Play with the 618 summary, 3 core guidelines, and 4 pricing methods, e-commerce merchants have paid attention!

618Every e-commerce platform starts war

On the evening of May 23, major e-commerce platforms such as JD.com, Pinduoduo, Vipshop, and Suning.com took the lead in launching the first battle of the 618 promotion.

Among them, JD.com, as the first platform for the 618 mid-2018 promotion, is also the first 618 after Xu Lei became the CEO of JD.com Group. This year is of special significance.

Unlike in the past, JD.com chose to place small and medium-sized merchants first in this 618 promotion. In order to help more merchants recover, JD.com has issued 30 "three reductions and three optimizations" policies, reducing the pressure on merchants through a series of measures such as "reducing costs, reducing assessments, reducing risks, optimizing rules, optimizing efficiency, and optimizing services".

It is understood that the JD.com 618 promotion officially started from 8:00 on May 23, and is divided into four stages: "pre-sale period", "good start", "scene period" and "climax period", and lasts until June 20. During this period, JD.com's platform allows consumers to enjoy shopping discounts while also experiencing shopping fun through various special gameplays such as discounts, discounts, deposits of 1 yuan, red envelopes and consumption coupons.

Not only that, JD.com quietly revised the version before the 618 promotion, optimizing various functional sections from the homepage revision as a whole, recommendation module, video module, advertising module, etc.

This time, the homepage of JD App will be redesigned based on user preferences. On the basis of matching user preferences, the traffic performance of the product (such as click-through rate, conversion rate), user feedback (such as favorable review rate, number of reviews), service performance (7-day no-reason return, etc.), event participation (first purchase gifts, promotions and other activities). In addition, the "Merchant Edition" and "Brand Edition" of Junzhi will be upgraded simultaneously, and are currently in the testing stage. It is expected that all of them will be launched before 618 to support merchants' review.

Taobao and Tmall keep moving

As one of the earliest and most developed e-commerce platforms in China, Tmall's 618 promotion will be launched on May 26:

The pre-sale time is 20:00 on May 26th to 18:00 on May 31st;

20:00 on May 31 to 23:59 on June 3 are the first sale time (payment of the final payment);

Category Day will be opened from June 4th to June 13th;

From June 14 to June 20 is carnival day and will be officially sold at 20:00 on June 15.

Although Tmall will be released for the 618 promotion after other e-commerce platforms, Taobao and Tmall have done all kinds of effort and are constantly moving on the eve of the promotion.

Not long ago, Alibaba has disclosed a series of measures to help merchants.

As many as 25 assistance measures are not only twice the number of last year's Double 11, but also mainly focus on the actual pain points of merchants, covering from financial subsidies, logistics clearance, traffic subsidies, technology upgrades, and special measures for the epidemic, running through the entire business chain of merchants.

After 7 days, after Tmall 618 issued 25 merchant policies, Taobao added 6 measures again, subtracting marketing methods, operating costs, and business thresholds, and adding technology supports business, consumer services, and content.

At a "closed-door meeting" held by Alibaba for brand merchants, 618 was taken as an opportunity to introduce the next strategic layout of Alibaba's platform to major brand merchants. At Tmall TopTalk in 2022, Zhang Yong, Chairman and CEO of Alibaba Group, said in exchanges with more than 300 domestic and foreign consumer goods companies: Firmly stand with platform merchants, hoping that because of Alibaba's services, it can give merchants more certainty.

From a total of 31 measures to help merchants, we can see that Alibaba is actively helping merchants. Since last year's Double Ten, Alibaba is also giving consumers convenience to advance the pre-sale time. As we can see from every bit, Alibaba is solving problems for merchants on the one hand; on the other hand, it provides real discounts to consumers to stimulate the increase in consumption willingness.

It is mid-May, and many e-commerce sellers have begun to prepare for 618. Mainstream e-commerce platforms such as Douyin and JD have launched relevant rules for 618 activities. Taobao and Tmall have also recently released 25 618 measures to help merchants...

This year's 618 may be more interesting!

I don’t know where to start, 618 has become a crucial battle for e-commerce sellers, and with the increase in e-commerce festivals, more and more consumers are numbing about it .

Although it is still a structure for people to find goods, as Dai Shan takes over Taobao business and proposes to "ensure the development space of small and medium-sized e-commerce sellers and consumers' shopping experience", the Douyin platform builds a private domain and pays attention to content...

