Wanghong e-commerce in/as China’s economic transformation: A case study of beauty wanghong

Abstract

This article examines the crucial encounter between wanghong and e-commerce in the specific process of China’s platformization. We develop a threefold (macro-meso-micro) approach that combines perspectives from political economy, critical industry studies, and ethnographic research to identify and unpack the heterogeneous actors and actions in the evolution of wanghong e-commerce, using beauty wanghong as a case study. Drawing upon document studies (146 documents between 2001 and 2022) and 21 semi-structured interviews (supplemented by ethnographic field observations over seven months in 2018), we argue that: first, the contrast between strong consumer demand (activated by beauty wanghong) and poorly developed retail and distribution channels in the Chinese beauty industry provides a precondition for the emergence of beauty wanghong e-commerce; second, e-commerce platform Alibaba has boosted and institutionalized the convergence of wanghong and e-commerce, developing a new “social commerce model” that integrates social networking with entertainment in the context of e-commerce transactions; finally, China’s ongoing economic transformation has created possibilities and challenges for wanghong e-commerce and energized this new “social commerce” business model. The articulation of the wanghong and e-commerce is a result—and also a stage—of the integration of the manufacturing industry and platform economy in China. It is a consequence, yet an embodiment of China’s economic transformation.