The "most competitive" 618 shopping festival in history comes to an end: the melee escalates, and everyone uses their own unique tactics

During the 618 promotion, various e-commerce platforms have been involuntarily simplifying the discount mechanism and focusing on consumer experience. Follow this article to see how the various e-commerce platforms operated during the 618 promotion. Recommended for Internet friends to read.

The longest 618 promotion in history has finally come to an end. What is different about this promotion?

Looking back, there are many firsts in this year's 618. This is the first major promotion in which several major e-commerce platforms canceled pre-sales, the first major promotion in which the preferential mechanism was simplified, and the first major promotion after several major platforms started to provide refund-only services.

In addition to the market recovery, big promotions have become normalized, user consumption mentality has become more rational, and traffic costs remain high. This year's 618 is also regarded by the industry as the most difficult 618.

During the 618 shopping festival this year, among the three e-commerce giants, Tmall announced that it was the one with the "largest investment in history", JD.com boasted that it was "cheap and good", and Pinduoduo increased its subsidies by 10 billion yuan.

Among the live streaming e-commerce platforms, Douyin e-commerce has conducted a small-scale internal test of the "automatic price change" function, Kuaishou e-commerce has launched the theme of "Every day is 618, and subsidies for big brands are higher than the entire network", and Xiaohongshu has launched a dual-wheel drive of "buyer live streaming + store live streaming".

On the other hand, as an important channel for e-commerce, anchors and MCN agencies have long been frequent visitors to e-commerce promotions. In line with changes in the industry, they have also taken new actions. Take Li Jiaqi and Mei ONE as an example. This year, they combined pre-sales and spot sales on June 18, launched more segmented special sessions, and set up more diverse scenarios to serve consumers.

Although the competition is more intense, no one can give up 618 for the sake of growth.

Since the first quarter, China's consumer market has shown an overall recovery trend. From January to March this year, the national online retail sales increased by 12.4% year-on-year. Among them, the online retail sales of physical goods increased by 11.6% year-on-year, accounting for 23.3% of the total retail sales of consumer goods.

The platform simplifies things in order to attract more users during this recovery trend.

Behind this change is the fact that the e-commerce industry has entered the second half. The benefits of extensive high growth are fading away, and the platforms are experiencing rounds of involution, with more attention paid to the details of services and operations.

At this point, the significance of the 618 promotion has become extraordinary. For merchants and platforms, through this "mid-season battle", they have not only gained a wave of growth, but also have more thoughts on how to operate in the second half of the year.

1. The “Cat and Dog Fighting” promotion war: the direction of involution has changed, and the smoke of war has become thicker

What are the keywords for 618 this year?

As early as a month ago, with Tmall and JD canceling the pre-sale system, returning to users and canceling pre-sales became the publicity points of major platforms.

The consensus among the platforms is to say goodbye to fancy gameplay, sell directly on the spot, come up with the most favorable plans, and provide consumers with simple and direct thoughtful services.

This has received positive feedback from the market. According to Analysys data, in the first cycle of 618 this year (May 20-June 3), the GMV growth rate of the comprehensive e-commerce market led by Taobao Tmall, JD.com and Pinduoduo reached 14%.

However, in order to highlight their own characteristics and differentiation, in addition to the standard platform features such as cross-store discounts, hundreds of billions of subsidies, and flash sales, the three major mainstream e-commerce platforms are accelerating their internal competition and engaging in close combat.

This year, Tmall cancelled pre-sales during the 618 shopping festival, and the issues related to deposits and final payments completely disappeared. The pre-sale period for products such as women's clothing, which are prone to long pre-sales, was also limited to 15 days.

In addition to canceling pre-sales, Tmall has noticed the "marginal needs" that were once ignored. For example, realizing that more than 10 million people insist on shopping on computers, Taobao restarted the Taobao web version; the "free shipping problem" that has troubled Xinjiang users for many years also set up a Xinjiang free shipping zone during this year's 618;

Tmall has also optimized the "refund only" function. On May 30, Taobao Platform Rules issued a public notice on the change of the "Taobao Timeout Instructions".

