How are those merchants who only joined the video account to sell goods this year doing?

Why did many new merchants make money during this year's 618 ? This article will help you understand the situation of the e-commerce industry during this year's 618. This article is also recommended for companies and individual operators in the e-commerce industry.

Consumer expectations have changed dramatically, and business paradigms have shifted. Ebrun Power sees this as the most important fact for e-commerce and retail. Whether the platform dominates the rules and order, is it to please users, compete for merchants, or turn the knife inward? The differences and impacts cannot be underestimated. Each platform has its advantages, but all should pay attention to ecological prosperity and balance, so as to prevent Minerva's owl from spreading its wings and flying away at dusk.

During this year's 618 shopping festival, almost all major platforms were keeping a close eye on low prices. This sparked a series of controversies and questions among merchants: What have we lost for scale and growth? How much have we lost? Is it really worth it? At the same time, some merchants began to look for growth and profits, and the answers they gave were both happy and worrying.

This is a series of topics, namely the 2024 e-commerce ecosystem observation , which will deeply present the imbalance and rebalancing process, especially the exploration and insight of merchants. This article is the second in the series, telling the new faces and their gameplay on the 618 video account sales list, and revealing how they use the tools provided by the WeChat ecosystem to escape from the low-price involution and find the incremental and profit zone for sustainable operation.

Platforms offer low prices, high return rates drive merchants crazy, and top anchors hide behind the scenes. The 618 shopping festival has long lost its former glory. An extreme view even believes that e-commerce is becoming a third-rate industry.

Putting aside the noise, the market may not be so pessimistic. Although mainstream mass consumption tends to be a double kill in terms of volume and price, there are still platforms that maintain strong growth, and even see a simultaneous increase in volume and price. Since the beginning of the year, some merchants and influencers have escaped from low-price involution and have flocked to emerging platforms in large numbers to seek opportunities.

The performance of 618 this year illustrates the above trend very well. Whether it is the TOP50 of the video account sales list or the TOP50 of the brand and category list, there are some new faces, mostly related to food. More and more brands are quickly starting to grow their accounts and gaining volume on the video account, which shows that the platform is still in the bonus period for entry, and also shows that they have accumulated a methodology for starting to grow their accounts and gaining volume on the video account.

The 618 promotion video account was very low-key, with no battle reports or publicity. Everything seemed to be flat, but in fact it was deep and quiet. High growth, coupled with high customer unit price, high repurchase rate and low return rate, means that merchants in it can have a reasonable profit and sustainable growth as long as they flexibly use the tools provided by the platform and find a methodology that suits them.

1. A hit product sold for 15 million yuan, and the food category became the new volume of video accounts

Who consumes on Video Accounts? According to the news released at the WeChat Open Class at the beginning of the year, female consumers accounted for 78%, consumers in first-tier, new first-tier and second-tier cities accounted for more than 60%, and people aged 30-50 contributed 40% of the increase in Video Accounts. The characteristics of this part of users are long stay time, low return rate and high repurchase rate, and the most common purchases are clothing and beauty products.

Fashion apparel is the main category of e-commerce and the largest category of live streaming sales on WeChat. In early January this year, at a WeChat open class, the person in charge of WeChat said that in 2023, the proportion of clothing orders on WeChat accounts will be 38%, with a customer unit price of 172 yuan, which is higher than other platforms. (Reference: "Exclusive｜The treasure of live streaming sales in 2024 is on WeChat Video Account")

Judging from the list of 618 this year, fashion apparel still ranks first in the category of goods sold on video accounts. However, as the platform's products become richer and consumer habits develop, the behavior of this group of consumers has become more diverse, extending from fashion trends to daily consumption, such as food and kitchenware.

The number of live broadcast rooms in the food category has increased this year compared to last year. For example, there are 8 food live broadcast rooms in the top 50 of the overall sales list, which is higher than last year; this year, there are 4 food brands in the top 50 of the brand sales list, namely Goethe Old Wine Shop, China Tea, Shengjian Goat Milk Powder and Dr. Yang. In addition to brand merchants, during the 618 period this year, Wuzhou Tea Factory, Fuyuan, Shunzi Tea, Dongyun Good Tea, Dingxiang Life Research and other food experts and merchants also emerged in the video account sales.