The battle for value in the stock market has begun.

But no matter how each platform develops the stock market again, the benefits obtained by merchants may not be immediate.

Take Douyin’s “Iron Fan” mechanism as an example. It is a process of exploration for merchants to adjust the video content to cater to the preferences of fans. Although Taobao has launched many favorable functions, most of them play auxiliary roles.

In other words, the business management method is not much different from the past.

However, 618 is about to come, and merchants, like platforms, want to tap into the value of consumers for a second time in this era of traffic where every inch of land is valuable. But that being said, what should our merchants do?

Treat yourself as a consumer

No matter which platform you are on, we just need to simulate a shopping mentality from the perspective of consumers and know whether our marketing method is appropriate.

As consumers, festivals are not important. What is important is discounts, which are the experience of reducing huge discounts after full discounts, and are the real benefits you get.

We all know that some merchants will deliberately raise prices before marketing nodes. This behavior became one of the reasons why consumers hesitate during e-commerce festivals for a long time.

However, in the future, e-commerce platforms have once again won the trust of consumers through better after-sales services than offline platforms such as "seven-day no-reason return" and "price guarantee".

Therefore, for consumers, our merchants only need to provide low-priced discounts without moisture, service experience as well as product quality with excellent quality.

Similarly, when we shop, we also hope to buy extremely cost-effective products and experience the service experience that is worth the money. So how to price, provide good services and experience has become a hurdle in many merchants’ business process!

How to price?

Price is the eternal trump card in business competition, and reasonable pricing can enable companies to obtain higher profits and market recognition.

Consumers definitely don’t want to pay more, but they won’t buy products that are lower than expected prices . We will also produce voices such as “It’s a fake” and “It’s a cheaper one, so it’s a bad product” in shopping.

For example, if you have a batch of clothing with higher quality than your peers, in order to increase competitiveness and set the price to the same level as your peers, the sales may not necessarily be better than others.

But if you package the product, add keywords such as famous teacher design, limited edition co-branding, hand sewing, etc., and promote it in areas where people gather, and then increase the price to the same value as the product itself, the result may be different.

I remember Alibaba Vice President Xiao Lihua once said to members of the Golden Crown Club: Cheap is a bottomless pit, and only by insisting on premium can you go far!

Therefore, the cheaper the product pricing, the better. This will not only not make the profit you deserve, but it may also be thankless, making customers underestimate the value of the product.

If merchants regard price reduction as a "trump card", they may lose not only profits, but also reduce the brand itself.

Due to space, we only list a few commonly used pricing methods:

1. Refer to colleagues

There are many factors for pricing, and referring to peers is the most direct way!

Then compare your products with competitors, such as brand awareness, product performance, fan preferences, pre-sales and after-sales service, etc.

You can try doing market research, or randomly visit several target consumers and ask the other party whether they will consider purchasing our products in the form of gift feedback.

If you don’t have peers or fewer, then price them based on the economic level of the target population targeted by the product or brand.

2. Value orientation

In addition to the quality of the product itself, you can also price the product based on how much value the product can be given to consumers or how much the consumer thinks the product is worth.

For example, people who buy car brands such as Volkswagen and Toyota have mostly demanded for transportation, while people who buy car brands such as Rolls-Royce and Bentley have long been separated from daily use. They hope to use the brand to demonstrate their status.

Although the price of these luxury cars will be much higher than the cost and will not be easily reduced, there will still be consumers who want to buy it in a steady stream.

Because for consumers, the value they can get when buying the brand exceeds the price of the product itself.

When your product can bring value far higher than the selling price to consumers through packaging, design, etc., I believe consumers will also pay for you.

3. Differentiated pricing

Many stores with more expensive customer unit prices will launch low-priced products, which is to meet more levels of people and reduce customer churn.

Generally, low-priced products will be used as a traffic diversion model for the store, commonly known as "volume running", attracting traffic to other high-profit and high-average product units. For example, sweet and sour tenderloin in a restaurant costs 9.9 yuan, training courses at a training institution cost 9.9 yuan, and other products that are cost-effective and can be considered to be of great value for money in a certain training institution.

4. Fuzzy pricing

Sell ​​best-selling and unsold products in combination, and use the advantages of best-selling products to weaken the disadvantages of unsold products. At the same time, simple packaging or high-end packaging can also lower the product threshold or increase the value of unsold products.