In the past, if a buyer's application was rejected and they did not modify the after-sales application or apply for Taobao's intervention within the specified time, the after-sales application would be revoked by default, and they would not be able to apply again after revocation. However, after the rule change, the restriction of "not being able to apply again after revocation" has been cancelled. As long as they are within the after-sales guarantee period, buyers can still apply again.

In recent years, e-commerce platforms have paid more and more attention to consumer experience, so the "refund only" function has gradually become a standard feature of e-commerce platforms: Douyin announced the "refund only" rule in September 2023; Taobao and JD followed suit at the end of 2023; in January 2024, Kuaishou also joined the "refund only" team.

It can be said that for the sake of user experience, each company has tried its best and achieved good results.

According to statistics, as of 24:00 on June 18, a total of 365 brands achieved sales exceeding 100 million yuan in Tmall's 618 event, and more than 36,000 brands doubled their sales.

JD.com, which also promoted user experience during the 618 shopping festival, called out the "three no's" slogan of "no staying up late, no waiting, and no extension". At the same time, more than 85% of JD.com's products enjoy "price guarantee", and 97% of its own products and 75% of third-party merchants' stores support "free door-to-door returns and exchanges".

For JD.com, judging from the 618 theme of "cheap and good", JD.com continues to implement a low-price strategy. In the 2024 first quarter earnings call, JD.com stated that while continuing to adhere to the low-price strategy, it will highlight JD.com's differentiated advantages and provide consumers with good prices, good products and good services.

It is reported that as of 23:59 on June 18, more than 500 million users placed orders on JD.com’s 618 event, 83 brands achieved cumulative transaction volume of over 1 billion, and more than 150,000 small and medium-sized businesses saw sales growth of more than 50%.

Faced with fierce market competition and the low-price mentality of Tmall and JD.com, Pinduoduo has also increased its investment this year.

On May 19, Pinduoduo officially launched this year's 618 promotion. According to Pinduoduo data, in the first week of the promotion, the number of merchants with 10 billion yuan subsidies increased by more than 90% year-on-year, the total sales of mobile phones reached 3 million units, the sales of multiple home appliance brands exceeded 1 billion yuan, and the sales of beauty products increased by more than 80% year-on-year.

The killer weapon behind this is small and medium-sized merchants. In Pinduoduo, the entry and operation thresholds are low, and merchants do not need to study any complicated platform policies, and can focus most of their energy on how to make more cost-effective products.

It can be said that in this 618, each company has its own focus, and the final results are different. But the same thing is that the trend of low prices and user services will continue, not just in 618, but in the second half of the year, all major platforms will still "try their best".

2. Competition among content e-commerce platforms: How to find the optimal solution?

An obvious change is that this year's 618, Douyin, Kuaishou, and Xiaohongshu, three e-commerce "new forces", sat at the table. Rather than calling them new e-commerce forces, it is more appropriate to describe them as live broadcast e-commerce and content e-commerce, which are comparable to the "cat and dog fight" shelf e-commerce.

They will extend the promotion period and increase the discounts, and the platform investment is no less than that of "Cat and Dog Fighting".

Big promotions like 618 and Double 11 are more like their training grounds. Since last year, the boundaries between content e-commerce represented by Douyin and Kuaishou and shelf e-commerce represented by "Maogoupin" have gradually blurred, and each company has chosen to deploy in multiple directions.

In essence, this is the result of intensified competition in the e-commerce industry and escalating infighting among various platforms.

The rapidly developing Douyin e-commerce has also quickly followed the new trend this year. Price power and simple mechanism are also the direction of its internal circulation this year.

This year's 618, "Douyin Mall 618 Good Products Festival" launched a series of discounts such as official 15% off and one-piece direct discount. As long as the products participate in the 618 promotion, you can enjoy the instant discount for one piece without placing a large order, and present the products through short videos, live broadcasts, malls, searches and other shopping scenarios; under the idea of ​​price power, Douyin Mall also launched a "low-price flash sale" area with 1 yuan purchase or even lower prices.

