Chinese social ecommerce startup raises $10M+ from GGV

China’s ecommerce space might be crowded, but there are plenty of startups aimed at carving out a small, niche slice of that massive pie. On Monday, one of them – Chinese social discovery ecommerce startup Red – announced that it has raised a series B round of more than US$10 million (the exact number was not announced). The round was led by GGV Capital and GGV managing partner Hans Tung has been added to Red’s board of directors.

Red – called Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book) in Chinese – is a social discovery ecommerce platform aimed at helping people buy discounted brand-name goods from overseas. The company operates a website and a number of mobile apps. Its main mobile app mirrors its site, on which users can browse items found and shared by Red’s overseas users, and purchase select imported products from overseas. These products are picked from the most popular product shares on the app’s social side, and each item’s sale page also includes a few of these user posts so potential buyers can see some real-life photos of the product and read what the users who shared it had to say.

Red also aims to improve the shopping experience of China’s overseas travelers, though, with a variety of “guide” apps for buying in various countries. These apps include a basic introduction to the country, top-quality brands to look out for in each product category, size conversion charts, and a rundown of places to buy including outlets, department stores, and brand shops in the country’s major tourist cities. It even includes some language guidance in the form of a mini-phrasebook that translates helpful sentences like “Can I try it on?” and “I’ll take it!” from Chinese into the target language so shoppers can try their hand at the local tongue.

Red is far from alone in its focus on selling high-quality foreign goods at a discount, of course. Both import-dedicated sites like Haitao and the major players like Tmall and JD are interested in this market – JD in particular has been pushing hard on imports this year. But Red aims to set itself apart with its focus on user sharing and its community, which is already substantial. What it offers that those other sites may not be able to are the firsthand impressions of overseas or traveling Red users who have photographed the items in the wild and noted their impressions. Whether that will be enough is anyone’s guess, but with a few extra million in the bank and the backing of GGV Capital, Red’s future certainly looks promising.