brands and businesses are worried.
Needless to say, this year may be the most difficult 618 in history.
This year, consumers may not buy the common usage of red envelope rain, limited time spike and large sum surprise coupons. The simplified, direct and clear final payment price can directly stimulate the C-end. For the brand, the support should also be accurate, otherwise the merchants are easy to adjust and migrate frequently. In previous years, brands had money and patience, and it was not difficult for several e-commerce platforms to take into account multiple positions. This year, there may not be enough people. Making money and protecting principal is much more cost-effective than throwing money to buy a cry. No one should be wronged. From 618 to the 19th year, the uncertainty of the general environment and the hesitation and wait-and-see of consumers made the brand more or less afraid. After the flow bonus faded, the marketing insider continued to attack, and homogeneous products in the online service industry frequently appeared. What kind of service to choose and which position to focus on farming are the choices that the brand must make after a deep understanding of its own operation mode. Some people still choose all in for fear of missing any chance and possibility of a big explosion. Some people decide to make a cautious move and use more accurate and efficient traffic to achieve transformation. No matter which kind, the anxiety of the brand is on paper. The e-commerce companies who are aware of this change are also accelerating their pace. They need to prove to various businesses and brands that they can not only attract new customers, but also match high net worth users. More importantly, in the process of constantly crossing the cycle, they can deliver more far-reaching power for brands to consumers.
This year is a special case. Around the middle of May, the 618 war started. Although tmall started to warm up on May 10, Kwai took the lead in launching the first shot of pre-sale on May 20, almost one month ahead of the real June 18. Since then, jd.com and pinduoduo have followed suit. Almost all e-commerce players are ready before the end of May. Adam, the head of the beauty brand who was still trapped at home, found that the platform moved faster than the brand before he recovered. The epidemic affected offline retail, logistics and other links. Everyone was waiting for 618 blood return with a deep breath, “then our attitude must be to follow up immediately, all in”. Almost everyone was mobilized. Within 24 hours, Adam and the team have arranged the personnel and their respective responsible links for docking with Kwai, Tiktok, Taobao, jd.com, Suning, vipshop and other channels. The video and plane materials of all platforms should be reconfirmed, and the delivery problem in East China should be confirmed with the express. “Because of the extension of the live broadcast time, the scheduling of all anchors should also be rescheduled.”. In previous years, strong platforms often required one of two brands, or put the main position of promoting marketing at home. This year, we tacitly agreed not to mention that “everyone is very anxious. The platform is to welcome us, and our attitude is that more channels are better.”. Like Adam, almost all beauty brands dare not miss 618, the most important blood return node in the first half of 2022. In particular, after two months of sluggish sales, cosmetics need a main battlefield to directly increase sales. The tug of war between international brands and domestic cosmetics became more obvious this year, and directly evolved into a white hot war. L’Oreal launched a series of activities for members in JD’s self operated official flagship store, including meeting gifts, raffle for airpods3, double points, push box games and exclusive shopping vouchers; The official flagship store of the brand on Taobao has started a direct and clear “operation mode of saving money and strategies”. In Tiktok, the live broadcast time of L’Oreal in Paris is from 7:00 a.m. to 0:00 midnight every day.
Using different marketing strategies according to the characteristics of the platform is also gradually explored by the brand. JD has always focused on maintaining high-quality customer base and fully stimulating their consumption potential. The brand has obviously enlarged its membership rights during the 618 promotion; Amoy this year focuses on cost performance, and has opened the functions of friends’ shopping cart sharing and shopping cart shopping. Therefore, the best way to cooperate with the platform to reduce coupons is to directly take the price. On the other hand, there are many young people gathered on Tiktok, which is also a model of e-commerce. Users have a high acceptance of the form of live broadcast and short video. Working hard on the number and duration of live broadcast can prolong the time users stay in the scene, so as to achieve purchase conversion. Linqingxuan, a domestic beauty brand, also chose all in platforms, but its popularity on quickshake was significantly lower than that on Taobao and jd.com. It is worth mentioning that the number of fans of official account has reached more than 5 million, and the transformation of private domain is good. The brand has made great efforts in the video number. As of June 17, 2022, the brand has broadcast 416 live broadcasts on the video number, and there is an appointment button for the live broadcast of the day in a prominent place. Before each live broadcast, the live broadcast preview will be pushed in the applet and the store community. From the perspective of traffic locking before live broadcast, it can effectively delineate a group of users to watch. From the perspective of real-time communication, adding customer service wechat on the home page can also initiate rapid communication.
