Why do female celebrities take turns becoming the top influencer on Xiaohongshu for product sales?

The 2026 Chinese New Year shopping spree is in full swing, and live e-commerce battles are also heating up. However, this time the battlefield isn’t in the loud, shouting Douyin and Kuaishou live streams, but on Xiaohongshu, known for its “slow” approach.

Recently, actress Xue Jiajing, who had been absent for a while, launched a live stream on Xiaohongshu themed around “Cultural Jewelry.” There was no frantic “321 link-up” or exhausted countdown from hosts. In this Zen-inspired, tranquil live broadcast, a single session’s sales quietly surpassed 100 million yuan.

This is not an isolated case. Just a month ago, actress Wu Qianyu achieved a single-session GMV (Gross Merchandise Volume) of 150 million yuan during a “home-style” product showcase on Xiaohongshu, setting a new platform record and earning her the title of Xiaohongshu’s “New Queen.”

From Dong Jie’s “plain water” live stream to Zhang Xiaohui’s “socialite literature” sales, and now to Wu Qianyu, Xue Jiajing, Zhao Lusi, and others breaking the billion mark in succession, Xiaohongshu’s female celebrity sales platform has taken shape.

From Traffic to Aesthetics

Reviewing the billion-yuan sales reports of Xue Jiajing and Wu Qianyu, we find an interesting commonality: neither are traditional “top-tier fresh faces,” but both possess highly recognizable lifestyle labels.

In traditional e-commerce logic, GMV = Traffic × Conversion Rate. But on Xiaohongshu, this formula becomes GMV = Aesthetics × Trust × High Average Order Value.

Xue Jiajing’s live stream, with a core average order value of up to 7,500 yuan, sold non-standard cultural jewelry. Such products are difficult to gain traction on Douyin or Kuaishou platforms because they lack instant visual impact and price appeal.

However, Xue Jiajing’s public image of “meditative cultivation” and “detached living” over the years provides the strongest credit endorsement for these high-value cultural jewelry. Users are not just buying beads; they are longing for her “non-competitive, non-urgent” lifestyle.

Similarly, Wu Qianyu’s 150 million yuan myth is built on her persona as a “top socialite trendsetter.” She arranges her live room like her own living room, sharing relaxed outfits and home goods like a close friend. This “old-money” style product selection logic precisely hits the pain points of Xiaohongshu’s core users—high-net-worth women in first- and second-tier cities.

This marks the beginning of the “third iteration” of live e-commerce.

In the 1.0 era, it was TV shopping-style shouting (mainly price wars); in the 2.0 era, it was show-style sales (focused on entertainment and storyline); and in the 3.0 era, it is about aesthetics and lifestyle-driven sales (focused on taste and trust). Xiaohongshu’s female celebrities are the best carriers of this 3.0 era. They don’t need to operate as “all-category supermarkets” like Li Jiaqi; they just need to run refined “buyer’s shops.”

Replacing “Hosts” with “Buyers”

The collective rise of female celebrities is not accidental but a deliberate part of Xiaohongshu’s commercialization strategy.

In recent years, Xiaohongshu’s commercialization efforts have been somewhat “conflicted,” wanting to make money but also afraid of damaging the community atmosphere. It wasn’t until 2023, when the “Buyer’s E-commerce” strategy was established, that Xiaohongshu truly found a coherent path.

The difference between “buyers” and “hosts” is: hosts are salespeople whose core ability is to push orders; buyers are product curators whose core ability is to generate desire. Dong Jie, Zhang Xiaohui, Yi Nengjing, and the rising Wu Qianyu and Xue Jiajing are all defined by Xiaohongshu as “buyers.”

Compared to traditional live sales, their product selection logic differs. They tend to choose brands with design sense, niche appeal, and high premiums (such as designer clothing, haute jewelry, niche fragrances), rather than mass-market price wars.

The business chain is also different. Live streaming is just the harvesting stage; the real effort is in the “notes” shared regularly. Zhao Lusi’s quick establishment on Xiaohongshu is due to her long-term sharing of authentic OOTD (outfit of the day) and life fragments, which creates community trust and results in much higher conversion rates than sudden celebrity appearances.

By supporting these “high taste” female celebrities, Xiaohongshu sends a clear signal to the market: here, we don’t sell 9.99 yuan free shipping trash bags; here, we sell a “better life.”

The Double-Edged Sword of Community Genes

Although success stories are frequent, Xiaohongshu’s current model seems to have a ceiling.

On one hand, scaleability issues: Wu Qianyu and Xue Jiajing’s success are difficult to replicate.

Top creators on Xiaohongshu rely heavily on their personal “style” and “persona,” which means they cannot operate like Sinba or Crazy Xiao Yang Ge, who build teams and multiple accounts to achieve continuous, 24/7 production lines. Dong Jie once paused her live streams for a long time due to filming commitments. The irreplaceability of “people” is both a moat and a scale-limiting factor.

At the same time, there are concerns about community atmosphere deterioration.

As commercialization accelerates, users begin to perceive that “desire generation” has become somewhat distorted. When more celebrity notes are accompanied by product links, and the homepage recommendation mixes in more live stream entrances, Xiaohongshu’s proud “authentic sharing” community atmosphere is inevitably impacted. How to balance GMV growth with user experience remains Xiaohongshu’s biggest challenge in 2026.

Additionally, sustainability issues exist.

Although sales have broken 100 million yuan, compared to Douyin, Kuaishou, and Taobao’s hundreds of billions per session, Xiaohongshu’s scale remains “small but beautiful.” High average order value means low repurchase rates; cultural jewelry, designer clothing, and high-end products are durable goods, and users find it hard to repurchase weekly like tissues. Xiaohongshu urgently needs to develop a competitive advantage in standardized products beyond non-standard items; otherwise, it will be difficult to support a trillion-yuan e-commerce market.

However, for now, female celebrities are Xiaohongshu’s vanguard in its commercialization breakthrough. They have demonstrated the feasibility of the “community + e-commerce” closed loop with impressive GMV data.

For the entire industry, this also signals that after the era of traffic dominance, an era centered on content, aesthetics, and trust—“value e-commerce”—is arriving.

Risk Warning and Disclaimer

Market risks exist; investments should be cautious. This article does not constitute personal investment advice and does not consider individual users’ specific investment goals, financial situations, or needs. Users should consider whether any opinions, views, or conclusions in this article are suitable for their particular circumstances. Invest accordingly at your own risk.