On November 11th, this shopping festival, which started one month in advance, finally ushered in a "positive day". From consumers to businesses, the word that reporters hear the most is: quiet. That’s true. In previous years, shortly after the bell rang at 0: 00 on November 11th, "good news" frequently came from major electric merchants. However, this year, most platforms have chosen not to announce the specific transaction amount of double 11, and a series of late battle reports only tacitly indicate that "sales are still growing"-today’s double 11 seems to have really reached an inflection point.
From "Choose One from Two" to "Lowest Price"
Every year in double 11, it is accompanied by smoke, and this year is no exception.
This year, Tmall declared that "the lowest price of the whole network" is the core goal; Xin Lijun, CEO of JD.COM Retail, said: "It’s really cheap, close your eyes and buy"; Pinduoduo said, "It’s really cheap every day". The smell of smoke is full.
"It is easy to form vicious competition between merchants. I sell 16 pieces and he sells 15 pieces. The platform will definitely give traffic to the low price, but the problem is that the product quality is not necessarily the same, and bad money drives out good money." Some merchants said. In addition, what merchants are most afraid of is the exclusive "floor price agreement".
The so-called "floor price agreement" refers to the merchants.Promise to provide the lowest price of the whole domestic network for a specific platform during a specific promotion period.More than one e-commerce practitioner said that the "floor price agreement" is widespread, and the liquidated damages start from one million yuan.
This scene is a bit familiar. In 2015, on the eve of double 11, JD.COM reported to the State Administration of Market Supervision that Ali disturbed the order of the e-commerce market, saying that Ali asked the merchants on the platform not to participate in the promotion activities in JD.COM at the same time during their stay in double 11 that year, and a series called "Choose One from Two" began.
In 2018, Pinduoduo was also involved in the "two-choice" dispute. Pinduoduo accused Tmall of "choosing between two options" for merchants, which led to many merchants being forced to withdraw from activities in Pinduoduo, take off their goods and close their flagship stores. Tmall said that the "alternative" did not exist, and Pinduoduo was "touching porcelain".
"The e-commerce platform’ two choices one’ actually has no choice." A person in charge of a children’s wear brand said, "If you don’t choose a certain platform, you will be restricted by this platform immediately. We are targeting at brands that specialize in stocking online. This kind of blow is really great. But the fact is that only one platform can’t provide enough traffic. Of course, multi-platform development is the best. "
The turning point appeared in 2021. In that year, the State Administration of Market Supervision said that Alibaba Group abused its dominant position in the market and imposed a penalty of 18.228 billion yuan on the online retail platform service market in China.
When businessmen thought of faithful wife, they never thought that "choose one from two" would become a "bottom price agreement". Amid the smoke, some merchants have figured out an account: the daily operating profit is not high, but double 11 needs to hire anchors, buy traffic, and the platform’s pit fees … It is tantamount to "losing money and earning money". As a result, more and more businesses choose to "lie flat", and double 11 has gradually become the competition of head enterprises, and small and medium-sized businesses are increasingly marginalized.
Consumer: There is no answer to the "lowest price"
For consumers, double 11 is not only a choice between two, three, or even "multiple choices", because the "lowest price" also has a premise.
If you want the lowest price, you need to pay a deposit first and then enjoy the discount. Red envelopes, shopping vouchers and full reduction thresholds must meet the standards; Even the same product of the same merchant at the same time has different coupons, or whether it is a platform member, such as JD.COM Plus or Tmall 88VIP, or even different pages. For example, if you place an order through Taobao’s 10 billion subsidy page, the commodity prices may be different …
Therefore, for consumers, multi-platform price comparison is not enough. "Shuttling between major live broadcast rooms and switching back and forth between Tmall, JD.COM and Pinduoduo is my daily routine after work recently." Some consumers said.
There is also a criticized pre-sale mechanism: pay the deposit first, and then pay the final payment. In the eyes of consumers, each node needs to pay the time cost.In addition to waiting for the pre-sale, you must not forget the time of paying the final payment, otherwise the deposit will be difficult to return; Some consumers have found that the pre-sale price that they are waiting for is not the lowest price, and they feel "cheated".
"The wool is on the sheep. To put it bluntly, double 11 is a business after all. " Some merchants told reporters that the platform has to make money and the merchants have to make money. The thousand-layer "routine" is aimed at consumers’ wallets.
In 2009, Taobao tried "double 11" to create a shopping festival that has been popular for 15 years. Nowadays, double 11 comes earlier every year, but consumers are confused. How to buy the cheapest?
Double 11 needs "new connotation"
Do we still need double 11 today? The answer is still yes.
The 2023 double 11 Report released by Accenture, a consultancy, shows that with the recovery of consumption and the continuous release of consumption potential, China’s consumer market has a bright future. "double 11, as the largest online consumer node in the whole year, is undoubtedly a battleground for global consumer brands".
From the data point of view, as of the afternoon of November 11, Tmall had 402 brands with a turnover of over 100 million yuan, with a year-on-year growth rate of over 38,000 brands exceeding 100%; JD.COM said that the cumulative sales of about 300 brands have exceeded 100 million yuan, and a large number of brands and businesses still maintain a high-speed sales growth trend.
Accenture believes that for brand merchants, double 11 is no longer just a sales peak, but also a special operation node. Stimulating user interest, improving user experience and enhancing user stickiness have become more critical competitive factors. Therefore, brands and platforms should inject new connotations into double 11.
The new connotation of double 11 is obviously not the "lowest price", but the healthy development of the whole industry and the establishment of a positive consumption cycle of "high-quality and low-price goods supply, meeting consumer demand and making money for businesses".
"double 11 has entered a platform period and reached a turning point where everyone wants to seek some kind of change. The dispute over low prices is obviously meaningless. This industry war will ultimately serve the technological and ecological development of the entire e-commerce industry. " Cui Lili, executive director of the Institute of Electronic Commerce of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, said that today, the digital economy has become a key track for enterprise growth. Double 11, as a key node of online consumption, should perhaps be transformed from a shopping carnival into a testing ground for innovation capability of major platforms.
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