According to June 28, the "Mid-Year Shopping Festival" that started from June 1 to ended on June 20 has attracted widespread attention and active participation from merchants, consumers and social media. By analyzing the transaction data, user behavior and merchant measures of this shopping festival, we can find that the retail field is showing some new trends: full integration of online and offline, rapid growth of social e-commerce, tending to balance consumption, big brands leading the consumption upgrade, and the "e-commerce effect" driving industry progress. In the era of boundless retail, it is necessary to further promote the effective integration of online and offline, continuously improve product quality and services, continuously give full play to the "e-commerce effect", and promote high-quality development.
The "618" shopping festival started at the JD store celebration has developed into a mid-year event that consumers, retail industry and the whole society participated. It not only fully reflects new trends such as online and offline integration, consumption balance, and social e-commerce, but also shows the vitality and vitality of the boundless retail ecology in multiple fields and all aspects, becoming a sample of quality consumption and consumption upgrades.
From marketing to technology and supply chain, full integration of online and offline
The integration of online and offline has brought great value to the retail industry and consumers
With the rapid popularization of mobile Internet, the growth rate of Internet users in China has declined significantly in recent years, and the growth rate of the number of active users, which has always been a "natural growth factor" in the e-commerce field, is also declining. Whether online or offline, retail companies are facing growth challenges, and the integration of the two has become an inevitable trend.
It is no longer new for offline stores to participate in e-commerce promotions, but this time, "618", online and offline have launched a more comprehensive and in-depth integration.
First of all, in terms of scale, more than 500,000 offline stores provide consumers with high-quality goods and services, including not only JD Convenience Store, JD Home Appliance Store, JD Home, JD Maternity and Baby Store, 7FRESH, etc., but also a large number of third-party partners' supermarkets, convenience stores, etc.
Secondly, in terms of depth, e-commerce companies have fully empowered physical retail in the two main lines of store technology and supply chain, comprehensively improving the data operation and supply chain management of offline stores' previous weaknesses. For example, in JD.com's store with Internet of Things sensors such as cameras and WiFi probes, operators can clearly understand how many people walk through the store, how many people walk into the store, and which shelves consumers stay on and generate consumption. The system can analyze the characteristics of each group from the dimensions of age and gender, and even judge their satisfaction through the expressions of consumers when they leave the cashier. It can also combine online data to accurately guide operators what goods to buy, how much to buy, what promotional measures to adopt, etc.
From data analysis, the integration of online and offline has brought great value to the retail industry and consumers. According to statistics, the order volume of Wanjia stores increased by 300% from the previous five days from the 14th to the 18th. Through logistics services, the service coverage of offline stores has also been fully expanded during the "618" period. Consumers can purchase goods from brand stores online and enjoy convenient logistics services. On June 18, on JD.com's Daojia platform, Walmart's sales reached 4 times the same period last year, Yonghui Supermarket's sales reached 5 times the same period last year, BBK's sales reached 2.6 times month-on-month, and Century Lianhua's sales reached 7 times the same period last year.
As e-commerce companies further open up their accumulated technology, logistics, service and other capabilities and resources, offline retail companies will also usher in new growth opportunities: precise digital decision-making and operation through digital store technology, further improving efficiency and reducing costs; through the strong supply chain system of e-commerce companies throughout the country, supplying goods to terminal stores, reducing the time and costs of intermediate logistics, bringing more benefits to retailers and consumers, and allowing brands to better grasp sales data, conduct sales forecasts and management; through member connection, online and offline joint marketing, etc., it will bring younger and more dynamic consumer groups to offline stores, and market based on richer consumer information; through terminal delivery services and forward warehouse settings, it can effectively improve the coverage area of offline stores and improve the efficiency of floor space; introduce advanced equipment such as virtual fittings, virtual makeup trials, and personalized billboards to strengthen the user experience of offline stores and improve conversion rate. E-commerce companies can also open up new user groups through cooperation, improve consumer experience, and give full play to their supply chain, logistics and technological advantages.
It is worth noting that in the process of online and offline integration, offline stores in large-scale brand chain stores, chain supermarkets and other forms are often the first to benefit, because their scale and standardized architecture are easier to carry out digital upgrades. The vast number of small and medium-sized physical businesses may face two difficulties: either being satisfied with the current operating conditions and being unwilling to upgrade their technology and business models; or blindly copying the "classic plan" without clearly analyzing their own needs.
