E-commerce merchants are paying attention, Taobao will use its "big move" again! A new feature is quietly launched, with one-click guarantee within 90 days!

When it comes to the "price protection" function of online shopping, I believe many consumers will first think of JD.com. This function not only protects the rights and interests of users, but also gains a lot of word-of-mouth stickiness for the platform. Recently, it was reported that Taobao has officially launched the "price protection center" function, and the location of the function entrance is more conspicuous.

The upgraded "price protection center"

In fact, during the Double Eleven shopping period in 2016, Taobao had launched the price insurance function, and the "Price Insurance Center" launched this time is a function that has been upgraded and improved on the basis of the past, and can be understood as a collection of "Price Insurance" functions.

In the past, the "price guarantee" function entry was relatively hidden. After sending the keyword "price guarantee" through customer service, then reading the orders you want to price guarantee. After a very cumbersome and complicated process, you can achieve your goal.

In contrast, JD.com only needs to click on the price guarantee function in the after-sales service in the order to enjoy the price difference function in seconds, which is simple and convenient.

Similarly, the entrance to Taobao’s “Price Protection Center” is very obvious. Although there are reports that this function is only open to 88 members, after testing, we found that ordinary users can also reach the function by entering the keyword “One-click price protection” in the “Official Customer Service”. Users with 88 members only need to click “My Taobao” and select “Exclusive Customer Service” in 88 VIP.

Currently, Taobao supports orders that can support price insurance within 90 days. Users can quickly apply for price protection through "one-click price insurance", and the difference can be refunded if the application is successful.

Since the beginning of this year, Taobao has been working hard on user and merchant services. This "price protection center" not only protects consumers' rights, but also eliminates the "wrong thoughts" of some Taobao merchants.

There are policies above and countermeasures below

In addition to mainstream e-commerce platforms such as Taobao and JD.com , retail e-commerce companies such as Suning.com and Gome have also launched the "price guarantee" function. From a rule point of view, if a price difference occurs in the product within the specified period, consumers can apply for price guarantee. Ideally, it can solve consumers' shopping concerns and reduce the work costs of after-sales personnel.

However, consumers will also encounter a phenomenon outside the scope of "price insurance" - coupons. For example, after a consumer places an order for a product with an original price of 1,000 yuan, the merchant releases a coupon of 200 yuan during the price guarantee period. At this time, the value of the product is only 800 yuan, but the platform will not classify this phenomenon within the scope of "price guarantee", which means that merchants can avoid the "price guarantee" function through the form of coupons.

There are many other ways, just like merchants can frequently change product links, making it impossible for users to take advantage of loopholes through the original product links.

The emergence of these methods may instantly shatter the link between the platform and consumers. The platform that originally wanted to arouse consumers' desire to purchase left behind difficult problems, which obviously violates the platform's willingness to introduce "price guarantee" rules. As the saying goes, "There are policies above and countermeasures below." Rules are just walls built by words. Those who are interested can use countless ways to climb over them, but they will eventually harm consumers, destroy the reputation of the platform, and backfire on the merchants themselves.

Rules only restrict behavior outside the self-discipline line, and the platform needs to constantly patch the rules high wall to prevent endless "wrong ideas".

In addition, compared with merchants who take advantage of loopholes, compliant merchants can also put forward the slogan of "real price insurance" to form differentiated competition with peers, and use real reality to consolidate and develop the reputation and interests of the store.

Break through with "service war"

Under the multi-point e-commerce model, people gradually lose interest in the dazzling e-commerce promotion, and the profit margin between merchants and platforms has also been compressed, resulting in increasingly fierce competition in the domestic e-commerce market.

In a stressful environment, Taobao puts the annual highs of GMV, traffic and other important data second, and instead digs deep into the quality behind the data - services. Change from "data war" to "service war", build a complete service system to increase consumers' purchasing power, thereby enhancing platform revenue and increasing market competitiveness.

This is actually a very simple logic, but the simpler it is, the more effective it is. Since Alibaba started its policy of serving consumers and merchants, Taobao has made considerable moves, including this "price guarantee", "one-click search", store dynamic cards, one-click opening of a mobile phone store, canceling Juhuasuan deposit, and free business consulting tools. Even changing the name of Taobao account to make users "change their appearance" may be a good start for a good service.

As we often say, products and services are the core competitiveness of enterprises . For Taobao, there is no need to say much about product strength. Service is a powerful tool to open up differentiated competition. However, with e-commerce platforms like JD that focus on service quality , it is a big challenge for Taobao at this stage. However, there is pressure and motivation. Only in this competitive environment can more possibilities be created.

Grasping users in the existing market means maintaining market share. As the big brother of e-commerce, Taobao has frequently shown its "big moves" and deployed weak links in the past one by one. Perhaps in the near future, we can see Taobao use points to create a situation where products and services fly together!