Executive Summary

This report delves into the marketing strategies and market competition status of two major domestic cosmetics brands - Caitang and Huaxizi. To compare the performance of these two brands on Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book) and the impact of Xiaohongshu recommendations on brand sales, we analyzed nearly 100,000 Xiaohongshu notes data in the cosmetics and skincare categories, as well as nearly 10,000 Taobao-related comment data.

Based on Xiaohongshu note data, we found that:

Cosmetics and skincare notes are highly popular on Xiaohongshu, with many users browsing notes related to shopping experiences. Influencers in these categories also gain a significant number of followers, ranking at the top for various content types.

In the cosmetics and skincare categories, international brands have significantly higher visibility (measured by likes and comments) compared to domestic brands, approximately 2.4 times higher. Commercial notes in the skincare category are growing faster than in the cosmetics category, suggesting that skincare marketing relies more on off-platform recommendations.

When comparing different brands’ performance on Xiaohongshu, Caitang stands out among domestic brands. In Q2 2023, the number of video notes related to Caitang significantly surpassed Huaxizi, especially in makeup tutorial notes. This implies that Caitang-related recommendations on Xiaohongshu are more likely to be the result of voluntary actions by beauty bloggers rather than commercial promotions.

Based on product review data, we found that:

The proportion of mentions of “being recommended” in Caitang’s reviews is 4.7 times that of Huaxizi, indicating that Caitang’s extensive recommendations on Xiaohongshu have yielded substantial results.

The proportion of mentions of “repurchase” in Huaxizi’s reviews is 2.5 times that of Caitang, reflecting Huaxizi’s significant advantage in retaining loyal customers.

In conclusion, Caitang has successfully transformed the recommendation effect on Xiaohongshu into sales and is poised to further capture market share from Huaxizi in the future. Meanwhile, Huaxizi maintains strong competitiveness through its loyal customer base. As the culture of recommendations continues to evolve and user word-of-mouth accumulates, Caitang may leverage its advantage among beauty influencers to secure a leading position in the market.