Selling on Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book) in China: The Ultimate Guide

Suggestion: Watch the 10 minutes video tutorial before reading this article

China has one of the biggest eCommerce markets in the world and you can find a plethora of marketplaces here. In the past decade, brands like Tmall, JD, Pinduoduo, and Koala have attracted millions of buyers to become frequent buyers.

Xiaohongshu, referred to as Little Red Book, or sometimes only RED, is a website that started out in a blog format. Here, bloggers could write reviews of products and the rest is history.

Even if Xiaohongshu allows merchants to sell products on the website, it’s primarily used to drive traffic to other websites and for sales on WeChat, for example.

Setting up an account on WeChat and Xiaohonhshu is often done in combination and significantly cheaper compared to selling on Tmall. This is something we review later in this article.

Today, we will go through all the key topics you should know before you start selling on Xiaohongshu.

Today, we review the following:

• What is Xiaohongshu?
• Using KOLs and Influencers on Xiaohongshu
• The Business Model of Xiaohongshu
• Xiaohongshu’s Market Share
• The Process when Selling on Xiaohongshu

What is Xiaohongshu?

Xiaohongshu (小红书) started out in 2013 and is one of the fastest-growing e-commerce websites in China, currently having around 100 million users.

Still, it’s not a pure E-commerce platform like Tmall and JD, but rather a lifestyle community with a separate section dedicated to brand stores.

The website mainly attracts young females, aged 18-35, that check product reviews from other members. Here, review foreign products and write posts, promoting foreign brands.

As a result, companies who wish to hire KOLs for the marketing of brands typically give away products for free. The budget for giveaways can be in the thousands of US dollars.

Product reviews are written in a blog-style format, including photos and not rarely videos. You’ll typically find reviews about apparel, cosmetics, nutrition products, supplements, and accessories.

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Using KOLs and Influencers on Xiaohongshu

As mentioned, a core part of Xiaohongsu is the usage of influencers and KOLs who let consumers know more about brands.

The influencers sometimes have big fan bases and key knowledge within certain industries, for example, in cosmetics. Yet, the usage of micro-influencers is also proven to boost local brand awareness.

In short, they have the power to impact the sales of products by posting positive or negative reviews.

Receiving a positive review from a famous movie star can lead to a sales boost where your stock is emptied in the blink of an eye.

Thus, good brand content promotion, word-of-mouth marketing, and preferably positive reviews by influencers will be highly important for sales success.

The Business Model of Xiaohongshu

Xiaohongshu is similar to Vipshop and Kaola as you have the following two options when selling on the website:

• Open your own store
• Let Xiaohongshu pre-purchase the products directly from you

The second option is preferred by Xiaohongshu as they tend to screen overseas markets for new products.

This can be beneficial as you won’t need to deal with marketing, customer support, and claims & refunds, for example.

The main goal of Xiaohongshu is to continue being the to-go website where bloggers and consumers learn about new foreign products.

Hence, sharing posts with a commercial or profit-making incentive is  forbidden.

You can’t share reviews that link to external websites or with an obvious purpose to hard-sell brands.

This is not the case with Tmall and JD. Here, product reviews can be manipulated more easily with the one-click and 1-5 star review system used. Anonymous persons, and even bots, rate products as well.

Xiaohongshu’s Market Share

Xiaohongshu is fairly small and covers around 6% of the cross-border market. Kaola is the biggest company in China’s eCommerce market, accounting for around 30% of the total market share.

Yangmatou, which targets the same customer segment as Xiaohongshu, is almost equally big having a bit more than 5%.

Vipshop, on the other hand, which focuses on flash sales, covers around 15% of the cross-border market.

Alibaba’s Investment in Xiaohongshu

Alibaba is a company that has seen great growth potentials in Xiaohongshu.

In 2018, Alibaba invested around USD 300 million in Xiaohongshu, which is an incredible number. The same year, JD and its shareholder Tencent, the two main rivals of Alibaba, invested a whopping USD 863 million in Vipshop.

It’s clear that these giants have taken actions on long-term goals to further expand in China’s E-Commerce market, and by investing in these kinds of niche websites.

The Process when Selling on Xiaohongshu

Before you can start selling on Xiaohongshu, you need to first become a member and register your company on the website.