To promote more effective integration of online and offline, first, e-commerce companies need to further open up their own technologies and resources and provide richer modular solutions; second, offline companies should objectively analyze their own and industry conditions and choose the technology and cooperation model that suits them best; third, online and offline integration requires a large number of in-depth personalized solutions, and independent software developers and integrators will be of great use.
Social e-commerce is growing rapidly, and mini programs will become innovative opportunities for future retail
While providing growth opportunities for retail companies, social e-commerce also puts forward high requirements for the management of social e-commerce platforms.
As Internet social networking becomes the longest-consuming application for more and more consumers, social e-commerce has exploded on "618" this year. According to the first "618 Mini Program E-commerce Industry Report" released by the Aladdin Research Institute, the number of new users of e-commerce mini programs during the 618 period reached 53.02 million, the number of visits exceeded 1 billion, and the cumulative number of sharing reached 84.32 million. Among them, the cumulative number of users of JD Shopping Mini Program from its launch to the 18th was nearly 170 million, with the number of visitors increasing by more than 46 times compared with last year's "618", and the number of users placing orders increased by 66 times year-on-year.
Such eye-catching data fully demonstrates that the trend of multi-terminalization of e-commerce is becoming increasingly obvious. Social e-commerce formed based on WeChat has become a new form, and users' consumption behaviors generated by friends sharing, public account content and other forms have burst out with strong vitality. At the same time, more than 10,000 online merchants participated in the "618" by opening brands and store applets, and more than 40,000 offline stores sold products through JD Convenience Store online store applets during the "618" period. Mini programs have become another innovative opportunity for future retail.
Consumers with different preferences enter shopping scenarios through diversified social platforms, shop, buy, and then recommend their own selections to friends. Social e-commerce thus connects a large number of consumer nodes and forms fission and spread.
Through analysis of social e-commerce consumers, it can be found that social e-commerce users pay significantly less attention to reviews than other channels, and often do not look at product reviews to make a purchase. This is because they believe that they come from the sharing and recommendations from their circle of friends and their acquaintances, and pay more attention to product prices rather than product selection.
This sends a clear signal: social e-commerce, a retail model with a sense of trust, will achieve great growth, bringing consumers easy and convenient shopping and enjoyment, while also providing a large number of retail companies with opportunities for growth. However, with the rapid development of social e-commerce, some problems have also been exposed, such as product quality, supplier relationships, etc., which also puts forward high requirements for the management of social e-commerce platforms.
The central and western regions and cities below the fourth tier and below are growing rapidly, and consumption tends to be balanced
The offline layout of e-commerce has fully released the purchasing desire of township consumers, satisfied their pursuit of a better life, and promoted consumption fairness.
Data shows that during the "Mid-618 Shopping Festival", the regional consumption gap has faded: consumption growth in fourth- to sixth-tier cities is particularly rapid, and the purchasing power of consumers in sixth-tier cities has increased significantly compared with the same period last year. The growth rate in consumption amount, order volume, customer unit price and commodity unit price are all leading the way, narrowing the purchasing power gap with big cities year by year. From the perspective of provinces, the order amount in Tibet, Yunnan and Qinghai has increased the strongest, and consumption focuses on categories such as mobile phones, home appliances and clothing.
In fact, township consumers have always had the need to purchase high-quality and large-brand home appliances, but it is difficult for traditional offline home appliances to sink to county towns and more remote areas. Through channel sinking and online and offline integration, urban and rural consumers can share high-quality goods and services. For example, JD.com's home appliance stores have more than 10,000 in fourth-tier cities and below the country, and its sales during the "618" period were 6 times that of the same period last year, accounting for nearly 45% of the total home appliance sales. The offline layout of e-commerce has fully released the purchasing desire of township consumers, satisfied their pursuit of a better life, and promoted consumption fairness.
In addition, during the "618" period, the number of users who purchased service products in second- and sixth-tier cities increased by more than 60% compared with the same period last year, of which the number of users in fifth- and sixth-tier cities increased by nearly 90%. After gradually understanding and adapting to e-commerce shopping, users in low-tier cities will quickly transfer all categories of shopping needs and even service needs to the e-commerce platform. Some offline services in some categories have problems such as price and quality opaqueness, non-standard service content, and inability to evaluate, while e-commerce platforms provide reasonable choices, which will attract their attention more.
