Chinese customers14 min readFacts checked on November 1, 2026

How does Xiaohongshu marketing work for a foreign business?

The account is the easy part. The real limits are ads, creators and where you can send people.

Hugo Debrabandere, Founder, Index in Chinachecked against 37 sources

Chinese customers

Can a foreign company use Xiaohongshu without a Chinese entity? Reportedly yes, with limits

The short answer

Secondary sources say a foreign company can open a Xiaohongshu professional account without a Chinese subsidiary. Ads reportedly run through authorized partners, paid posts must be declared, and contact details are restricted. It suits consumer brands whose buyers research before purchase. Read your category's notes first, then test organic content before paying anyone.

Xiaohongshu claimed over 400 million monthly users and 800 million daily searches in May 2026, while QuestMobile counted 245 million users in March.
iClick and MenuSifu, both partners, said in 2026 that overseas brands can no longer self-serve Spotlight ad onboarding.
Rules in force since March 12, 2025, as reported, bar steering users to off-platform transactions, except through the mall, live-stream cart or official lead components.
Xiaohongshu said in August 2023 it had penalized 2,465 brands in two months.
AppInChina cited verification at RMB 600 a year in October 2026, with a review of 5 to 7 business days.

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Perplexity

Most Xiaohongshu guides sell the same idea: find creators, seed notes, watch your brand grow. Very few mention what a foreign company actually may do there, and those rules have tightened.

This page covers the account, ads, creators, contact limits and costs. It’s part of our guide on how to find Chinese customers.

Not sure this is your channel? Start with Baidu, WeChat or Xiaohongshu: which channel first?

Is Xiaohongshu worth it for your business?

Yes, if your buyers compare before they buy and your category already has notes. It’s a search-led community, so it rewards products people research. It’s much less proven elsewhere.

Your business	What the evidence says	How to read it
Beauty, fashion, food, travel, fitness	A vendor calls beauty and fashion the original core categories, and lists the others as later additions ¹⁸	Likely fit, but not proof for your product
Luxury, wealthy buyers	61% of 470 wealthy Chinese in Hurun’s 2026 survey named it as an information source, ahead of Douyin at 48% and WeChat at 32% ⁷	The strongest data here, for this group only
Services for individuals	Vendor claims with no figures ³³	Test before budgeting
Technical B2B	Called less suitable by AppInChina ⁶	No data found either way
Chinese people abroad	About 7 million overseas users in December 2024, mostly of Chinese descent, per a staff member ¹³	Real, but mixed with the mainland audience

The audience also matters. Its monthly users are about 30% men and 70% women, according to 21jingji in July 2026, and the platform has wanted more men since 2019.³ Mostly male buyers may be a harder fit.

For people living in your own country, read how to reach Chinese people abroad. The founder of a jewelry brand aimed at North America told Rest of World in 2025 that her livestreams mostly reached mainland viewers.¹³

What do the user numbers really mean?

They’re not comparable, so don’t put one figure in a business case. The company’s own figures are far higher than third-party tracking. Daxue says Xiaohongshu publishes no audited accounts.²⁷

Figure	Who says so	Date
400M+ monthly users, 800M daily searches	Xiaohongshu report, via Beijing Business Today ¹	May 2026
245M monthly users	QuestMobile, via 36Kr ²	March 2026
350M users	Sales decks and a 2026 Qiangua report, per Daxue ²⁷	2026
234M monthly users in China	Statista, via EC Innovations ³²	September 2025
135M to 170M daily users	Unnamed “public data,” via 21jingji ³	July 2026
Nearly 70% of monthly users search	COO Ke Nan ⁴	December 2023

The same executive said about a third of monthly users go straight to search when they open the app.⁴ That’s the useful number here, and also the oldest.

A prospectus could settle the question. Daxue reports that a Hong Kong listing is being prepared, but that none was public as of October 2026.²⁷ Until then, quote the source and the date.

Can a foreign company open an account without a Chinese entity?

Yes, according to secondary sources. AppInChina says overseas entities can register a professional account (专业号) directly, without a Chinese subsidiary.⁵ A January 2025 agency walkthrough also shows an overseas option (境外及港澳台) for companies registered outside China.³⁵ We read no official page that confirms it.

