Commercialisation Path and Governance of Trust-Based Social E-Commerce Platforms: A Case Study of Xiaohongshu
TL;DR
It is suggested that Xiaohongshu should not only pursue short-term commercial growth but achieve long-term development by maintaining authentic content and protecting user trust by maintaining authentic content and protecting user trust.
Abstract
With the development of social media and e-commerce, social e-commerce platforms have become increasingly influential in consumers' purchase decisions. As a typical trust-based social e-commerce platform, Xiaohongshu builds its community trust mainly through user-generated content (UGC) and real experience sharing. Most users do not enter the platform with the direct purpose of purchasing. Instead, they browse notes, read reviews, and refer to other users' experiences before forming their own consumption judgement. This also gives Xiaohongshu strong "seeding" power. However, as the platform's commercialisation process accelerates, advertising, livestream selling, and brand cooperation content have continued to increase. As a result, it becomes more difficult for users to judge the authenticity of information, and the platform faces a tension between commercialisation and trust maintenance. Therefore, this paper takes Xiaohongshu as a case to analyse its trust mechanism, commercialisation path, and governance strategies. The findings suggest that Xiaohongshu should not only pursue short-term commercial growth. Instead, it should achieve long-term development by maintaining authentic content and protecting user trust.