The Chinese Q&A platform Zhihu put up a pop-up shop this week at Beijingโs fashion and shopping hub Sanlitun, attracting the cityโs knowledge lovers as well as brands looking to tap into the platformโs well-educated, wealthy user base. Named the โDonโt Know Clinicโ (our translation of ไธ็ฅ้่ฏๆ), the offline installation featured six โhospital departmentsโ with booths themed around popular questions asked on Zhihu.
Over the past six years, the Beijing-based startup has risen to become the go-to website and app for knowledge sharing and searching. According to research firm iResearch (in Chinese), 80.1% of Zhihu users have a bachelor degree or above (in Chinese), and 76% of the users are in the middle- and upper-income tiers. In September the platform reached 100 million registered users (in Chinese) who spend an average of one hour per day, the company said.
Despite Zhihuโs steady growth and positive reputation among Chinese elites, industry observers have been questioning its money-making capacity. So far the company hasnโt revealed much about its financials but this weekโs pop-up shop sheds some light on its commercial possibilities.
Divided into โsurgeryโ, โdentalโ, โpsychologyโ, โENTโ (eyes, nose, throat), โradiologyโ, and โinternal medicineโ, the offline store partnered with brands and key opinion leaders who acted as answer contributors. For the question โWhat are some of classic sneakers?โ for example, Nike placed its line of signature shoes in rows of glass display boxes. The question โWhat perfume smells like mist in a forest?โ hosted perfume brand Aro Magโs โReading Labโ that let attendees test shelves of scents.
Like Weibo and WeChat, Zhihu allows organizations and companies to set up their own official, verified accounts to connect with customers. As of September, the knowledge platform has attracted over 3,000 enterprises, media, government organs, research institutes (in Chinese), NGOs and the likes, the company says. Some of Zhihuโs current revenue streams are organic advertising, online live Q&A events, and e-publishing. It also recently became a darling to Chinese recruiters. The company achieved unicorn status in January as it completed a $100 million Series D round.
