Study on the Influence of KOLs’ Evaluation Posts of Cosmetics in Little Red Book on Consumers’ Purchasing Willingness

Abstract

The improvement in the quality of contemporary living standards has given rise to the rapid development of the beauty industry. A wide range of beauty products provides consumers with the freedom of choice. Meanwhile, it creates barriers for consumers to choose products to a certain extent. To solve the problem and give consumers a better purchasing experience, KOLs of beauty products show the effect by personally testing beauty products to show product effect, giving consumers a reference to buy their favourite beauty products. Nowadays, it has become prevalent for consumers to search for and refer to the review posts of KOLs on media platforms to make purchasing decisions before buying beauty products. With the development of the Little Red Book, it has gradually become a mature “sharing + shopping” online media platform, which is also favored by more and more young people. This paper studies the influence of KOLs’ evaluation posts in the platform on consumers’ purchasing intention and collects data from people who have a basic understanding of beauty products and have the need to buy them through questionnaires. In doing so, whether KOLs’ evaluation posts in the Little Red Book impact consumers’ purchasing intention will be investigated. The paper shows that the authenticity and popularity of KOLs’ evaluation posts significantly impact consumers’ purchasing intention and that perceived value mediates the relationship between popularity and authenticity. It is hoped that through the paper, better suggestions can be made on the evaluation posts. Meanwhile, merchants can better consider the relevant opinions and utilize the evaluation posts to promote their products and gain long-term profits to achieve a win-win situation for both manufacturers and consumers.