Adam believes that Lin Qingxuan didn’t devote all his energy to kuaixiao, Taoxi Jingdong or pinduoduo. Instead, he went to the video number for intensive cultivation. Instead, he made a reasonable choice based on the brand’s accumulation of users on various platforms and the ecological characteristics of the platform. “Of course, it’s common sense to use the greatest effort on the fertile soil of users.”.
“Be sensitive to the information released by the platform”
In addition to knowing where the target users are and the ecological characteristics of the platform, the brand also needs to have an insight into the dynamic changes in the war situation at all times, so as to timely adjust the strategy and hit the target immediately. After Taobao launched the “shopping cart sharing” function, it was obvious that users’ willingness to “share and discuss good things” in the same layer was significantly increased in the 618 after the water test and the new year goods festival of the double 11 last year. This is also a potential way to use social attributes to activate consumption. Kunting works in the consumer insight Department of a beauty brand. As early as may, he began to pay close attention to the tmall 618 must buy list, the general list of cutting-edge beauty makeup, and even subdivided into the hot selling list of patch facial mask and the list of additional purchases. “We should be very sensitive to the information released by the platform and learn to use it skillfully.”. Kunting said that, for example, he and his team found that in the process of making the list this year, the performance of the cosmetics category was weaker than that of the skin care category. Before that, the perfect diary of the fire and huaxizi failed to hold the top position all the time. Instead, a skin care brand, runbaiyan, has been at the top of the list for a long time, and the top new beauty brands such as Guyu and zhuben are all the main skin care categories.
In addition, according to the information on the make-up and skin care sub list of the must buy list, Kunting and the team also found that consumers are not particularly interested in the make-up star categories such as eye shadow, powder Blusher and lipstick this year, and foundation make-up and isolation with sun protection, concealer and other functional effects are in the forefront. Based on this information, the team quickly adjusted the main push items of the major e-commerce platforms and told the anchor to give more exposure time to products such as liquid foundation and facial mask during the live broadcast.
Not everyone is going to end up
Of course, not all brands regard 618 as a hot war like beauty brands. In Jingdong’s most famous digital home appliance field, you will find that hard core home appliance brands, the so-called large products, are still standing firm. This is closely related to the product channel. Large consumers such as color TV sets and air conditioners have high unit price and low purchase frequency. Consumers need to carefully weigh the budget and product performance. Therefore, offline scenes are still one of the important exports of product sales. On the Internet, even if it is a big promotion Festival, it is good to increase sales, but if you only act as an atmosphere group, even if it improves the brand reputation and image, it is a cost-effective business.
Small household appliances such as hot water kettles and vacuum cleaners, on the contrary, need to keep beating the drums in this hot war. During the live broadcast, the anchor is overwhelmed with products on the ground. The dazzling product display in the online store and the page display with a sense of design are all important means to attract consumers. Lydia, a person in charge of aesthetic brand, told me that in 618 this year, their main play was neither fast shaking nor Taojing. Because the brand is a start-up node, with no more than 10 designers, e-commerce principals, administrative and financial teams. “Our products rely heavily on regular customers and long tail purchases generated under natural search. It is not appropriate for us to spend money on promotion such as quickshake or live broadcasting for a long time.”. If you enter platforms such as Taobao and jd.com, which have strict requirements on performance and have large red envelopes in 618, it is difficult for current brands to afford to reduce prices and transfer profits and to deliver goods on time for performance, and problems will certainly occur in the follow-up.
“Frankly speaking, I think a brand should have a clear self-awareness.”. Lydia said that the head brands do not need to consider which platform to choose, because they have formed a strong binding relationship with some platforms, and will not frequency hop or migrate between different platforms. This also means that even if it is a big promotion node, our exposure and presentation are very limited. ” For niche brands, choosing a suitable destination is a way to avoid sharp edges and save budget. For Lydia, a relatively small Nordic design brand that does not rely on the volume model to compete for the market, the video number may be an opportunity. She cited an example. The exposure of Tiktok requires dou+ to pay for it, but the streaming of the live room of the video number depends on the traffic coupon. At present, this kind of traffic coupon can only be obtained by participating in official activities. “You will feel that the intention of the platform is relatively restrained, and it is more comfortable for you to be a brand in a down-to-earth manner.”.
