/PRZWT/On the evening of October 12th, the lawn of Shanghai World Expo Cultural Park was filled with spectators. In the night, glow sticks swayed gently to the music. The third Xiaohongshu Road Life Festival, which lasted for 17 days, officially came to an end amid Faye Wong's singing and the chorus of the entire audience.
This city brand event, which originated in Shanghai, has achieved simultaneous linkage among Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hangzhou for the first time this year. With a scale of 25 distinctive Citywalk routes, approximately 300 offline events and thousands of cooperative stores, it has built a complete closed loop of "online seeding - offline experience - consumption conversion".
Compared with the past two sessions, this year's Road Life Festival has achieved three breakthroughs: In terms of the host cities, it has expanded from a single city to cover three cities for the first time; The number of participating merchants this year has increased by more than ten times compared to last year. In terms of product tools, the "Selected Food, Drink, Entertainment and Leisure One-Card" Little Red Card has been launched, truly connecting high-quality users with merchants, achieving a deep conversion of traffic into consumption. While bringing more new ways of playing to the city, it also injects more new vitality into local consumption.
A relevant person in charge of Xiaohongshu's Road Life Festival said, "The road itself is the most down-to-earth consumption scene. This year, through the 'XiaohongCard', we have connected high-quality users and merchants, transforming from 'playing offline' to 'consuming offline'. We have turned users' enthusiasm for participating in the event into real offline consumption, making 'the road' a natural scene for offline consumption."
It is learned that after this year's Road Life Festival, the activity of exchanging blind boxes for those who spend 30 yuan or more with the Little Red Card will continue until the end of October. The small red card will be usable for a long time.
Three places will host 300 distinctive events, transforming roads into urban experience venues
From the "Goodbye Autumn" concert by the Huangpu River, to the water market by the West Lake, and then to the Cantonese garden party by the Pearl River, the three city events of the Road Life Festival not only maintain the unified theme of "discovering new offline ways to play in the city", but also deeply integrate regional cultures, making "strolling along the road" a new way to explore the charm of the city.
On Urumqi South Road in Shanghai, a "picking autumn" event on the street attracted many passers-by to stop and watch. Participants picked up fallen leaves with verses written on them. One of the lines was from the Xiaohongshu blogger "Zhao Tiezhu, the poet" : "I suggest you bask in the autumn sun. Its temperature is about equal to a human embrace." Such a scene becomes a cross-section of the "Experience Real Life" advocated by the Road Life Festival.
As the birthplace of the Road Life Festival, Shanghai has launched 11 carefully selected Citywalk routes, connecting characteristic streets such as University Road and Xinhua Road with the hidden gems scattered among them into a network. Nearly a hundred "Small Road meetup Meetings" across the city attract citizens to participate deeply with special store activities such as "Professional coffee tasting" and "Fashion items made from recycled tires". In addition, the "Slightly Tipsy Station" themed garden party and the "Goodbye Autumn" closing concert, through dozens of interactive games, music performances and other contents, provided citizens with a one-stop happy scene to experience street life, allowing participants with different preferences to find their own pleasant autumn moments.
The Street Life Festival in Guangzhou showcases a strong flavor of old Guangzhou. On the roof of Tianhuan Square, a giant mascot named "Duck Road" holding herbal tea and wearing flip-flops has become a popular spot for citizens to take photos with its unique "Cantonese relaxation" style. At the "Light Care Station" themed garden party, over 20 interactive games allow visitors to exchange for special souvenirs such as lettuce bags and duck-foot slippers. Seven Citywalk routes cover bustling districts such as Dongshankou and Yongqingfang. Hidden gems like RELUSH Sometimes Coffee Shop on Yandun Road have been deeply explored through official guides. Special activities such as "Back Street Music Live" have enabled citizens to enjoy the joy brought by music, handicrafts and fine wine in the stores.
Hangzhou has integrated its water town features with trendy activities. The "Sweet Fragrance Station" themed garden party at the Gongshu Canal Sports Park has launched a water market, where participants can paddle kayaks to visit the market, read poems in the middle of the lake, and enjoy the "flowing Water Dessert Feast". Seven Citywalk routes connect areas such as Wulin Road and Xiaohezhi Street. Outdoor movies outside coffee shops, "daydreaming corners" in cultural and creative stores, and "Dream Talk Card talk shows" in pubs and other activity scenes bring a new experience of "strolling on the street" to tourists visiting Hangzhou.
The "Little Red Card" creates a closed-loop content to empower offline consumption
On the eve of the official opening of the event, Xiaohongshu launched the "Little Red Card", and the Road Life Festival became the first exclusive series of activities for the Little Red Card. With designs such as "uniform 10% discount, selected stores, and exclusive benefits", this card has become one of the core innovations of this year's Road Life Festival.
The core value of the Little Red Card lies in "selection" rather than merely offering discounts. The local product manager of Xiaohongshu said, "Through big data screening and on-site investigation, Xiaohongshu has carefully selected thousands of Koubei stores to be included in the system this time, covering diverse business forms such as catering, cultural and creative industries, and leisure."
For merchants, the "Little Red Card" brings not only online traffic, but also precise customer groups and continuous promotion. Sit Gelato, located on Nanchang Road in Shanghai, is an ice cream shop that became popular on Xiaohongshu. This year, it has become a popular consumption store for the XiaohongCard. Kabu, a brand partner of SIT Gelato, said, "The XiaohongCard brings online users who are interested in it to the offline store and also enables small shops that are serious about making products to gain real and effective traffic."
At the "Yuji Handmade Bakery" store in the Liuyun community of Guangzhou, 100 activity blind boxes were all redeemed in the first half of the holiday. The staff revealed, "The notes posted by customers after they made purchases have brought a new round of attention to the store and the redemption activities."
For consumers, the Little Red Card makes urban exploration simpler and adds more anticipation. The manager of the "Pelican Picnic" restaurant in Hangzhou observed that during the National Day holiday, the number of customers coming to the store with the small red card increased significantly. "Many tourists from other places came specifically for the limited edition blind boxes." At the RELUSH cafe in Guangzhou, Miss Luo, a tourist, not only enjoyed a discount but also unexpectedly won her favorite blind box style after making a purchase with her red card. "This kind of experience that is both cost-effective and offers a pleasant surprise gift makes one want to share this store," she said.
The person in charge of Xiaohongshu's local products emphasized that the platform's local life business has always focused on "inspiring users' life inspirations with high-quality content". The person in charge clearly stated that the local life business of the platform does not take transaction volume as the core orientation, but "stimulates demand through high-quality content, meets demand through transaction products, and ultimately accumulates more genuine content."
Although this year's Road Life Festival has come to an end, the exploration will not cease. It is learned that after the conclusion of this year's Road Life Festival, the Little Red Card will continue to operate and will continuously optimize relevant policies and tool products based on feedback from merchants and users.
From Shanghai to the three-city collaboration, from event experience to consumption catalysis, the Xiaohongshu Road Life Festival, with roads as the carrier, content as the bridge, and the Xiaohongshu Card as the tool, continuously contributes to enhancing the urban living atmosphere and consumption vitality. As the participants wrote in their notes: "The best city trip begins with a good stroll along a street and a small shop."