If you buy a top, you will get a pair of jeans with an original price of *** yuan. The top is a hot model and the jeans are unsold models. You only need to raise the price of the top slightly, making consumers think it is cost-effective to buy it in packages.

Ps: Product prices should not rise or fall easily, and price strategies need to be formulated scientifically, otherwise this marketing "sharp blade" will cut yourself.

How to serve?

E-commerce services are different from the usual offline services. They are a channel for consumers to obtain preferential information and understand how to use products. They are responsible for the full link work such as return and exchange, logistics, and maintenance . If any link lacks service, they will face "bad reviews" from consumers.

Compared with setting sales prices, the service method can be said to be omnipresent, and many tricks can be drawn based on fixed templates. With this epidemic in Shanghai, brands such as LV, Cartier, and Gucci show their magical powers to help their financial backers and fathers, and have all kinds of high-end packaging green leafy vegetables.

Although many people’s first reaction is that it’s great to have money, for our merchants, this is a marketing + service template.

These brands use the most direct service to maximize their benefits, which not only meets the rigid needs of customers, but also attracts fans to the brand.

From the perspective of topic marketing, the action of delivering food allows customers to spontaneously promote, which has indeed achieved the situation of "breaking ten thousand enemies with one force".

In addition to the timely assistance method, solving customer questions is also the top priority. For example, in the store, merchants should improve information from all parties, such as what express delivery is sent, what rights and interests are supported, and what discounts are available, so as to write the content that customers want to know most in the most eye-catching position.

Someone will definitely ask how to know the user's pain points? In fact, the answer is very simple. If you are a Taobao merchant, then look at the "ask everyone" in your competitive evaluation. The question mentioned in it is what the customer wants to know.

The same sentence is "Imagine yourself as a consumer", and what you will do when shopping, and the same is true for your consumers; on the contrary, if you are tired of service behaviors, such as thankless actions such as text messages, phone calls, and emails, don't worry the customers anymore.

At the same time, in the after-sales link that many merchants have headaches, they encounter the fault of the store or the store has certain faults. When the entire link is not complicated, it is recommended that the merchant recognize it if it can, and even give a product with a good reputation and a suitable cost in the store when giving compensation. This can not only resolve a worry, avoid a "bad review", but also create a chance to repurchase.

Of course, remember not to give coupons.

How to experience it?

Give consumers practical discounts and considerate service is part of the experience.

Nowadays, experience is no longer limited to the product level, but pays attention to the psychological experience level of consumers during consumption.

In addition to the basic elements such as quality and price of the product itself, there are also the experiences you experience when shopping in the store and browsing live short videos. Whether the live broadcast room and store decoration is novel, and the product is of high appearance is suitable for posting to Moments. These are more willing to increase your stay time and even check in to spend.

Herbalife live broadcast room, which was very popular last year

Take the Laogao e-commerce circle for example. During the outbreak of the epidemic in 2020, we waived all members three months of membership fees and waived Wuhan members an additional 3 months of membership fees; in the 2022 Shanghai epidemic, the Laogao e-commerce circle at the risk of the epidemic could not carry out any offline activities, and all employees worked from home. In such a bad situation, the company also gave each employee rich emergency supplies.

Laogao E-commerce Circle supports employees' materials

In other words, exchanging sincerity for sincerity is not only for customers. Giving employees close ties is also one of the ways to improve customer experience, because employees are the front line of contact with customers, and taking good care of their mood is taking care of their mood.

Data shows that 73% of consumers regard customer experience as an important factor in their purchasing decisions, and unqualified customer service will affect sales and brand image. A good customer experience can improve customer retention rate. For every 5% increase in customer retention rate, the company will increase profit by 25%-95%.

Although services like delivery of materials will be of great help to improve customer experience, most merchants do not have so many channels and funds. Therefore, we need to optimize in controllable places. For example, set up 7*24 customer service to increase the corresponding time for customer consultation and track the customer's use of the product.

The service experience of the international supermarket chain Metro is worth learning from. Any salesperson at its front desk can directly handle returns of less than 200 yuan without asking anyone; if more than 3 people are queuing at the cashier, you can provide customers with shopping bags for free.

Can our e-commerce companies learn from these methods? For example, if the customer service fails to respond for more than 3 minutes, you can get coupons/gifts/limited places, etc.