Multiple ways are not bad for the brand
In fact, it is really important for brands to choose the right platform according to their own development stage. But what cannot be ignored is the ecosystem and operation rules that have been formed on the platform. Learn to adjust measures to local conditions. Only when the money is spent can it be regarded as spent on the blade. Nowadays, various e-commerce companies are open to brand businesses, but there are also regulatory restrictions. This attitude of openness and standardization is not necessarily a good thing for the future development of the e-commerce industry.
Old shelf e-commerce has its own foundation. Taobao first made the “double 11” a national shopping festival, and jd.com immediately made 618 a big promotion day for store celebrations. In the first half of a year and the second half of a year, consumers’ wallets are equally distributed. In addition, pinduoduo, who entered the Bureau later, has made great efforts in warehousing, logistics and after-sales performance. The heaviest, most tiring and dirtiest links of e-commerce have been gnawed down one by one, so it is expected that they will be able to join hands with leading brands now. In addition, their membership system has enabled high net worth users to maintain ultra-high loyalty. JD plus members and Taobao 88vip are good examples after their rights and interests have been cleared up. If the brand has a clear user portrait, it is not a bad thing to work hard on these platforms. For quickshake, whether it is interested in e-commerce or trusting e-commerce, at present, consumers’ experience is still different from that of old e-commerce in terms of performance, and there is still a long way to go in terms of trust between brands and consumers. Just like the brands at the top of the pyramid, a considerable part of the marketing budget is offline, and online is not their main battlefield. In addition, some brands have overturned on the short video platform before, so they will be very cautious about the form of live broadcast. Therefore, they will keep a distance from all online platforms such as quickshake and video number. However, this 618 is really special. In addition, the video number is the end for the first time. Brands will also wait and see for a while. However, based on the impact of the epidemic on offline stores, I personally think that some community brands or small and medium-sized brands in the local life circle may easily get accurate customers on video numbers. They are the merchants with the ability of independent distribution, and also have the precipitation of private traffic. Especially in the case of middle-aged and elderly groups, the cost of purchase decision-making will be greatly reduced. For example, a silk scarf brand sells its products to aunts within 5 kilometers around the store through video numbers. The shopkeepers and customers may have known each other through square dance for a long time. The problem of trust in the private domain can be well solved. And the video number is smooth enough. In the wechat ecosystem, video numbers can be seamlessly embedded in almost all wechat scenarios, such as chat dialog boxes, group chat pages, and official account interfaces. This kind of scene immersion is better than that of short video platforms such as quickshake. Previously, the success of small programs also enabled some brands to cross the river of wechat e-commerce. After the establishment of the flash store, a series of processes such as brand image construction, product display and sales, online payment and logistics performance can be achieved in wechat. Infrastructure has been built, and now the video number is coming out to take the lead, which is also good. Not to mention the brand content that has been deposited in the official account for a long time. Enterprise wechat, official account, shopping guide group, etc. in recent years, a large number of brand merchants have been deposited in wechat. It still needs time to attract investment to become an e-commerce in the early stage. In this step, it is easier for video numbers to become e-commerce providers. Of course, even if the video Number e-commerce is completed, it does not mean that wechat will become e-commerce in the future. It is more likely to appear as an ecological builder and service provider, or introduce some video number service providers to provide help for video Number creators and brand merchants in aspects such as advertising docking, content planning, live broadcast discussion, data analysis and private domain operation. In the final analysis, multiple platforms are not bad for brands. According to the development stage of the brand itself, it is reasonable to choose a suitable platform according to local conditions.
This year, 618 has come to an end. In contrast to the peak of user dividends, more and more homogeneous products have emerged in each industry, and the brand playing methods have also begun to converge. How to help brands walk out of a differentiated innovation path in the new era of global operation is a new proposition for e-commerce.
Author: maikeke; Source: Wu jiejie (id:wuduidui728), reprint has been authorized. Reprint authorization and media business cooperation: Amy (wechat: 13701559246);
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