SHANGHAI, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Since Tera Feng started documenting her enviable Shanghai lifestyle, including visits to art galleries and fashion events on Chinese social media eight years ago, she has built up a following of more than 500,000 people. While that is a drop in the vast ocean of China's consumer market, Feng and brands she works with have found her audience - mainly financially independent urban Chinese women - is willing to spend. A recent switch to livestream selling on social media platform Xiaohongshu three months ago has seen Feng sell everything from a 15,000 yuan ($2,060) Carven suit to her favorite brand of rice that costs 60 yuan for a 1 kg bag.
Xiaohongshu, sometimes compared to Instagram, has long been one of China's most important marketing tools. It has made several e-commerce pushes over the past decade without much success. But now, consultants say brands, especially those peddling niche and high-end products, are finally seeing sales breaking through this year amid a difficult retail environment.
While retailers have been forced by penny-pinching consumers into heavy discounting on other e-commerce platforms such as Alibaba's Taobao and PDD Holdings' Pinduoduo, Xiaohongshu's focus on aspirational lifestyles is attracting less price-sensitive users. "Brands really value a following on Xiaohongshu, because the consumption power is totally different" to other platforms, said Suya Wang, general manager at Early Data, a Shanghai-based consultancy. While.