In terms of user experience, during the 618 period, Douyin Supermarket upgraded its service standards and guaranteed "door-to-door delivery" service in 215 cities across the country. If the goods are not delivered to the door, the platform will pay a maximum compensation of 100 yuan, saving consumers the trouble of going out to pick up the goods and making their shopping worry-free and comfortable.

As early as the beginning of this year, Douyin E-Commerce set "price power" as the highest priority task in 2024. This is another e-commerce platform after Pinduoduo, Alibaba and JD.com that has clearly promoted "low price" to a core strategy internally.

Earlier, according to LatePost, people close to Douyin e-commerce also said that Douyin e-commerce's low-price strategy will be extended to the content field. The mall and short videos will vigorously recommend low-priced goods, while the live broadcast room will continue to carry high-priced goods mainly from brands.

Another company that quickly adapted to market changes is Kuaishou E-commerce.

This year on June 18th, Kuaishou E-commerce launched the Kuaishou Mall 618 Shopping Festival with the theme of "Everyday is June 18th, big-brand subsidies are higher than the entire network". It cancelled pre-sales, started selling immediate goods, and added 1 billion in red envelope subsidies, allowing users to enjoy low-priced goods and a mid-year shopping spree.

It is worth mentioning that Kuaishou e-commerce is the platform with the longest duration of this year's 618 promotion, lasting for 42 days.

It is reported that during these 42 days, not only will cross-store discounts such as "60 off for every 300 spent" and "up to 1,888 yuan in red envelopes at the venue" cover the early purchase and the official 618 outbreak period, but there will also be double subsidies for various big brands, consumption credits in the live broadcast room, shipping subsidies for returns, interest-free installments and other gameplay, covering live broadcasts, short videos, shopping malls and other scenarios.

It is reported that during the period from May 20 to June 18, the GMV of brand merchants in the consumer electronics and home furnishing industry on Kuaishou e-commerce increased by more than 83% year-on-year, the GMV of the fan category increased by 44% year-on-year, the GMV of the home appliance set category increased by 62% year-on-year, and the GMV of the mobile phone category increased by more than 129% year-on-year.

Unlike Maogoupin and Douyin, which have followed the low-price trend, Xiaohongshu, the youngest e-commerce company, has forged its own path.

After proposing the concept of buyer e-commerce last year, Xiaohongshu continued to increase its investment in live streaming this year. On June 12, Xiaohongshu released a set of latest data: the order volume of Xiaohongshu's e-commerce live streaming room during the 618 shopping festival was 5.4 times that of the same period last year, and the store live streaming GMV was 5 times that of the same period last year.

During the 618 period, Xiaohongshu launched a series of live broadcast resources and interactive gameplay for merchants at different stages of operation, and provided traffic subsidies.

For example, from the "Super Store Broadcast Day" suitable for mature merchants, to the "Store Broadcast Qualifying Competition" and "Store Broadcast Rebate Coupons" that take into account both mature merchants and small and medium-sized merchants, as well as the "Store Broadcast Rising Star Plan" for new merchants, support is provided at the levels of traffic and subsidies.

Over the past period of time, Xiaohongshu has changed its previous wavering and has become more determined to do e-commerce, and its e-commerce landscape has become clearer. On the eve of 618, Xiaohongshu's buyer operation business and merchant operation business were merged to form the e-commerce operation department, which is a second-level e-commerce department.

From buyer live streaming to store live streaming, Xiaohongshu aims to walk on two legs. After the live streaming shopping ecosystem built by buyers became relatively stable, it gradually enriched the supply side of store live streaming, providing consumers with a more immersive online shopping experience.

During this year’s 618, Douyin, Kuaishou, Xiaohongshu and “Mao Gou Pin” have similar strategies and are also looking for differentiated ways to play.

In the e-commerce market, there is no answer to the best model. The best solution is to find a balance between content and e-commerce during promotions and find your own path.

