Feature: Professional buyers boost e-commerce sales

BEIJING, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- With faith in product quality, Chen Xinyi, a college student in Beijing, swiftly placed online orders for a pair of sunglasses and a beautiful dress during China's Double Eleven online shopping bonanza.

She spent nearly 1,200 yuan (about 167.3 U.S. dollars) for the fancy goods. For the 21-year-old, this wasn't an impulsive purchase.

Chen's decision to buy the items was influenced by her admiration and trust in a blogger named Duantouhua, a former fashion writer whom Chen has been following for a long time on China's Instagram-like content-sharing platform Xiaohongshu, a newcomer in the country's fiercely competitive e-commerce market.

During the Double Eleven online shopping spree that lasted from late October to mid-November, the number of e-commerce orders, participating businesses and the gross merchandise transaction of livestreaming sales on Xiaohongshu was 3.8 times, 4.1 times and 4.2 times, respectively, that of the same period last year.

Duantouhua, who conducts livestream promotions to endorse and sell products, is also acknowledged as a professional buyer. Unlike peers on other e-commerce platforms, Duantouhua has built her online follower community by sharing engaging posts on Xiaohongshu, which include purchase links for recommended products while displaying her impeccable fashion sense.

"Reading her articles feels like browsing a friend's Instagram. One would be unconsciously drawn to her taste and may naturally end up buying the products she recommends," Chen said.

Xiaohongshu is witnessing a rising trend of e-commerce deals through these distinctive connections between blogger-based buyers and their followers. From March to late September of last year, the platform saw the number of buyers like Duantouhua spike some 27 times, and a 12-fold increase in the number of users placing orders.

"Buyers on our platform possess professional knowledge and the ability to understand users' needs, enabling them to effectively convey product value. They establish connections based on trust with users and provide services to meet their needs," said Ke Nan, the company's chief operating officer.

On Xiaohongshu, some 3 million comments are posted every day requesting purchase links to the products mentioned in the posts, and among its over 100 million daily active users, some 40 million are potential consumers, according to Ke.

Fashion continues to dominate as a major trending content category on Xiaohongshu, with approximately 70 percent of the followers of this field being young people born after 1995, like Chen. This demographic is willing to spend more for product quality.

To tap the huge consumption potential, the platform said it aims to help more bloggers turn their content influence into e-commerce deals by becoming professional buyers.

"Anyone who is passionate about life has the potential to become a professional buyer," Ke said.