li is more like an experiment as Xiaohongshu is still focusing on taste, aesthetics and lifestyle. However, providing emotional value has proven successful as many streamers are trying to copy Li’s style. In fact, many buyers are adopting a new mode of providing emotional value first and sales second. This has been a useful tool as fighting for the lowest price has been fruitless for streamers and merchants.
Xiaohongshu has also released a guide and ranking of its top buyers and the sectors they are well versed in.
Lifestyle ecommerce
Xiaohongshu COO Conan introduced the concept of lifestyle ecommerce in an interview this July. She notes that each merchandise needs to be put into its use scenario for consumers to experience it in action before the transaction happens. Xiaohongshu strives to match the products, their use scenarios and the people. That is what they mean by lifestyle ecommerce.
Merchant-led livestreaming has been welcomed by most platforms since the controversies surrounding top streamers such as Li Jiaqi, Xinba and 'Crazy' Little Brother Yang. Xiaohongshu is also pushing merchant-led e-commerce, as well as entrepreneurs and founders as IPs, which is a blend of merchant-led and the recent trend in CEO livestreams.
It would seem that for Xiaohongshu, the key is to convert the 'seeding' to sales and make the two processes both happen on its platform. Buyers, merchants, and founders are ways for Xiaohongshu to find the right people to sell to them. Unlike conventional streamers who rely on their personal brand, bargaining power and by extension prices to sell, this new crop of streamers know about what they are selling, and they provide a lifestyle to complete the experience. As the Xiaohongshu CEO Charlwin Mao says, in the future, all brands will be lifestyle brands.
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