3. Live broadcast room during the promotion: some are happy while others are sad

Since the rise of e-commerce live streaming, it has become an indispensable part of every major promotion and an important tool for major platforms to bet on live streaming. Among them, the top anchors and their MCN agencies are the vane of the industry.

This year's 618, contrary to the close combat among e-commerce platforms, the popularity of e-commerce live streaming has declined on the surface, but in reality, some are happy while others are sad.

A third-party data platform shows that since the official launch of "With Hui Xing Xing" on January 9, 2024, the number of fans and sales of the main account of Oriental Selection have declined to varying degrees. From January to March, the sales were 557 million yuan, 228 million yuan, and 286 million yuan, respectively, with a total loss of 1.12 million fans.

During this year's 618, Oriental Selection's live streaming style was embroiled in controversy. In addition to #Yu Minhong said that Oriental Selection was a mess#, other topics such as #The style of Oriental Selection's live streaming room has changed# and #Without Dong Yuhui, can Oriental Selection only be a mess# also became hot searches one after another.

In order to save the stock price, Oriental Selection CEO Yu Minhong issued an open letter to apologize to Oriental Selection's customers, shareholders and investors, and clarified his previous statement that "Oriental Selection is in a mess."

On the other hand, Xiao Yangge's presence in this 618 event was not strong, and he did not do much preheating for 618 this year. During the promotion period, Xiao Yangge's personal account live broadcast less than 20 times. He said at the beginning of the year that he would reduce the frequency of live broadcasts and shift his focus to short dramas.

Dong Yuhui did not put much energy into the 618 promotion. During the 618 period, Dong Yuhui did not work overtime to promote the products, but missed many vertical live broadcast rooms and participated in a talk show instead.

Another top anchor, Simba, is still very capable in bringing in goods. The GMV of his first live broadcast on 618 reached 1.427 billion. But he can no longer hide his tiredness. Recently, he mentioned that his live broadcast career is entering the countdown. "There will be fewer and fewer live broadcasts in the future. I plan to use 10 live broadcasts to let Xinxuan get used to the absence of Simba, let fans get used to Simba's departure, and let the industry slowly dilute the public opinion about Simba."

Among the top anchors, Li Jiaqi still maintains his fighting power.

On the eve of 618, at the 2024 Mei ONE 618 media conference, Li Jiaqi mentioned, "There are really too many users, but there is only one Li Jiaqi, so I try to spend an hour in the live broadcast room to interact with consumers in real time and answer questions one-on-one."

With this idea in mind, Li Jiaqi is the most "hardworking" of the top anchors. At the same time, he and the MAN organization behind him, Mei ONE, are following the new trend, and this year's main focus is on the price advantage of "cheaper and cheaper".

The outside world is still curious about Li Jiaqi's sales performance. In the past two days, there have been market news that the GMV of the beauty category of Tmall Li Jiaqi's beauty live broadcast on May 19th fell by 46% year-on-year. In response, Mei ONE said that the data was inaccurate and the company would not disclose GMV to the public.

In response to the market's doubts about Mei ONE, Mei ONE said: "The rhythm of this year's promotion is inconsistent with the past, and the data statistics method is inaccurate. Li Jiaqi's live broadcast room chose to pre-sell for one day to give more users time to choose products and participate in the platform discount. As of May 20, the cumulative GMV of Li Jiaqi's live broadcast room during the 618 period has exceeded that of the same period last year."

Back to the present, the live e-commerce market is changing rapidly, and the top anchors also have their own challenges to face. How to cooperate with the MCN behind them, adapt to changes in market demand, and attract more consumers by relying on multi-matrix strategies and multi-scenario coverage is the key to whether they can maintain their competitiveness in the future.

The 618 promotion has been going on for 16 years. Perhaps the GMV of hundreds of billions is no longer important. What is more important is how to keep consumers’ minds on their own platforms for a long time and create new growth. This is a core issue for all e-commerce platforms and MCN agencies.

Author: Wang Huiying Editor: Midnight

Source: WeChat official account: "Lianxian Insight (ID: lxinsight)"