Have consumers benefited from it?, Four Women Attack and Defend the "Most Popular 618 in History" on Tmall | Users | Attack and Defend

This year's 618 is the largest edition in history. Using 618 as a cover, traditional e-commerce platforms and live streaming e-commerce platforms carry firearms and ammunition and attack each other's hinterland. However intense the battle may be, consumers only care about one thing: is it really cheap?

They all say it's the most curly, where is it?

The saying "the most voluminous in history" originated from e-commerce platforms.

On May 10th, at the Taobao Tmall 618 launch meeting in Hangzhou, Dai Shan, CEO of the newly formed Taobao Tmall Group, stated that Taobao Tmall will definitely make historic and huge investments in user scale and user development this year.

Mu Shan, the general manager of Taobao and Tmall 618, directly stated that this year's Taobao and Tmall 618 is the largest investment in history.

On May 22nd, JD.com launched its first 618 since Xu Ran became the CEO of the group at its headquarters in Yizhuang, Beijing. Xu Ran is also the first female CEO of JD Group.

At the launch meeting, JD Retail CEO Xin Lijun shouted a similar slogan, "This year's JD 618 will be the most heavily invested 618 in the industry.".

On the evening of May 30th at 10 o'clock, Pinduoduo also launched the "618 Opening Red" activity, stating that Pinduoduo invested 5 billion yuan in coupons for a subsidy of 10 billion yuan in 4 days, "creating the most affordable 618 promotion in history.".

Behind the Pinduoduo 618, there also appears the figure of a female executive, who is Gu Pingping. At present, the outside world is not clear about Gu Pingping's specific position within Pinduoduo, and even Pinduoduo employees are not very familiar with it. However, based on comprehensive public information, Gu Pingping holds a prominent position in Pinduoduo, with some media claiming that she serves as the COO of Pinduoduo.

According to a report by LatePost, before the retirement of Huang Zheng, the founder of Pinduoduo, Gu Pingping was responsible for various businesses such as C-end, B-end, marketing, live streaming, and platform governance.

618 Among many players, Tiktok, as a new representative, cannot be ignored.

On May 16, before the opening of 618, Tiktok E-commerce held the third ecological conference in Guangzhou. At the meeting, Wei Wenwen, president of Tiktok E-Commerce, who called herself "new e-commerce person", reiterated Tiktok's determination to become an e-commerce business with global interests. On May 31, the "Tiktok 618 Good Things Festival" was launched.

At this point, 618, one of China's e-commerce promotion battlefields, has unprecedentedly gathered so many female commanding officer faces.

However, it is said that this year's 618 has the highest volume in history. Where did it end up?

According to a review by Zhongxin Jingwei, compared to introducing various interesting interactive games in previous years, this year each platform focuses on a "direct" approach by directly announcing the amount of subsidies and the strength of discounts through game subsidies, coupons, and sharing gifts.

Taking the 618 initiator JD.com as an example, in 2021, JD.com also launched interactive gameplay such as "birthday red envelopes", "love carnival", and "city city cash sharing". On June 18, 2022, JD.com simplified the gameplay and launched cross store discounts, reducing 50 points for every 299 points sold.

On June 18th this year, in addition to directly incorporating the 10 billion yuan subsidy launched in March into more products, JD.com also launched a "full market direct reduction". On this basis, users also have the opportunity to receive three "20% off for every 200" subsidy vouchers every day.

Tmall has continued its efforts to reduce cross store purchases by 50 for every 300 purchases in 2022, while Taobao has reduced cross store purchases by 30 for every 200 purchases. In addition, this year Taobao and Tmall 618 also set up a "Juhuasuan Direct Reduction Special Session" for the first time, with a unit price of 50% off for products at the venue, and consumers do not need to gather a single item for discounts.

E-commerce platforms, exploring each other's hinterland

Why do we emphasize "the most voluminous" in this year's 618?