Team management and operational capabilities are the foundation

If price, service and experience are what consumers value the most, then the operational capabilities of the e-commerce team are the way to maximize these values.

Take the above case as an example. It may be difficult to get customer service to respond within 3 minutes in some time periods, such as off work hours, lunch breaks, etc., and being delayed by other work, it is difficult to achieve a 100% response speed. However, managers can add corresponding weight to performance to remind customer service staff of their priorities.

Of course, the punishment cannot be too high or even no, because such situations are subject to benefits, giving gifts or responding on time is beneficial to the company. There is no corresponding punishment to give employees a "personal relationship". This will not only urge customer service to respond actively without complaints, but also meet customer needs.

Therefore, good performance is the "good medicine" to motivate the team and a management process that can ultimately achieve the common development of the company and employees. In addition to team management, doing a good job of operations is also the fundamental reason for improving user experience as a service.

As mentioned above, store decoration and product appearance are all ways to attract traffic, and various aspects such as customer service speech, anchor speech, data analysis, etc. are the keys to improving conversion rates and improving user retention.

A towering building is on the ground. No matter how tall a building is, it needs a solid foundation. Product is the core and service is the experience. If the company wants to develop for a long time, both are indispensable!

Funds, traffic, and technology, three major "supplementary posts"

This year, there are 25 Tmall 618 merchants, and e-commerce merchants are given strong support in terms of financial subsidies, traffic subsidies, technology upgrades, etc.

For merchants, it is particularly important to keep funds flowing in the 618 promotion. To this end, Taobao and Tmall have joined hands with financial institutions to help merchants borrow money at low interest rates and receive money in advance. During the stocking process, Ant Merchant Bank provides merchants with a minimum interest rate of 20% off.

During the pre-sale period, pre-sale merchants can enjoy a 10 billion yuan payment service for free. As long as the consumer pays the deposit, the merchants can collect part of the amount for free. During the sale period, Taobao and Tmall provide merchants with free early collection service of 100 billion yuan, and part of the payment can be recovered if shipped.

"It's good to collect pre-sales in advance." Chen Li, a merchant who makes fast food products on Tmall, told Paidai, "It's mainly because the platform has stepped up its efforts this year."

In addition, many businesses have said that traffic is one of their most concerned points when participating in the 618 promotion. In terms of traffic acquisition, Taobao and Tmall provide more marketing scenarios, new interactive gameplay, traffic tilt and precise subsidies. For example, Juhuasuan official live broadcast and "10 billion subsidy" focus on supporting merchants in areas affected by the epidemic, especially agricultural and sideline products merchants and industrial belt factory-based e-commerce merchants.

Tmall has also introduced corresponding traffic policies for small and medium-sized businesses. For example, Alibaba Mama’s “Million New Business Precision Support Plan” helps millions of small and medium-sized merchants promote 618, launches the “Taobao Live Room Exclusive Rights” for the first time, and encourages merchants to improve store broadcast traffic and efficiency.

"These are all things that our small businesses need and care about." said Xiaoxue, an individual businessman. "Getting precise traffic support will be of great help to our conversion."

Some merchants also believe that because the 618 discount is very strong, the traffic brought will be very considerable.

In fact, this enthusiasm from the consumer side has already fermented on social platforms. Some consumers said bluntly, "It's really a discount of 300-50, so you have to participate in a wave." Some people joked that the longer the (epidemic) locked me up, the more vigorous I want to buy something other than food, "Don't stop me, I'm going to Tmall at 618!"

Technology upgrades will also become a good assistant for merchants. It is understood that during the 618 period, many Alibaba Mom marketing tools were free; Alibaba Mom also upgraded the "Wanxiangtai", and launched three major plans for accelerating new products, improving efficiency of hot products, and attracting new products on a large scale.

In Lao Gao's view, "Smart services can reduce the time cost of merchants for dealing with problems, make them more convenient and efficient to use, and are very beneficial to merchants."

As Zhang Li, director of the E-Commerce Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce Research Institute, said, Taobao and Tmall 618's measures are very strong. These measures, combined with the nearly 1 billion consumers behind Taobao and Tmall, have a stable supply chain and diversified service model, can bring more benefits to 618 sales, and can also bring more confidence and vitality to e-commerce consumption during the epidemic.