With new regulations being released intensively, is video account e-commerce entering a runaway mode?

Video account e-commerce has recently released new regulations intensively. What positive signals are released behind this? How should merchants view it? This article will explain it to you in detail. Welcome to read it.

Video account e-commerce has launched a big move!

On the evening of August 12, the official Video Account released two important pieces of information: "Video Account Stores Upgraded to WeChat Stores" and "WeChat Store 0 Deposit Trial Operation Management Rules".

Not long ago, the official video account adjusted the categories, simplified the rules, and opened up reasonably, opening the door to more businesses.

With such a high frequency of new regulations and policy adjustments, has the video account e-commerce entered a rampage mode? What do merchants think about this?

1. Video account e-commerce ushered in new adjustments

On the evening of August 12, the official Video Account released a notice soliciting opinions on the "Announcement on the Upgrade of Video Account Stores to WeChat Stores", and plans to officially support merchants to upgrade Video Account Stores to WeChat Stores starting from August 25.

WeChat Store is an upgraded version of Video Account Store. It refers to the technical services provided by Tencent to merchants with functions such as product information display and product trading based on WeChat as the technical development foundation.

According to the announcement, WeChat Stores will further simplify the merchant entry process, upgrade the brand certification and store naming system, lower the entry threshold and deposit, and support the circulation of store and product information in multiple WeChat scenarios such as official accounts (subscription accounts, service accounts), video accounts (live broadcasts, short videos), mini-programs, and Soso, helping merchants to better meet user consumption needs.

The announcement stated that this adjustment is to further improve the user service experience and business efficiency, provide merchants with better technical service support, and recommend that existing video account store merchants upgrade their stores to WeChat stores before September 25. In addition, the video account store service will stop accepting new applications starting August 25.

At the same time, the official video account then released the new regulations of "WeChat Store 0 Deposit Trial Operation Management Rules" - Notice on Soliciting Opinions.

This new regulation means that WeChat Store merchants who meet certain conditions do not need to pay a store deposit after opening a store, and can directly start product release and use part of the store's capabilities for trial operation. WeChat Store merchants participating in the trial operation are referred to as "trial operation merchants." However, merchants cannot withdraw cash during the trial operation period. After the turnover and number of orders reach a certain level, they need to pay a full deposit to continue using the store.

Just a few days ago, the official Video Account also released the "Announcement on the Upgrade of Some Categories of the Video Account Showcase", indicating that some categories of the Video Account Showcase will be upgraded on August 22, simplifying the rules and opening them reasonably.

Among them, the opening status of some categories under the first-level categories of the video account window such as "Apparel and Underwear", "Luggage and Leather Goods", "Home Textiles", "Agricultural Supplies and Gardening", "Pet Life", "Jewelry", "Watches", "Cultural Relics", "Sports and Outdoors", "Education and Training", "Household Appliances", "Computers and Office", "Digital", "Mobile Communications", "Automobiles", "Books", "Mother and Baby", "Toys and Musical Instruments", "Kitchen Utensils", "Home Decoration and Building Materials", "Furniture", "Second-hand", "Fashion Jewelry", "Personal Care", "Food and Beverages", and "Household Daily Necessities" will be adjusted.

With three major new regulations, has the video account e-commerce entered a "runaway" mode? What positive signals have been released?

2. Video account e-commerce accelerates

The upgrade of video account stores to WeChat stores is a sign of things to come, according to industry insiders. A senior industry insider said in WeChat Moments: "It's finally here."

In June this year, WeChat issued an internal announcement to adjust the live e-commerce team. The adjustments involved incorporating the video account live e-commerce team into the WeChat Open Platform (mini programs, official accounts, etc.) team. The original WeChat video account live e-commerce team was transferred to the head of the WeChat Open Platform.

In other words, the level of live e-commerce on video accounts has risen, becoming equal to mini programs and public accounts. This means that the autonomy of video accounts has increased, and there will be more room for imagination in the future.

In July, news came out that the WeChat Video Account e-commerce team had a sudden adjustment, involving AMS (Advertising and Marketing Services) which originally belonged to CDG (Corporate Development Group). This team, which mainly engages in product operations and business governance, began to carry out rectification and optimization.

It is reported that the work of the AMS business line, in addition to providing merchants with traffic and digital marketing services, also includes some support and service work for video account transactions. After the adjustment, Tencent Advertising will no longer be engaged in the operation and management of video account sales, but will be transferred to the WeChat business unit.

Therefore, when the video account store is upgraded to a WeChat store, in addition to obtaining support from the WeChat ecosystem on the technical level, it will also gain more traffic empowerment.

"Optimists think that traffic is going to explode." Acheng, a merchant on a video account, told Xinbochang that most merchants are still optimistic about this.

Ah Cheng said that the biggest advantage of the video account is the linkage between the public and private domains. Therefore, store and product information can flow in multiple WeChat scenarios such as official accounts, video accounts, mini programs, and search, which means a closed loop of traffic.

The other two adjustments - 0 deposit entry and opening of product categories - send even more obvious signals, which is to vigorously introduce talents and merchants to attract entry.

Since the beginning of this year, Video Account’s determination to develop e-commerce has been obvious to all.

On April 18, Video Account began to implement the "Butterfly Plan", which aims to encourage more new talents from external sites to join Video Account live streaming. Talents of corresponding levels can obtain e-commerce card incentives by completing the corresponding stage tasks, with a maximum of 1.5 million e-commerce card incentives, which can be used for video and live streaming.

On the eve of the 618 promotion, Video Account released an upgrade announcement for the brand introduction incentive plan, providing brand merchants with nine major benefits, including entry rewards, precise traffic pools, etc., as well as the launch of a special area for preferred alliance brands.

In addition, benchmark live broadcast rooms have begun to emerge on video accounts. During this year's 618 promotion, video accounts finally welcomed the first live broadcast room with more than 10 million viewers: the video account live broadcast room of female star Christy Chung, which brought more than 10 million viewers, reached a live broadcast heat value of 420 million, and GMV exceeded 5 million yuan.

Video accounts provide incremental opportunities for many businesses.

"The main reason is that other platforms are now too seriously involutionary, and I can still see new growth on Video Account. If I can maintain my current sales, I would still be willing to stay on Video Account." A merchant said.

Some merchants also said that they were doing private domain business on the video account. On July 29, WeChat Video Account upgraded the small store private domain incentive plan, and merchants can receive incentives for orders directly completed in four specific scenarios: store sharing, service notifications, official accounts, and mini programs.

However, some businesses believe that they face many difficulties and challenges, the first of which is communication problems.

"We merchants are still confused about some unclear rule changes and docking matters." Acheng also said, however, that the problem may only be temporary, and the trend of video account e-commerce is indeed getting stronger and stronger.