The Three Key Secrets Behind Xiaohongshu’s Success
According to data, Xiaohongshu’s daily active users exceed 20 million—a remarkable figure in the e-commerce industry—ranking ninth among all e-commerce platforms. How did a platform founded in 2013 grow to tens of millions of users in just a few years?
1. Mastering Traffic Acquisition
Xiaohongshu understands how to acquire traffic effectively. Unlike many companies that blindly burn money without evaluating the quality of customer acquisition, Xiaohongshu avoids such pitfalls. The platform invests heavily in outdoor advertising, TV program sponsorships, and large-scale marketing campaigns.
Additionally, it uses Baidu SEM ads to attract new users. Xiaohongshu adopts an aggressive “carpet-bombing” marketing strategy that ensures steady user acquisition. However, this approach alone mainly drives new user growth—it does not fully explain Xiaohongshu’s explosive rise in monthly active users.
2. Self-Driven Word-of-Mouth + UGC to Boost Engagement
Acquiring traffic is easy; maintaining platform activity is difficult. This is why many communities struggle—low engagement prevents monetization. A successful e-commerce platform must address this challenge, and Xiaohongshu excels at it.
By choosing to focus on women—who naturally love to share and discuss—Xiaohongshu encourages users to spontaneously post content. This “self-propelled word-of-mouth” model significantly increases user activity. Higher activity translates into higher commercial value, making this a crucial pillar of Xiaohongshu’s success.
Moreover, Xiaohongshu introduced tiered user-level systems to encourage participation. Similar to ranked gameplay in Honor of Kings, users are motivated to “level up.” This gamification strategy effectively increases engagement and forms a sustainable activity loop.
3. Strong User Retention Is the Core Priority
Highly active platforms tend to have strong retention—and Xiaohongshu is no exception. Its positioning as a platform for women seeking better lifestyles naturally creates a high-retention user base. Few platforms target this niche as effectively.
Celebrity participation also plays a major role: when stars share beauty tips and lifestyle content, it increases user stickiness. Users also voluntarily share Xiaohongshu content across other social platforms, further reinforcing retention and expanding influence.
