A hot Chinese social app is a new entry point for foreign brands

RED is China’s go-to app for reviews. Now, foreign brands are flocking to it.

If you’ve ever thought to yourself, “Wow, I’d love an app that combines YouTube, Pinterest, Wirecutter, TripAdvisor, and influencers telling me what to buy,” a Chinese app called RED has you covered.

A hot Chinese social app is a new entry point for foreign brands

Propelled by 300m+ users, RED is valued at $5B and has become an option for foreign brands trying to enter China, per Protocol.

RED has become China’s go-to place…

… for trusted product information and reviews.

Here are some stats:

  • User ‘stickiness’: The platform has 8B views daily. The average user opens the app 4x/day and spends 40m a day on it. (That’s 3x longer than Pinterest users spend there.)
  • Coveted users: 90% are affluent, urban women. Most are between 18 and 35.
  • High conversion rates: The app sees conversion rates up to 20%, which is 10x traditional ecommerce rates of ~2%.

A beacon for international brands

China is the most lucrative place for foreign brands — there’s a growing middle class, rising disposable income, and penchant for luxury.

Instead of launching physical stores or their own online store, foreign brands often partner with existing 3rd-party ecommerce platforms.

RED is currently China’s 3rd-largest ecommerce platform, and foreign brands are flocking to it to expedite their expansion into China.

With luxury sales projected to fall by 23% (to $258B) in 2020, RED is one way to help brands get back in the black.

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