Chinese social media sensation Xiaohongshu has seen its growing popularity lead to profits for the first time, as the Instagram-like platform brings in revenues from advertising and a nascent ecommerce business. 
中国社交媒体 "小红书"（Xiaohongshu）首次因其日益增长的人气而盈利，因为这个类似Instagram的平台带来了广告收入和新兴的电子商务业务。

The Shanghai-based video and photo-sharing app raked in $500mn in net profit last year on revenues of $3.7bn, according to four people briefed on the figures, which are not public. By contrast, it made a $200mn loss on revenues of about $2bn in 2022.
据四位知情人士透露，这款总部位于上海的视频和照片分享应用去年的净利润为 5 亿美元，营收为 37 亿美元。相比之下，该公司 2022 年收入约 20 亿美元，亏损 2 亿美元。

The fast-growing social media start-up, which was valued at $20bn in its last funding round in 2021, has been a rare recent success story in a sector battered by falling valuations and divestments from foreign investors.
这家快速发展的社交媒体初创公司在 2021 年的上一轮融资中估值达 200 亿美元，是近期受估值下降和外国投资者撤资影响的行业中少有的成功案例。

Xiaohongshu, which translates to “little red book”, has big-name backers including Alibaba, Tencent, GGV Capital and the former Sequoia China venture capital firm HongShan. It is popular with young Chinese women, who flock to the platform for travel, beauty and lifestyle tips.
小红书 "意为 "小红书"，其大牌支持者包括阿里巴巴、腾讯、GGV Capital 和前红杉中国风险投资公司洪山。小红书深受中国年轻女性的欢迎，她们在这个平台上获取旅游、美容和生活方式的小贴士。

It has also been growing its male user base, with a focus on promoting content about cars, science fiction and memes. The service generates the bulk of its revenues from advertising but has been growing its ecommerce function, which influencers use to sell products through livestreams and short videos. 
它的男性用户群也在不断扩大，重点推广有关汽车、科幻小说和备忘录的内容。该服务的大部分收入来自广告，但其电子商务功能也在不断发展，有影响力的人可以通过直播和短视频销售产品。

Despite Xiaohongshu’s strong numbers, one investor who did not wish to be named said its future direction remained uncertain, with no clear path towards an initial public offering. “I am positive on the company, but the lack of a clear exit through an IPO is a big problem,” the investor said.
尽管小红书的数据表现强劲，但一位不愿透露姓名的投资者表示，小红书的未来发展方向仍不明朗，没有明确的首次公开募股途径。"这位投资者说："我看好这家公司，但缺乏通过首次公开募股的明确退出途径是个大问题。

Beijing resumed giving the green light to tech companies for US listings last year after an 18-month pause over national security concerns stemming from the botched New York IPO of ride-hailing service Didi Chuxing in 2021. Experts caution that listing large social media companies such as ByteDance and Xiaohongshu is more complicated given the wealth of consumer data they hold.
2021 年，打车服务公司滴滴出行（Didi Chuxing）在纽约首次公开募股失败，出于对国家安全的担忧，北京暂停了 18 个月的科技公司在美上市计划，去年北京恢复了对科技公司在美上市的绿灯。专家提醒说，鉴于字节跳动和小红书等大型社交媒体公司掌握着大量消费者数据，它们的上市会更加复杂。

Xiaohongshu reached 312mn monthly active users in 2023, a 20 per cent increase from the previous year, according to figures shared with investors, making it the fastest-growing large social media platform in China last year, based on a Financial Times calculation.
根据《金融时报》的计算，2023 年小红书的月活跃用户达到 3.12 亿，比上一年增长了 20%，成为去年中国增长最快的大型社交媒体平台。

Li Chengdong, head of tech think-tank Haitun, said the strong financial figures showed “brands have increased their marketing spending on Xiaohongshu because the effectiveness of advertising is higher than other platforms”.
科技智库海顿负责人李成东说，强劲的财务数据表明 "品牌增加了在小红书的营销支出，因为其广告效果高于其他平台"。

Xiaohongshu is an increasingly important channel for brands targeting young women with purchasing power. According to a company presentation seen by the FT, 70 per cent of users are female, and 50 per cent are under the age of 30.
对于以有购买力的年轻女性为目标客户的品牌来说，小红书是一个日益重要的渠道。根据英国《金融时报》看到的公司介绍，70% 的用户是女性，50% 的用户年龄在 30 岁以下。

Xiaohongshu has a more upmarket reputation than main rivals such as ByteDance-owned Douyin and Kuaishou. Even so, it struggled to commercialise its service as users would find product tips using the app before turning to Alibaba-owned Taobao and Tmall’s ecommerce platforms to make purchases.
与字节跳动旗下的豆瓣网和瓜子网等主要竞争对手相比，小红书的知名度更高。即便如此，小红书在商业化方面仍举步维艰，因为用户在使用小红书找到商品提示后，会转向阿里巴巴旗下的淘宝和天猫电子商务平台进行购买。

However, over the past year, it has found a “niche” with “slow livestreaming”, in which influencers promote products in a “calm and slow” manner to capture the trend of “quiet luxury”, said Olivia Plotnick, founder of Shanghai-based social media consultancy Wai Social. It has distinguished itself from Taobao, on which influencers hawk goods in “chaotic” marathon sessions, typically with significant discounts to lure in shoppers, Plotnick added.
然而，上海社交媒体咨询公司Wai Social的创始人奥利维亚-普洛特尼克（Olivia Plotnick）说，在过去的一年里，它通过 "慢直播 "找到了一个 "利基"，在 "慢直播 "中，有影响力的人以一种 "平静而缓慢 "的方式推销产品，从而抓住了 "安静的奢侈品 "这一趋势。Plotnick 补充说，在淘宝上，有影响力的人以 "混乱 "的马拉松式方式推销商品，通常以大幅折扣吸引购物者。

Xiaohongshu’s gross merchandise value — the total value of goods sold on the platform — through its livestreaming business, launched at the outset of the pandemic, grew by nearly five times during last November’s “Singles’ Day” shopping festival, the equivalent of the US’s Black Friday, according to the presentation.
据介绍，小红书的商品总值（即平台上销售商品的总价值）在去年 11 月的 "光棍节 "购物节（相当于美国的黑色星期五）期间增长了近五倍。

“Xiaohongshu is a better place for companies to build brand identity and relationships with customers than Taobao, where sales are pushed on to them,” said Plotnick.
"普洛特尼克说："与淘宝网相比，小红书更适合企业建立品牌形象和与客户的关系，因为淘宝网的销售是推送给客户的。

Xiaohongshu has a smaller user base than Douyin and Kuaishou, which have monthly active user bases of about 750mn and 700mn respectively. But Li said the platform’s 312mn users were concentrated in affluent cities, making it an effective marketing platform to target high-spending consumers.
小红书的用户基数小于豆瓣和瓜子，豆瓣和瓜子的月活跃用户基数分别约为7.5亿和7亿。但李开复说，该平台的 3.12 亿用户主要集中在富裕城市，这使其成为针对高消费人群的有效营销平台。

Xiaohongshu did not respond to requests for comment.
小红书没有回应置评请求。

Li of Haitun said Xiaohongshu’s path to profitability opened up when China shed its zero-Covid controls. That saw merchants bolster their marketing spending.
海通公司的李先生说，当中国取消零Covid控制后，小红书的盈利之路就打开了。商家因此增加了营销支出。

“Xiaohongshu is unique in that it isn’t a low-price-driven platform,” he said, “so it does not dilute brand value.”