Food categories have risen in the video account, and most merchants maintain a high average order value. For example, the official flagship store of Goethe Winery ranked 14th on the brand list during the 618 shopping event last year, and ranked first on the brand list during the 618 shopping event this year. The store sold 66,000 units, mainly selling Moutai and Wuliangye, and most of the products were sold out on the video account; Dr. Yang's flagship store mainly sells southern Anhui native chickens and river ducks, with a store sales volume of 291,000 units, and a single hot-selling product "Signature Young Chicken" priced at 188 yuan, with sales exceeding 15 million yuan.

In addition to the above-mentioned food merchants, Corning Kitchenware, ranked 9th on the 618 Brand List, and FOH Hope Tree, ranked 30th, are also examples of extending into daily consumption. Corning sells kitchenware, mainly in the mid-to-high-end market, while FOH Hope Tree mainly sells small cans and sprays for removing formaldehyde, and the price of a single product is also over 200 yuan.

A more interesting change is male consumption. Judging from the 618 list, most of the new faces appearing in the food category are merchants and influencers related to wine and tea. This shows that male consumption is rising in the video account sales.

They are a unique group of consumers who are highly educated and have high incomes. They are busy with work and have no habit of consuming short videos or online shopping. However, they have entered the video account through WeChat social networking and gradually started to consume. Since last year, this group of people has continued to increase, and many men will also buy some fresh food for their families on the video account.

During the 618 shopping festival this year, the food category performed well, and this may just be the beginning. The expansion of the consumer group and the formation of consumption habits brought by video accounts may bring growth opportunities to more categories. From a longer-term perspective, the dividends released by this may last for a long time.

2. A batch of new brands quickly gained popularity. They all did three things right.

The treasure trove of consumers, coupled with the unique benefits of the platform, has attracted more new merchants to join the video account to sell goods. This year, more and more brand merchants have begun to test the waters or increase their investment in video accounts to sell goods, and a large number of small and medium-sized merchants have migrated on a large scale, especially those with scale but no profit, and have flocked to video accounts to seek growth and profits.

Some of the merchants who started their video accounts this year have achieved impressive results in a short period of time. For example, in the food category, in addition to many merchants who increased their sales, merchants such as Wuzhou Tea Factory and Fuyuan that started their accounts this year also entered the top 50 of fresh food, while Nestle, Famona and Xiaotian Girl, although not on the list, also achieved good results.

In February this year, Nestlé began to connect with the official website, and spent the next three months to build the infrastructure of the live broadcast room and the official flagship store matrix, and entered the cold start phase in April and May. On the first day of the 618 shopping festival, Nestlé's sales on the video account exceeded one million yuan, which can be regarded as a typical brand case of explosive growth from 0 to 1.

Video accounts are different from Douyin and Kuaishou. They have stronger social and private attributes, and users are more familiar with strong IP content and accounts. After brands enter video accounts to sell goods, they must combine the crowd, goods and content to find the most suitable methodology for themselves.

Brands that quickly gained popularity through live streaming have all used popular content and cold-started products to complete the original accumulation of private domains, and then amplified their value in the live streaming room through public and private domain linkage and traffic investment. (Reference: "Heavyweight! Tencent Video Live Streaming Recommendations and Traffic Rules Revealed")

The most common ones are hot content and product accounts. In addition to shooting short video content to attract attention and make reservations for live broadcasts, merchants can also warm up and build momentum for new accounts through hot topic content. During the 618 promotion this year, Nestlé began to build momentum for its matrix accounts in mid-May, using the "Nanjing Auntie" hot spot, cooperating with external influencers and group leaders to carry out a large amount of seeding and warming up on the video account. This move has fully accumulated water and prepared for the explosion of the 618 opening.

The linkage between the public and private domains is one of the key strategies for the growth of video accounts. Before the broadcast, merchants can guide private domain fans to make reservations for live broadcasts and receive coupons through short videos, reservation functions, communities, and public account articles, thereby improving accurate traffic recommendations; after the broadcast, users can be deposited in the private domain through functions such as attention and membership, thus forming a linkage.

When Nestlé launched its account, it used all its official private domain touchpoints, such as private domain communities, mini programs, public accounts, corporate WeChat and Moments, to reach and activate brand fans and also to receive traffic from popular content. This led to a successful start on the first day of 618, with the highest number of real-time online users in Nestlé's live broadcast room exceeding 10,000, and the cumulative number of viewers in a single day exceeding 100,000.

