Sharing economy a rising star despite COVID woes

For example, in July, Xiaozhu teamed up with Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book), an Instagram-like Chinese fashion and lifestyle sharing platform, inviting key opinion leaders and key opinion consumers on the platform to share their accommodation experiences.

Huang Wei, an official from Xiaozhu's public affairs department, said: "KOLs and KOCs share their living experiences on Xiaohongshu, and interact with users on the online community, encouraging them to pay a visit to the recommended accommodations. In this way, a circulation running from online to offline is formed."

Data from Xiaozhu showed that between July and November, transaction volume brought by Xiaohongshu's channels surpassed 10 million yuan, and the monthly growth rate of gross merchandise volume stood at 350 percent. By Nov 25, 1,610 sharing accommodation brands were registered on Xiaohongshu, and the charge-off rate of presale accommodations reached 60 percent.

"Online marketing communities such as Xiaohongshu conform to the rules of contemporary consumption communication. Through image and video-sharing, more potential users can be reached, creating more travel and accommodation demand. Meanwhile, content platforms are further integrating with the tourism industry, bringing new traffic and growth opportunities," Huang said.

As pointed out in the SIC report, looking ahead, as sharing economy platforms increase their resource inputs and expand business, industry competition will intensify.

"When the pandemic is over, the focus of enterprise competition lies in how they realize user retention and profit mode innovation. Efforts are needed in product innovation and service quality enhancement," said the report.

Fan Jiping, head of WeDoctor Digital Medical Consortium, said that in the post-pandemic era, there will be increasing market demand for high-quality services integrating online and offline modes of business.

"For WeDoctor, digitalization and 'intelligentization' will be the focus of the whole healthcare industry in the near future. How to take advantage of digital technologies to build a service system that satisfies healthcare needs of various patient groups and raises the efficiency and level of the industry－that remains a key issue for us," Fan said.