Xianyu vs Zhuanzhuan: It goes against the road but it seems like a different path to the same destination

　　When talking about second-hand trading platforms, you will first think of Xianyu and Zhuanzhuan. These two comprehensive second-hand application platforms occupy most of the market share of the second-hand trading market. Xianyu is a second-hand platform under Alibaba and has very strong strength; Zhuanzhuan is a second-hand platform incubated by 58 Group, but in 2017, Zhuanzhuan received US$200 million in financing, and since then, Zhuanzhuan has been able to stand on Tencent’s shoulders.

　　Both have very strong backgrounds, which are enviable in terms of capital and resources. However, their development models are very different, but under the current second-hand trading market structure, the models of Xianyu and Zhuanzhuan are getting closer and closer.

　　The roles played by the platform are different

　　Xianyu is a C2C model, and the communication and transactions between buyers and sellers are resolved by both parties themselves. The platform, as a neutral party, does not participate in specific transactions. The special attributes of second-hand products magnify the shortcomings of the C2C model. The quality and safety of second-hand products are what users value the most. In this model, there is a lack of trust among users and the information is not transparent enough. Therefore, Xianyu chose social operations to promote transactions through the community, increase users' stay time, and thus improve the trading efficiency of second-hand products.

　　Zhuanzhuan is a model that combines platform and self-operated, and its role is more important. The self-operated model uses fixed standards to judge quality and gives a reasonable price, which solves the problem of information opacity and makes it easier to gain user trust. However, the coverage rate of the self-operated model is limited and can only cover individual product types. In addition, the self-operated model is more costly, and logistics, warehousing and quality inspection all require operational costs, so Xianyu is better than Zhuanzhuan in terms of price.

　　Zhuanzhuan is also developing a community, and the benefits brought by communityization are also needed. Currently, Zhuanzhuan is aggregating products with the same category and users with the same interests, but because it started late, its effect is not very obvious.

　　JD.com joins the second-hand battle

　　Currently, the second-hand trading market is dominated by Xianyu and Zhuanzhuan, and there are not many opportunities left to other platforms. JD.com's second-hand Paipai, a subsidiary of Paipai, may change the market structure. Paipai’s second-hand operation is more comprehensive. In addition to quality inspection, it also undertakes recycling, repair, renovation, sales, distribution and other links. Compared with Zhuanzhuan, Paipai second-hand has many more links and has advantages in logistics and after-sales service. You can continue to use JD.com’s self-built logistics and JD.com after-sales service.

　　JD.com's addition is beneficial to competition for the second-hand trading market, which can promote the upgrading of the second-hand market to standardization and standardization, and further expand the second-hand market. Although Xianyu and Zhuanzhuan are currently ranked in the top two, the competition in the second-hand market has just begun. It will take some time for JD.com, which has just entered the market, to break through the market barriers of Xianyu and Zhuanzhuan.

　　Different models have their advantages and disadvantages, and cannot be generalized. They tend to coexist in the future and will focus on making up for their own shortcomings. For Xianyu, the platform should bear more responsibilities to continue to develop the community-based path of fish ponds and improve the credit system. For Zhuanzhuan and Paipai second-hand, there is no need to worry about the problems that Xianyu needs to face in the self-operated model, but it has to evaluate the cost risks and bear the expenses such as inventory backlog. Overall, various platforms will continue to maintain their individuality in the future, but their operating models will be closer.