The Chinese online shopping sector has been receiving numerous complaints about counterfeit, defective and substandard products. (Photo : www.marketingtochina.com)
Red, a Chinese social e-commerce startup, has recently finished a series B round of fundraising. It has gathered over $10 million worth of investments led by GGV Capital.
The move has placed GGV managing partner Hands Tung at Red's board of directors.
Called Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book) in Chinese, Red is a newbie in the already crowded e-commerce sector of the country, serving as social discovery Web platform that can help shoppers buy luxury items abroad at discounted prices.
The e-commerce startup hosts a website apart from a number of mobile apps it promotes. Through these portals, local users have an access to items found and shared by Red's subscribers abroad.
The items posted are culled from the app's social side, specifically those products that garnered the most shares. Users can also see real-life photos of the products and read short testimonials about them.
Red's mission is to improve the shopping experience of Chinese global trotters. It is one of the many mobile apps that are now available in the market offering "guide" services. These include a brief background about the country, high-end and in-demand brands for each product category, and list of places where the items can be bought.
The startup is also not alone in its goal of selling high-quality global products at a good price. Other firms such as import-dedicated portal Haitao and giant Web-selling platforms such as Tmall and JD have also shown interest in the said market.
However, Red said that it will set apart itself from these players by pouring its attention to user sharing and to its community.