AppInChina describes three routes:⁶

Route	What you need, as reported	Tradeoff
Overseas entity	Your license in certified Chinese translation, trademark, a manager’s passport, signed letter, Chinese phone number, company email	Quicker and cheaper than a Chinese company, with less local support
WFOE	Chinese license, Chinese trademark, legal representative’s ID, company seal, Chinese number	Most control, but most costly and slowest
Local partner’s entity	Not listed	Fastest, less control, ongoing fees

The paperwork isn’t settled. AppInChina asks for a certified Chinese translation of your license,⁶ while the 2025 walkthrough said only English documents were accepted.³⁵

AppInChina and that walkthrough both describe a yearly RMB 600 fee.⁵³⁵ Dragon Trail cited RMB 600 in 2024 without saying how often.⁹ Timing differs too: 5 to 7 business days per AppInChina, and “no longer than a month” per Dragon Trail.⁵⁹

AppInChina also says the fee has been waived for a foreign SME’s first year since 2025.⁸ Nobody else we read repeats that, so budget for paying it.

Sort out your trademark early. AppInChina warns that squatting is common and that an international registration carries risk.⁶

As we read it, China’s Trademark Law favors the earlier application, including in the 2026 revision that takes effect on January 1, 2027.³⁴ Use a local trademark agent. Your Chinese brand name belongs in that decision.

Some sectors need more. Dragon Trail said in 2024 that tourism boards need a separate verification first, and that NGOs and foundations can’t get verified.⁹

Checks are active too. In July 2026, Xiaohongshu reported routine qualification reviews of travel accounts, including forged agency credentials.³⁰

Can you run ads on Xiaohongshu?

Probably not on your own, though sources disagree on the details. The official ad platform is called Spotlight, or Juguang (聚光). AppInChina says a working account can only be opened by a Chinese entity, yet the same guide also says direct access “may require” one, or a local partner.⁵

Two partners date the tightening to early 2026. iClick wrote in February that overseas brands can no longer self-submit industry qualifications.¹¹

New onboarding, it says, needs an invited review through authorized partners, and that also hits existing brands adding categories.¹¹

MenuSifu says self-service ended on February 2, 2026, and that access is now invitation-only.¹² Both sell this access, so check any partner’s credentials through official channels, as MenuSifu itself advises.

AppInChina’s Chinese-entity account and the partners’ invitation route aren’t the same story. Ask any partner whose entity the ad account sits under.

AppInChina lists two formats:⁵

Feed ads: native placements in the discovery feed, priced per click or per impression.
Search ads: placements in search results, shown when people look up brands, products or reviews.

AppInChina says the interface is Chinese-only, and access needs company verification and a prepaid balance. Regulated categories need industry certification.⁵

A sensible order is to boost what already works. AppInChina and an agency guide both recommend paying to boost notes that have already earned saves.⁵²⁹

For budgets across channels, see how to advertise in China.

How do you work with creators without breaking the rules?

Paid work has to be declared. Marketing to China says all paid collaborations must go through Pugongying (蒲公英), the official creator marketplace.¹⁸ A 2022 report says unreported promotions count as violations.¹⁴

Chinese law points the same way. An ad must be recognizable as an ad.¹⁵ Experience sharing or reviews that promote a product with a purchase link must be marked “广告” by the ad publisher.¹⁶ An endorser can’t recommend what they haven’t used.¹⁵

The penalties are real. In August 2023, Xiaohongshu said it had penalized 2,465 brands across 13 industries in two months, and it named some of them.¹⁷

Reported brand penalties, 2022 to 2023 ¹⁷	Effect
6 points lost in total	Traffic restricted for 7 days
8 points lost in total	Traffic restricted for 28 days
All 10 starting points lost	Banned across the platform for 28 days, with ads and Pugongying work restricted

We haven’t seen the current version of this scale. The notice also cited one brand for giving creators product photos and selling-point copy so posts passed as user reviews, and called that false promotion.¹⁷ It’s the line to keep in mind.

One agency guide uses KOCs for search coverage and bigger KOLs for specific jobs such as launches, warning that one top post can swallow a launch budget.²⁹ That’s one seller’s view.

Three more limits apply to how you write or brief.

Fake personas: the April 2026 AI rules ban seeding products through invented personas.²⁰
AI text: the 2026 convention asks creators to disclose AI help.¹⁹ Unlabeled AI content gets labeled once it’s detected.²⁰
Superlatives: words like “最佳” are banned, with fines from RMB 200,000 to RMB 1 million.¹⁵ See banned advertising words.

How these rules reach a foreign advertiser is a question for a local adviser. So is any regulated category.

We couldn’t confirm how a foreign brand opens Pugongying access. AppInChina describes using it to source creators.⁵

Rest of World counted over 400,000 mostly Chinese creators there in March 2025.¹³ The 2022 entry bar of 5,000 followers may be out of date.¹⁴

Can you send people to your website?

