Pre-sale or no pre-sale, 618 is all about returning to "consumer value"

This year, e-commerce platforms have cancelled the pre-sale mechanism and returned to the "ready-to-sell" model, but anchors still retain the pre-sale mechanism. This article will explore the reasons behind this change, analyze how e-commerce platforms can take the initiative to correct the deviation, and how anchors can become decision-making assistants for consumers, rationally guide consumption, and jointly promote the 618 shopping festival to a new stage that pays more attention to consumer experience.

This year’s 618 is destined to be different.

Taobao Tmall, JD.com, Vipshop and other platforms have announced the cancellation of the pre-sale mechanism that has been in use for more than ten years, focusing on "ready-to-sell". This is good news for consumers: there is no need to calculate complicated pre-sale rules before the big sale, no tedious deposit and final payment process, and no long waiting time. Shopping has returned to its simple and direct essence.

However, we also observed that many anchors still retained the pre-sale mechanism. On May 19, the day before Taobao and Tmall went on sale, top anchors such as Li Jiaqi, Jiao Ge Pengyou, Lie Er Baby, and Dongfang Zhenxuan all started "all-day" live broadcasts on Taobao, allowing consumers to view products and add them to cart in advance.

For example, Li Jiaqi's live broadcast room lasted from 8 a.m. to the early hours of the next morning. A total of 500 pre-sale links including beauty, skin care, digital, food and other categories were launched online. Different anchors took turns to present and try out the products one by one, helping consumers to rationally buy them. At the same time, the live broadcast room sent out 60 rounds of large red envelopes, which consumers could use on the basis of Taobao's full-reduction mechanism.

On the one hand, the platform canceled pre-sales, and on the other hand, anchors broadcast live 24 hours a day. This seems a bit contradictory, but if you think about it carefully, they actually point to the same goal - returning to "consumer value". The platform canceled pre-sales, removed complex rules, and made shopping "simple" again; anchors continued to accompany consumers and sort out their needs on the eve of the big sale, which also allowed consumers to "simple" choose from a dazzling variety of products.

1. Return to consumers, platforms take the initiative to correct mistakes

In fact, the emergence and application of "pre-sale" was originally a move by the platform to improve the consumer experience - big sales are usually accompanied by "explosive orders", the platform faces technical pressure, merchants face multiple pressures such as inventory, logistics, and funds, and users also face the experience gap of "not being able to grab the goods". "Pre-sale" can relieve the triple pressure.

However, in the subsequent implementation, "pre-sale" gradually changed, the consumption process became more and more complicated, the time cost increased for no reason, and there were also problems such as price increase for the final payment, failure to deliver the promised gifts, and non-refundable deposits, which eroded the consumers' shopping experience.

If a mechanism that is intended to improve the experience actually damages the experience, the platform must step up to correct this deviation.

In addition to canceling pre-sales, the platform's other actions also revealed the core trend of this year's 618 - returning to consumers.

Although large-scale pre-sales have been eliminated, in reality, all platforms have extended their activity cycles, with Douyin, Kuaishou, Tmall, and Pinduoduo being 26 days, 42 days, 32 days, and 33 days respectively, all longer than last year's 618 period. For consumers, a longer shopping cycle means ample time to choose the right products and enjoy the promotions and discounts of the shopping festival.

In terms of discount strength, Tmall, JD.com, Pinduoduo and other platforms have launched cross-store discounts of 50 yuan off for purchases over 300 yuan, and Kuaishou has even "rolled" to 60 yuan off for purchases over 300 yuan. In the past, such discounts were usually only available on Double 11, or the participating categories would be limited, but this year the platforms have given full sincerity. On the basis of full discounts, the platforms use simple and direct methods such as low-price special sales, big-name promotions, and single product direct discounts to give consumers real discounts.

