Yoren Becomes First Japanese Company to Obtain Official RED (Xiaohongshu) EC Service Provider Certification

Yoren Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director and CEO: Osamu Kaneda; hereinafter 'Yoren') announced on May 11, 2026, that through its group's local Chinese subsidiary, it has obtained the 2026 'EC Service Provider (电商招商服务商)' certification for the EC business of the Chinese SNS/EC platform 'RED (Xiaohongshu)'. This is the first time a company group with a Japanese holding company has obtained this certification (Note 1).

The 'EC Service Provider (电商招商服务商)' is an official partner certification responsible for developing brands and merchants, supporting store openings, and driving sales growth within RED's EC business. With this certification, Yoren will further strengthen its China-market EC support for Japanese companies and Japan-origin brands, combining store opening, store management, content production, KOL/influencer strategies, live commerce, advertising operations, CRM, and logistics/customer service on RED.

RED, often described as the 'Chinese version of Instagram' in Japan, has evolved beyond a simple SNS into a social commerce platform where users can discover, search, compare, and purchase products within the platform. In particular, the operational design that links 'Zhongcao' (seeding grass, which stimulates purchase intent through word-of-mouth and reviews) with search, storefronts, live streaming, and CRM is becoming increasingly important for brand growth in the Chinese market.

This certification recognizes Yoren's execution capabilities in digital marketing, EC operations, CRM, KOL/influencer strategies, and supply chain management, which it has cultivated in the Chinese market, as a service provider supporting the sales growth of brands and merchants in RED's EC business.

Significance of RED's E-commerce Evolution for Japanese Companies Entering the Chinese Market

In the Chinese market, it is becoming difficult to drive consumer purchases through advertising or one-off influencer campaigns alone. Consumers now make purchasing decisions based on a comprehensive view of brand information, actual product experience, third-party reviews, search results, live stream explanations, and post-purchase support.

On RED, posted content, search, live streaming, storefronts, and user communities are becoming closely interconnected. For brands, it is crucial to design an integrated strategy that not only builds awareness but also ensures products are 'found', 'compared', 'purchased', and leads to 'repurchase and brand loyalty'.

However, Japanese companies often face the following challenges when utilizing RED:

- Account management and EC store operations are separated, making it difficult to design a sales conversion path.
- Simply translating Japanese appeals does not align with Chinese users' search behavior and purchasing context.
- KOL/influencer campaigns end as one-off exposures and are not linked to store operations.
- Inability to manage live streaming, advertising, inventory, logistics, and customer support across the board.
- Difficulty in assessing the initial setup and operational risks when starting test sales in the Chinese market.

Yoren addresses these challenges by providing end-to-end support for store opening, operations, sales, and customer cultivation on RED.

RED EC Support Provided by Yoren

- RED Store Opening and Operations Support: Supports store preparation, store design, product page setup, sales path construction, and daily operations on RED. Builds an operational framework tailored to objectives such as new market entry, complementing existing EC channels, or test marketing new products.
- RED Content Production and Search Optimization: Plans, produces, and manages posted content that serves as the entry point for purchase consideration on RED. Instead of simply translating product features, designs content that leads to comparison and purchase intent based on Chinese users' search behavior, lifestyle context, and category-specific interests.
- KOL/Influencer Strategies: Supports brand awareness, product understanding, and purchase intent formation through collaboration with KOLs/influencers in categories such as beauty, personal care, food, health foods, apparel, and lifestyle goods. Designs strategies that link posts, search, storefronts, and live streaming, rather than one-off exposures.
- Live Commerce: Designs sales strategies that leverage live streaming on RED to convey product appeal and usage scenarios, driving purchases. Combines streamer selection, sales paths, pre- and post-stream content design, and CRM measures based on product characteristics.
- CRM and User Asset Management: Supports building continuous customer relationships beyond one-time purchases by utilizing followers, buyers, members, and group chats. Manages operations with a view to not only acquiring new customers but also driving repurchase, cross-selling, and brand fan development.
- Logistics and Customer Support: Provides an operational foundation for brands to conduct continuous sales activities on RED, including post-order processing, logistics, inquiry handling, and after-sales support in China.

Target Companies and Categories: The service primarily targets Japanese companies considering new entry into the Chinese market, companies wanting to use RED for both awareness and sales, companies wanting to strengthen sales on RED in addition to existing Chinese EC channels, companies wanting to combine posts, search, KOLs, and live streaming for new product launches, and companies wanting to outsource store operations, advertising, logistics, and customer support in China. Target categories include beauty/personal care, functional foods/health foods, apparel/footwear, food/beverages, and lifestyle goods.

Comment from Osamu Kaneda, Representative Director and CEO of Yoren Co., Ltd.: 'RED is becoming an increasingly important platform for Chinese consumers to discover, compare, and consider purchasing products. In recent years, its importance has grown not only as an SNS for information dissemination but also as an EC channel encompassing search, storefronts, live streaming, and CRM. For Japanese companies, the challenge in the Chinese market is not simply about adding a sales channel. It is necessary to design a path where consumers encounter products, are convinced to purchase, and continuously build a relationship with the brand, tailored to local consumer behavior. We see this certification as an acknowledgment of the EC operations, digital marketing, CRM, and local execution capabilities that Yoren has built in the Chinese market. Going forward, we will continue to strengthen our support system using RED so that Japanese companies and Japan-origin brands can build lasting relationships with Chinese consumers and achieve sales growth that goes beyond mere awareness.'

About Yoren Co., Ltd.: Yoren supports consumer-oriented Go-To-Market strategies through strategic consulting backed by extensive experience in the Japanese and Chinese markets, along with a multifaceted execution system encompassing CRM operations, EC operations, digital marketing, real event operations, and product creation. In the Middle East and Africa markets, where it began full-scale expansion in 2023, Yoren opened a business base office in Egypt in August 2025.