Assume not, and this is what the guides we read skip. It matters most if you sell services, because a note that can’t point anywhere has to win trust on the platform itself.

The Transaction Diversion rules (交易导流违规管理细则), reported as in force from March 12, 2025, bar steering users to off-platform transactions. The exceptions are the Xiaohongshu mall, the live-stream cart and official lead components.²¹

They apply to all users, including merchants.²¹

Action	Status, as reported
Phone number or WeChat ID in a note, comment or profile	Violation ²¹²²
Asking users to add or exchange private contact details	Violation ²¹
Links, codes, screenshots, QR codes, watermarks or mini-programs from other platforms	Violation ²¹
Several accounts working together to move users off-platform	Violation ²¹
WeChat or phone number in auto-replies	Barred since January 7, 2025 ²³
Social card on a professional account	Reported as the permitted route ²³
Official lead components	Permitted ²¹

The rules also catch other explicit or implied inducements.²¹ They don’t name a company’s own website. Our reading is that a URL could still be caught, so confirm it before you publish one.

Penalties run from warnings to permanent account bans, plus 10 to 25 merchant points per violation.²¹

A 2026 practitioner article describes frozen store funds for repeat cases, and says a DM lead tool needs RMB 1,000 of monthly Spotlight spend.²⁴ We couldn’t verify either claim.

There are exceptions, but not for your site. Since May 2025, notes in some industries can link to Taobao, with JD confirming a similar deal.²⁵ We found nothing reliable on how far that reaches in 2026.

Verdict

Don’t plan on Xiaohongshu as a traffic source for your website. Treat it as a place to be researched, and make sure Chinese buyers can find you on search afterward.

Free check

Is your website visible on Baidu?

Enter your website. We check Baidu, access from China and how your site is set up, then email you the report.

How do notes get found?

Mostly by being useful on a specific search. Guides agree that people look up products, then read what others wrote, and that notes keep working long after they’re posted.⁶²⁹

Keywords: put the terms buyers really use in the title, opening lines, tags and on-image text.²⁹
Format: AppInChina cites 3:4 images in carousels of 4 to 9, and 9:16 video of 1 to 3 minutes.⁶
Signal: saves matter, since they mark something a reader plans to come back to.⁶
Rhythm: spread posts over weeks, not one day.²⁹

Xiaohongshu’s AI answers are changing this. A September 2026 report says it merged its two AI products, Wen Yi Wen and Diandian, under the name Diandian.²⁶

Wen Yi Wen usually linked the notes it cited, and it covered only 3 to 4% of searches.²⁶ We don’t know if the merged product keeps those links. So write notes that answer one question fully. Whether that wins citations is unproven.

Trust is the weak point. A 2025 iiMedia survey found 63% of people who left the app blamed false information.³

In a June 2025 test with three users, Yilan rated 77.8% of top results for “shampoo recommendations” as ads or filler.³

That’s an opening for specific, honest notes with real prices and real limits. Our guide to earning the trust of Chinese buyers goes further.

Can you sell directly on the platform?

Physical goods, sometimes. AppInChina says cross-border merchants must use China’s bonded warehouses, and it cites a 72-hour delivery guarantee and a deposit of RMB 20,000 to 50,000.⁸

Sources disagree on how direct that is. Marketing to China says a “Golden Key” program lets brands open a store with no Chinese entity.¹⁸ An agency guide says 2026 rules for global purchase (全球购) stores require both an offshore entity and a Chinese one with customs registration.²⁹

Wise says overseas companies can apply, generally for brand-based stores, and that store approval is separate from account verification.³⁶

The official framework may explain the gap. Under a 2018 circular, a foreign seller can hold the goods, but a company registered in China handles customs.³¹ Our guide on selling without being in China covers those limits.

Redshop isn’t a shortcut. Jing Daily reported in April 2026 that this cross-border unit would start with 50 invited merchants, focused on crafts and handmade goods.²⁸

Its planned first markets are Hong Kong, Macau, the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, Singapore and Malaysia, not the mainland.²⁸ An agency guide says it was still invitation-only in July 2026.²⁹

Even inside the app, sales are thin. Yibang Power put 2025 in-app conversion at 0.7 to 1.2%, and 36Kr adds, without a named source, that much of the sales volume closes elsewhere.² Don’t judge results by the shop alone.

What does it cost?