Another major traffic assist is traffic investment. Especially for those merchants with high-quality content, goods and service acceptance capabilities, traffic investment will amplify the value and achieve a rapid start from 0 to 1. As of now, Tencent has opened up the entire ecosystem to guide traffic to video accounts, not only to live broadcast rooms, but also to showcases and product detail pages.

China Tea entered the video account to sell goods last year and began to focus on live streaming this year. In April, it explored the live streaming room, people and goods venues that were compatible with the video account. After having high-quality content, goods and service capabilities, it made delivery according to precise audience positioning.

Many brands that have grown rapidly have several influencers involved in their distribution. Ebrun previously disclosed that the monthly sales of top merchants on video accounts are between 10 million and 20 million yuan, the middle and lower merchants are between 5 million and 10 million yuan, and the lower merchants are between 500,000 and 1 million yuan. If a new account wants to grow rapidly, it must introduce influencers to live broadcast after polishing its business model.

During the 618 period, Nestlé not only arranged for its official flagship store to broadcast live, but also cooperated with SF Express, Christy Chung, A Colleague Called Lao Zhang, Maria Fatma, etc. to allocate a certain proportion of Dabo. In fact, not only Nestlé, this year many leading brands have added Dabo to their video accounts, such as Belle, Daphne, and Lin Qingxuan.

The WeChat ecosystem has a very rich set of operational tools and methodologies. Merchants need to make adjustments and combinations based on their own size and categories, and then form their own battle maps and operational toolboxes in order to achieve higher growth.

3. Not offering low prices is a distinctive principle. Long-lasting relationships bring long-lasting rewards.

The sudden change in consumer expectations has triggered resonance in the industry, and has also made platforms and merchants regard low prices as the direction of the tide. E-commerce companies are offering low prices, one more ruthless than the other, and there is no lowest price, only lower prices.

During this year's 618, it seems that all major platforms and merchants are keeping a close eye on low prices. For example, JD.com launched free shipping for orders of 2 yuan, Pinduoduo's price reduction can increase the product weight by up to 9 times, and Douyin launched official instant discounts, etc. Some platforms even launched price comparison systems.

Video accounts did not follow suit, but insisted on the principle of not offering low prices. Not only did they not offer low prices, the platform also issued rules to crack down on low-price promotions, setting price waterlines in multiple categories, and merchants who touched the price waterlines would be punished. In July, the platform also introduced detailed implementation rules for gift promotion violations, and gifts with a value higher than the price of the main product could be considered a violation.

Many people have a deep impression of video accounts that they do not sell goods at low prices for the sake of growth. Everything seems to be flat, but in fact, it is deep. High growth potential, coupled with high customer unit price, high repurchase rate and low return rate, allows merchants in it to have a reasonable profit and sustainable growth as long as they flexibly use the tools provided by the platform and find a methodology that suits them.

The outstanding performance of the above-mentioned new categories and the rapid rise of a group of new merchants have benefited greatly from this attitude and principle. The China Tea Official Flagship Store is the most typical example.

Generally speaking, WeChat is a weakly intervened platform. It encourages merchants to operate independently using the tools and methods provided by the platform, which is different from traditional shelf e-commerce and Douyin and Kuaishou. In particular, the emergence of video accounts connects the tools and traffic of the WeChat ecosystem, forming a closed loop from advertising to transactions and services, making it easier for merchants of different sizes to conduct full-domain operations on it and accumulate user assets.

In terms of traffic, Video Account is not a platform completely dominated by algorithms. Its content and social attributes can help good content and good products spread and share on the social chain. The good reputation brought by good content and good products may be the key to business growth. Because of this, perhaps merchants and talents who work hard to operate will get a long-term operating position.

This is more easily seen by carefully observing high-priced products that are growing rapidly. For example, tea has a high average order value, a longer user decision cycle, and word of mouth plays a very important role, which determines that its business growth depends on deep and lasting user trust. Once this trust relationship is established, merchants who stick to their principles will receive lasting rewards.

This may be what video accounts and more businesses that want to start accounts want to see. Considering the current changing business environment and the weakening consumer expectations, it is still quite tempting to escape from low prices and find incremental and profit areas, especially to maintain reasonable profits and sustainable growth. This is also the reason why video accounts are popular in the e-commerce industry without engaging in price wars.

Author: Dong Jinpeng

Source: WeChat public account "Ebrun Power (ID: iebrun)"