There’s a detailed explanation of how it works on the website. Unfortunately, everything is written in Chinese, but I’ll give you a helping hand.

It’s comparatively cheap to register an account, which can be done for as little as USD 400.

Below you can find the step-by-step process when opening a store on Xiaohongshu:

• Register/become a member on Xiaohongshu
• Fill in your company information
• Qualification review
• Contract signing
• Complete training

We will review each step in greater detail below.

Registering on Xiaohongshu

First, you need to create an account before you can apply to become a merchant.

The first step is to fill out the information about your company.

Fill in your company information

After you’ve created an account, it’s time to fill in your company information.

In case you have a company registered outside of China, you should tick the box for cross border E-Commerce (跨境贸易).

You need to provide the following information:

• General company information
• Company qualification
• Financial information
• Brand information
• Brand qualification

1. Company information

• Store manager contact information
• Business address (the contract and invoice will be sent here)
• Trade model (choose cross-border trade)
• Delivery area

2. Company qualification

• Business registration
• Or Certificate of incorporation
• Or Other company registration file

3. Financial Information

• Bank name and account number of the bank
• Bank address
• Billing currency
• Overseas Bank Additional Information (SWIFT CODE/IBAN)
• If the bank address is South Korea, you need to fill in the financial contact number

4. Brand information

• Brand name
• Tmall official flagship store link (optional)
• Country
• Brand banner
• Brand promotion image
• Brand description (within 30 characters)
• Brand introduction (within 140 characters)
• Official store name

5. Brand qualification

Below, you can find the requirements for brand owners. If you are a brand owner, you can resell a brand on Xiaohongshu, or if you have licensing agreement from a particular company.

Brand owners:

• Upload application for the establishment of a new store, including official seal

Companies authorized to resell brands on Xiaohongshu:

• Upload authorization letter issued by the brand owner, including the official seal of that brand

Companies authorized to resell brands in general:

• Upload authorization letter issued by the brand owner, including authorization from related companies within the supply chain, and with official seal

Trademark Registration Certificate should be provided by all companies.

Retailers:

• Upload application for the establishment of a new store, including official seal

Retailers authorized to sell on Xiaohongshu:

• Upload authorization letter issued by the brand owner, including authorization from related companies within the supply chain, and with official company seal

Restrictions to the descriptions of brands:

Xiaohongshu doesn’t allow any descriptions that include words like:

• “The most…”
• “The best…”
• “High-end”

As mentioned, the community of Xiaohongshu builds on trust and lengthy product reviews. You’re not allowed to try to hard-sell your products.

How long time does it take to become a seller on Xoaohongshu?

The time it takes to become registered mostly depends on how quickly you can upload all the forms, finalizing your company introduction, upload images, and more.

The application can be managed within one week if you do everything right from the start.

How can I contact Xiaohongshu?

If you come across any issues or have any questions, you can email Xiaohongshu at: ft_sellerservice@xiaohongshu.com.

A third party can also help you sell in your brand, help you with registrations, and set up your store.

How much does it cost to sell on Xiaohongshu?

I’ve personally been in contact with Xiaohongshu to confirm the deposits and running costs charged.

Deposits vary depending on the “characteristics” of your company, your qualifications, and the type of store you plan to set up.

The fees will be determined during the contract signing.

The deposit is normally RMB 20,000 and will be transferred back three months after you closed the store.

Commissions normally range between 15-20%.

Summary

Xiaohongshu is a popular website where users can promote products like apparel, cosmetics, nutrition foods, accessories, and brands that are appreciated among young female buyers.

It’s not a pure eCommerce website, but rather a lifestyle community where users and influencers post pictures, videos, and information when using products.

Buyers put a big trust in the website and your sales success relies heavily on positive reviews from users or influencers (KOLs).

Xiaohongshu forbids companies from trying to hard-sell products, with an obvious goal to profit from its users.

If you plan to sell on Xiaohongshu, you have two different options: they either pre-purchase products directly from you, or you open your own shop.

The first option is preferred as Xiaohongshu wants control of procurement processes, increasing quality and customer satisfaction.

If you decide to open a shop, you can manage the whole application and store set up online, by visiting Xiaohongshu’s website.