The platform fee is small, and the work is the real expense. These are published figures from vendors and press, not quotes. None of them is a benchmark for your case.

Item	Figure	Source and caveat
Account verification	RMB 600 a year	Two vendors ⁵³⁵
Cross-border deposit	RMB 20,000 to 50,000	One vendor ⁸
Store commission	3 to 5%, plus 2 to 5% technical fee	One vendor ⁸
Small creator	About RMB 500 a note, RMB 600 a video	One creator with about 7,000 followers, 2026 ³
Pugongying fee	10% from each side	A 2022 report ¹⁴
Monthly budget, basic strategy	From RMB 30,000 to 50,000	A seller’s own range ¹⁸
Monthly budget, with mid-tier KOLs and ads	RMB 100,000 to 300,000+	A seller’s own range ¹⁸

Add staff time. Someone must write in Chinese, reply in comments and handle messages. If that’s a gap, read how to answer Chinese enquiries. AI drafts bring the labeling question above.

How do you test it before committing?

Start by listening, which is close to free. Daxue gives the same advice: map what people type and read competitors’ comment threads, which often carry candid feedback.²⁷

Open a personal account. Dragon Trail describes registering one from overseas.⁹
Search your category in Chinese. Try the product, the problem and your competitors.
Count and read. Note how many relevant notes exist, how recent they are and what commenters ask.
Search your own brand. Check what’s already said, and whether someone else uses your name.
Make the call. No notes and no questions usually means no demand there yet.
Verify an account, then publish. Answer questions you found, and reply to comments.
Add declared creators. Confirm Pugongying access, then use it once your notes earn saves.
Add ads last. Boost notes that already work, through an authorized partner.

Fig. 1Order of tests

1Personal account
2Category search
3Go or no-go
4Professional account
5Own notes
6Declared creators
7Ads via authorized partner

The bottom line

A foreign company can probably get onto Xiaohongshu without a Chinese entity, but it can’t do everything from there. Ads reportedly go through partners, creators must be declared, and your website is unlikely to be the destination.

If buyers in your category already research there, it deserves a serious test. Start by reading what they write, and only pay once you’ve seen real demand.

How Index in China can help

Our offer covers search, and it doesn’t list Xiaohongshu work. We translate your site into Simplified Chinese with a human reviewer, work on getting it indexed on Chinese search engines and send a monthly report on Chinese traffic.

That gives a buyer who hears about you on Xiaohongshu something to find afterward. See what we do, or book a 30-minute call.

Book a 30-minute call

Common questions

Is RedNote the same as Xiaohongshu?

Yes. Xiaohongshu is the Chinese name, written 小红书, and it means Little Red Book. RedNote is the English name that spread in January 2025, when American users arrived during the TikTok ban scare.¹³ Use the Chinese name when you research or brief partners in China, because that's the word your buyers type into a search box.

Is Xiaohongshu useful for B2B?

It's unproven. We found no data on B2B buying there. AppInChina lists technical B2B products with little consumer search demand as less suitable.⁶ Hashmeta argues that professional services can win enquiries, but it sells this work and shows no results.³³ Search your own topic in Chinese. If buyers aren't asking about it, don't build a plan on it.

Can I post in English?

You can, but you won't be speaking to most of the audience. Daxue reports that foreign interest faded after the January 2025 spike, and that analysts quoted by Rest of World expect international use to stay mainly with overseas Chinese.²⁷ The advertising tools are also Chinese-only, according to AppInChina.⁵ Plan on Simplified Chinese, written by someone who actually uses the app.

Do Xiaohongshu notes help you rank on Baidu?

We can't say. Xiaohongshu's robots.txt, read on November 1, 2026, lets Baiduspider reach /explore and its note sitemaps.³⁷ That doesn't prove notes are indexed, and we found no reliable source showing that notes lift a linked brand on Baidu. Treat them as separate channels. A Chinese website is yours, can state full details and lets buyers reach you directly.

How many notes do you need before anything happens?

No reliable number exists. One agency guide suggests 60 to 100 notes in six to eight weeks, then 8 to 12 per keyword, but gives no data behind it.²⁹ The figure depends on your category and how crowded it is. Count what's already published on your own keywords, because that's the better guide.

Can a foreign person earn money as a Xiaohongshu creator?

It's difficult. Rest of World reported in March 2025 that foreign influencers can't withdraw commissions without a Chinese bank account, though they can be paid through overseas marketing agencies. It also said livestreaming and online stores required a Chinese ID.¹³ Those rules may have changed, so check them before you plan around a founder-led account.