How to avoid being tricked by the e-commerce platform’s 618 pricing?

I didn’t expect that the “routines” of the 618 activities on e-commerce platforms are so deep! This article will help you understand the reasons behind the price “routines” and teach you how to use “price protection” to avoid being “routined”.

"Do you know that today is the first day of the 618 promotion?" On the evening of May 31, a friend asked others in the WeChat group. He thought many people didn't know, but in fact, many people said they knew about "618".

On the one hand, online short video, news, browser, novel and other apps are all pushing 618 event advertisements from e-commerce platforms such as JD.com, Pinduoduo, and Taobao; on the other hand, offline advertising spaces such as shopping malls, elevators, and communities are also filled with advertisements for merchants’ 618 events. With such “all-round” coverage, it is difficult for people to block the keyword “618” from their brains, ears, and sight .

Of course, knowing and buying are two different concepts. Consumption is a happy thing, but as people age, they become insensitive to the joy of consumption. Many times, they say, "I'll just look, I promise not to buy." However, with the stimulation of low prices, live broadcasts, short videos, etc., it is difficult to really just look and not buy. You will buy after looking at it.

Online shopping has long been integrated into people's daily lives, but it lacks the enthusiasm of the original shopping spree. So, when consumers are shopping online during the 618 shopping festival, how can they avoid the price "routines" of the e-commerce platforms during the 618 shopping festival?

1. Understand the reasons behind the price “routines” of e-commerce platforms

618 is a major promotion event on all platforms including JD.com, Taobao, and Pinduoduo. All merchants on the platform are participating in the event, which involves both quantity and category.

Alibaba's annual report for fiscal year 2023 shows that in the past year, Taobao has added 5.12 million merchants, and the number of stores on Taobao that have been in operation for more than 10 years has exceeded 1.7 million.

JD Group CEO Xu Ran once said that last month (March 2024), the number of effective stores of JD's third-party merchants exceeded one million.

Obviously, there are at least millions of merchants participating in the 618 activities on e-commerce platforms such as JD.com, Taobao, and Pinduoduo. In addition, in terms of categories, digital 3C home appliances, clothing and luggage, jewelry and luxury goods, books and other categories are participating in the 618 activities.

JD.com has self-operated and third-party merchants, Taobao has Tmall Supermarket and third-party merchants, and Pinduoduo has merchants with hundreds of billions of subsidies and ordinary merchants. This also shows the complexity of the e-commerce platform's own system.

It is impossible for a large number of merchants from multiple categories to participate in a promotional event together and to have a unified price. The profits and costs of each category are completely different, so how can they promote sales according to a unified discount or discount ? Just like Apple phones often reduce the price by one or two thousand yuan, it is difficult for other products to achieve this.

Therefore, it is not that e-commerce platforms do not want to conduct simple price reduction promotions, so that you can "buy things like doing math problems", but they are powerless . Before each 618 and Double 11, e-commerce platforms will claim how simple the promotion is, but when it comes to the actual implementation and landing on individual merchants, these slogans said in advance are "empty talk". Adults should understand that it is common to say something but not do it.

The complex system and the large number of merchants with different categories simply cannot achieve consistency, which leads to different prices for consumers when shopping during the 618 period. If they are not careful, they will be "tricked" by the e-commerce platform.

2. Add to cart in advance, don’t place an order “passionately”, learn to use “price protection”

Let you understand the complexity of the 618 promotion activities of e-commerce platforms such as JD.com, Pinduoduo, and Taobao, not to make you "sympathize" with the platforms, but to understand why price "routines" appear. As a consumer, you must protect your rights.

To avoid being "tricked", the most common way is to add items to the shopping cart in advance. Generally, I will put the items I have "intent" on in the shopping cart in advance, not necessarily to buy now, but to wait until the price drops. Another benefit of adding items to the shopping cart is that you can see the price fluctuations of the items. In this observation process, you will find out whether you will be "tricked".

Here I will give an example from my own experience. The price of a pair of running shoes I wanted to buy on a certain platform would fluctuate almost every day. Sometimes it was 395 yuan, sometimes 355 yuan, and sometimes 347 yuan. When I clicked on another page, it might become 395 yuan again. When I reopened the App the next day, the platform gave me a bunch of coupons. When I finally took a look, the price was still 355 yuan. The price fluctuation was very magical. If I hadn’t observed the price fluctuation carefully, I might have thought I had picked up a "great bargain", but in fact the price I bought was much higher than the "discount price".

Some people may think that this is boring. Isn't it just buying a pair of shoes online? Why do you have to make it so complicated? But you should know that in the end, it is your wallet that is being scammed.

What should I do if I didn't add the product to my shopping cart in advance? Here comes the second step: don't place an order "passionately" . Many people like to shop online. They suddenly watch a short video and suddenly place an order when the other party is live streaming. After placing the order, they find it troublesome to return the product, which is another "pitfall" for themselves. Unless the price is very, very attractive, there is really no need to place an order "passionately". Nowadays, when shopping online, you only need to buy your own necessities. There is no need to stock up. The promotions on e-commerce platforms come one after another. As long as you pay attention, the difference in money is not much.

Of course, if the unit price of the product itself is very low, it doesn’t matter in this case. But if it is a product with a higher average order value, you should still be cautious and not get carried away and regret it after buying it.

3. Learn to use “price protection”

JD.com, Pinduoduo, and Taobao now all provide insurance services. Insurance is a feature of the platform to protect the rights and interests of consumers. You don’t even need to be a JD.com Plus member, Taobao 88VIP member, or Pinduoduo monthly card member. Ordinary users can also apply for insurance .

Steps to apply for JD.com’s price protection service: Me in the lower right corner → Customer Service → Self-service area → Price Protection → One-click price protection.

Steps to apply for Pinduoduo's insured service: Personal center in the lower right corner → Official customer service → Click below to contact official customer service → Enter the "insured" question and send it.

Steps to apply for Taobao's guaranteed price service: My Taobao in the lower right corner → Official Customer Service in the upper right corner → Guarantee Center → One-click guarantee for all orders.

I once saw a "great god" in a group who used the insured refund to get more than 11,000 yuan back, with a total of 573 refunds. The insured refund function is really very practical and there is no shame in using it.

In fact, before shopping, if consumers have doubts about the price, such as worrying about the merchant raising/lowering the price, they can ask the merchant in advance whether it has a price guarantee service and whether the price will be the same during 618. Advance communication is also a way to avoid being "tricked". Sometimes the merchant's discounts will not be displayed on the store page. Only after you have a private conversation with them will the merchant give the most favorable policy.

If you want to avoid being "tricked", another way is to compare prices with previous purchase records. You can look back at past purchase records to compare whether the current price is cheaper than before. For example, I found that the price of a certain T-shirt during the 618 event was more expensive than the price I bought before. After asking the merchant if there was any price discount, they did give a discounted price this year, but it was still expensive. In this case, there is no need to say more to the merchant. If you think the price is not right, just don't buy it.

Having said that, it seems unlikely that you will not buy anything during 618. On the one hand, online shopping has become a daily routine. On the other hand, if you choose carefully during 618, you can buy cheap goods. Based on my past online shopping experience, sometimes the promotional prices during 618 are even cheaper than those during Double 11. If you blindly resist 618 itself, it seems unnecessary.

In general, you should treat the 618 activities of e-commerce platforms such as JD.com, Pinduoduo, and Taobao with a normal mind. You will be happy if you can get a bargain, but you should also avoid being "tricked". After all, the platforms and merchants also need to make money.

Author: Guo Jing

Source: WeChat public account: "Guo Jing's Internet Circle (ID: guojingdequanzi)"