Ma Jihua, the founder of Darui Consulting and an analyst of telecommunications and Internet, made an analysis of Sino Singapore Jingwei. This year, 618 urged all major e-commerce platforms to spontaneously shout slogans such as "maximum investment" and "best offer" in history. The fundamental reason is that the promotion means are exhausted, and it is difficult to give a sensational innovation. Instead, we can only continue to compete with "the lowest price of the whole network" to drive the industry.

Li Muren, Vice President of Making Friends and General Manager of Tiktok Business Department in Hangzhou, also felt deeply about the "most volume in history" 618. In an interview with China News Service, she said that from the past, this year has indeed been the "busiest year". In the view of Mr. Li, this "roll" is mainly reflected in the platform's competition for traffic.

Under the anxiety of traffic, the most obvious change among various platforms is that traditional e-commerce platforms and live streaming e-commerce platforms are probing each other and attacking each other's hinterland.

In 2022, Tiktok E-commerce, which started as a live broadcast E-commerce, will upgrade the e-commerce of interest to the stage of global e-commerce of interest, and vigorously invest in the construction of shelf scenes that traditional e-commerce is good at. In 2023, Tiktok E-commerce said that it would invest 10 billion yuan in cash support to help businesses do well in shelf business.

Another live broadcast e-commerce platform, Kwai, is also driving the shelf business.

On May 9, 2023 Kwai E-commerce Attraction Conference, Cheng Yixiao, founder and CEO of Kwai Technology, who also calls himself "a newcomer in the e-commerce field", said that Kwai E-commerce will focus on the pan shelf this year. On May 18, the pre-sale of Kwai 618 Shopping Festival was launched.

On the other hand, traditional e-commerce platforms also make no secret of their idea of doing live streaming and content. A landmark event is that on June 18th this year, JD.com Live and Make Friends announced a partnership. In addition to daily live broadcasts on JD.com, influencer Luo Yonghao will also conduct three live broadcasts on the JD.com platform. Taobao and Tmall also stated that they will welcome the first broadcast of over 50000 new anchors during the 618 period.

Does the mutual penetration of e-commerce platforms mean that e-commerce scenarios will gradually become homogeneous in the end?

Li Muren said that this does not mean that the e-commerce scene will eventually converge. Whether it is live streaming e-commerce doing shelf e-commerce, or traditional e-commerce doing live streaming and content e-commerce, their essence is to do increment, which is determined by their respective initial strategies and development stages.

Wei Wenwen said in an interview with Zhongxin Jingwei and other media that the Tiktok layout shelf scene is mainly to meet the needs of users. "In the content scene, users are infected by the content, which stimulates their interest in purchasing. However, if users do not convert on the spot, they will want to look for stores and search again later. If we do not do it, it is destined to only provide users with half of the e-commerce experience, which is not complete, so we definitely need to do shelving." She said.

Are consumers getting affordable?

On June 18th this year, in addition to e-commerce platforms familiar to consumers, video accounts, Xiaohongshu, and others also joined this battle. But in e-commerce promotions, no matter how much flower activity you play, if you deviate from the "discount" line, you will lose vitality.

However, Ma Jihua believes that there is not much room for price wars on e-commerce platforms at present. You get what you pay for, and consumers need to choose according to their purchasing power, rather than blindly pursuing low prices, otherwise they may be easily tricked.

Li Muren also mentioned that blindly pursuing low prices in e-commerce promotions is not a healthy competition. If suppliers, brands, including influencers, and platforms do not have corresponding profits, business will not be able to continue for long. "Making friends is more important than the cost-effectiveness presented by a single SKU. When making profits for brands, platforms, consumers, and influencers, select the lowest priced products." said Li Muren.

On June 8th, the Jiangsu Provincial Consumer Protection Commission issued a 618 e-commerce promotion reminder, reminding consumers to choose legitimate platforms for shopping and not to trust verbal promotion in live streaming rooms. Especially when facing various promotional activities such as group buying, pre-sales, discounts, red envelopes, coupons, etc., it is important to carefully study the usage threshold and not be misled by various "fake discounts" traps. In addition, it is also necessary to pay attention to the historical prices of the goods to prevent the occurrence of a routine of first increasing prices and then decreasing prices. Keep good transaction vouchers and actively protect your rights in case of problems.