The rise of consumption in central and western provinces and low-tier cities has provided very good development opportunities for retail, manufacturing and other industries. On the one hand, e-commerce has formed a product service network covering all levels of townships and towns across the country through the improvement of logistics and other infrastructure; on the other hand, these consumers have matured rapidly and kept up with the trend of consumption upgrading, and the high requirements for product brands, quality and services have provided brand owners with broad space.
Big brands have strong comprehensive appeal and lead consumption upgrades
On the one hand, consumption upgrades come from changes in users' consumption concepts, and on the other hand, they also come from changes in consumer groups.
During the "618" period, the sales of the top 20 brands in JD.com's entire site increased by 15% compared with usual days, which fully demonstrates that consumers will give priority to large brands that represent high-quality and high-quality services in the face of massive products and discounts. At the same time, data shows that in categories such as mobile phones, home appliances, computers and digital products, the grade and specifications of the products selected by consumers have been clearly improved compared to usual, and the big promotion has brought opportunities for consumption upgrades to a large number of consumers.
On the one hand, consumption upgrades come from changes in users' consumption concepts. Consumers are more willing to pay for improving the quality of life. For example, sales of 4K ultra-high-definition TVs above 60 inches reached 3 times that of the same period last year, sales of high-end TVs above 75 inches and OLEDs exceeded 10 times year-on-year; sales of high-end vacuum cleaners represented by Dyson and Lake were three times that of the same period last year; sales of beauty containers reached 4 times year-on-year, sales of hair removal instruments exceeded 5 times year-on-year, and overall sales of electric toothbrushes were three times that of the same period last year; sales of smoke stoves above 5,000 yuan were four times that of last year.
On the other hand, it also comes from the changes in consumer groups. Big data shows that during this year's "618" period, the proportion of consumer users born after 1995 has exceeded 22%; among consumers who spend more than 5,000 yuan, the proportion of "post-95" is second only to the "post-80s" users. The post-80s and post-90s have become the absolute main consumer force. Their knowledge structure, vision, and life philosophy have been iterated and refreshed compared to their parents. They are more willing to enjoy life, are willing to spend money in exchange for time and energy, and are willing to pay for improving the quality of life.
"E-commerce effect" drives industry progress and promotes high-quality development
With the popularity of Internet services, the e-commerce effect is changing a large number of traditional service industries.
When a technology or model that represents a more advanced and open enters a field, it often produces similar effects, bringing positive development in this field, allowing all links in the industrial chain to have greater development space, and consumers will become the biggest beneficiaries. From the data analysis of "618", it can be seen that when e-commerce enters a market, it will bring several obvious changes: the price is fair, the concentration of top brands increases, long-tail products become more abundant, service quality tends to be balanced, and product quality is overall improved. We call this phenomenon the "e-commerce effect".
The core of the "e-commerce effect" is to create a fair market environment through models and technologies. From the perspective of e-commerce itself, it has achieved a balance between goods, services, prices, brands, information, etc. While opening up the product flow, information flow and capital flow bring the growth momentum of this industry, it also provides every participant with fair opportunities and has become an effective tool to change consumption imbalance.
In the past decade, the "e-commerce effect" has mainly occurred in the consumer field, expanding from 3C and home appliances to consumer goods, fashion, and fresh food. The "e-commerce effect" has driven the progress of industries and made great contributions to promoting urban and rural consumption upgrading, eliminating consumption differences, stabilizing prices, and optimizing the industry ecology. With the popularization of Internet services, the "e-commerce effect" is changing a large number of traditional service industries. For example, online travel applications make travel easier and more transparent; meal ordering services allow restaurants to get rid of regional limitations to a certain extent and win the favor of consumers with their characteristics and quality; e-commerce companies represented by JD.com are entering the markets of repair, second-hand, and after-car services... The opaque information, prices, product quality, and service quality that once existed in these fields will be changed by the "e-commerce effect", bringing positive development of the industry and giving consumers better services.
Summary: According to the editor’s thinking, the e-commerce model in the past few years has been greatly impacted in the market. With the rise of new retail, the combination of community intelligence and online and offline is the trend of e-commerce development in the new era! Faced with the change of e-commerce, we can keep pace with it so that we will not be lost by the times.
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