Event Recap: What 100+ Marketing Experts from Nordic Businesses Learned Inside Xiaohongshu, the Rising Chinese Social Media Channel

In 2026, we’re honored to co-organize with several Nordic business chambers in China to bring over 100 market professionals through the doors of 小红书 (Xiaohongshu/RedNote)'s Shanghai office — a platform that has become one of the most influential forces shaping how Chinese consumers discover and decide.

The sessions drew a diverse crowd of industry practitioners, all looking to get closer to how China's digital landscape is actually evolving on the ground. Particular thanks go to the speakers who made the conversations so rich: Tracy Zhang from H&M, Sunny Xu from Oatly, and Sihui Li from Orkla. Each brought a candid, brand-side perspective on what it takes to build genuine presence on the platform. And special thanks to Crystal Pang from Xiaohongshu, whose generosity in hosting set the tone for two genuinely open and insightful exchanges.

Key Learnings

What made these visits particularly valuable was the rare chance to understand, from the inside, why the platform works the way it does: how user-generated content becomes the engine of brand trust, why search behavior on Xiaohongshu differs fundamentally from non-Chinese platforms, and what it means for a brand when its audience is already looking for it.

Search, not scroll

With 250 billion searches recorded in 2025, and roughly 90 percent of them are intent-driven, Xiaohongshu users are actively seeking answers before they act. On this platform, content is the marketing. Trust flows from real people sharing unscripted experiences.

The purchase journey, as most non-Chinese marketers have understood it, has collapsed somehow in the Chinese ecosystem. Discovery, research, social validation, and conversion increasingly happen within a single session on a single platform. For brands accustomed to mapping touchpoints across channels, this demands a different starting point entirely.

Nordic culture is already recognized here

Do you know that Iceland and Stockholm are already very hot direct search destinations on Xiaohongshu? Nordic lifestyle concepts — minimalism, natural materials, aesthetic restraint — are active trends on the platform, not emerging ones.

Nordic culture resonates naturally within Xiaohongshu's community-driven space — its emphasis on sustainability, quiet innovation, and authenticity maps closely onto what the platform's users already value. Case studies and panel discussions from H&M, Oatly, and Orkla Health reinforced a consistent question: not whether Nordic brands belong on the platform, but whether they will show up before others do it for them.

Beyond B2C: a shift toward human storytelling

Xiaohongshu's relevance extends beyond consumer-facing brands. Its community architecture — built on authentic voices and organic trust — creates meaningful space for B2B storytelling as well. As marketing continues its shift away from institutional messaging toward genuine human connection, the platform's model becomes relevant to almost any company with a story worth telling.

The broader takeaway is not about adding a channel to an existing media mix. It is about recognizing that a new consumer logic has taken hold — one where relevance, authenticity, and community carry more weight than production value or media spend.

A moment worth acting on

For Nordic businesses in China, the conditions are unusually favorable. Cultural alignment is real and already reflected in user behavior. Awareness of Nordic destinations, aesthetics, and products exists on the platform organically. The infrastructure for authentic storytelling is built into how Xiaohongshu operates. What remains is the decision of whether to meet that audience intentionally — or to leave that space to someone else.

These visits were organized by Nordic Friend in collaboration with the Norwegian Business Association China, FinnCham China, and the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in China, with the generous support of the Xiaohongshu team.