In fact, it is not just this year's 618. As big promotions become normalized and the growth rate gradually reaches its peak, various platforms are shifting their strategies from "quantity" to "quality":

1. No longer emphasize GMV data, but pay more attention to product quality and cost-effectiveness.

On Double Eleven 2022, Tmall no longer disclosed its Double 11 sales. In 2023, JD.com followed suit and stopped disclosing its 618 promotion sales. At the end of last year, Taobao and Tmall changed Double 12 to the "Year-End Good Price Festival." Behind these actions, the e-commerce industry has entered a period of slow growth, and e-commerce shopping festivals have returned to their simple essence.

2. The platform reduces tricks and makes the shopping experience more worry-free.

During the 618 shopping event last year, JD.com directly launched the "single item price" function, allowing consumers to enjoy the lowest price without having to make an order or get coupons. At the end of last year, Taobao and JD.com moved closer to Pinduoduo and launched the "refund only" service. This year, Taobao launched the 88VIP free return shipping and WeChat payment mechanism, which all show the platform's efforts to improve user experience.

3. Use big promotions to improve merchants’ overall product layout efficiency.

Originally, when we mentioned big sales, the simple and crude term was “sweeping low prices”, but this can easily lead to a vicious cycle for merchants. In the past two years, many platforms have taken the initiative to break out of the cycle of blindly low prices and help brand merchants use the “1+N” hot product combination to enhance product value, thereby stimulating consumer purchasing desire.

2. Act as a decision-making assistant for consumers and encourage anchors to promote products rationally

The question is, the platform canceled pre-sales and returned to simplicity, which is undoubtedly a good thing for consumers. But for anchors and merchants, this is a big change. How should they readjust? How can they achieve results in this 618?

Sticking to the theme of "consumer value" may be the only solution - these changes are driving the anchors to return to their original intentions and rethink what role they play for consumers.

E-commerce platforms are trading platforms. Before consumers place orders, they need some "preparation time" to understand what they want, which product is more suitable for them, and how to combine different products to make an order. At this time, professional anchors are needed to act as a bridge, disassemble the functions and advantages of the products, and help consumers accurately and rationally recommend products. Therefore, we also see that the platform's "cancellation of pre-sales" is not a one-size-fits-all approach, but rather retains some flexibility.

On May 19, Li Jiaqi's live broadcast room opened a one-day pre-sale on Taobao, from 8 am to the early morning of the next day. The deposit payment period was from 8 pm on the 19th to 8 pm on the 20th. In the live broadcast room, 500 pre-sale products such as beauty, fashion electronics, digital, and food were displayed and tried one by one. In addition to introducing product functions, the live broadcast room also gave ideas on how to assemble goods and how to receive coupons, avoiding consumers' blind orders and impulse purchases on the day of the big sale.

Li Jiaqi live broadcast room pre-sale

What to do and how to do pre-sale is a particular test of the innovation ability of the anchor and the MCN organization behind it. Observing the preparations before Li Jiaqi's live broadcast room opened for pre-sale, from content to goods, multi-dimensional innovation and upgrades were made closely around consumer experience.

In terms of content, Li Jiaqi’s live broadcast room and Mei ONE, where he works, have updated a lot of professional knowledge content sharing, using interesting and diverse presentation methods to help consumers “highlight the key points”.

We all know that big sales often involve a large number of products being discounted at the same time, which can easily dazzle consumers and make them wonder what to buy. Li Jiaqi's live broadcast room uses the "Big Sales Small Classroom" to focus on beauty and skin care, sharing knowledge around categories, skin types, prices and other dimensions, so that consumers can accurately identify their favorite products. What's different this year is that the explanation format has changed from the original small blackboard to a "shelf" format, so that consumers can understand the product characteristics more clearly and intuitively.

Before every big sale, Li Jiaqi’s live studio often releases a self-made short video to show the behind-the-scenes of brand negotiations. This year, the program has innovated its perspective and launched three vlogs of brand owners reporting on the 618 big sale to the audience.

In the program, six brands, including Hansu, Miss Ting, Oshiman, Ushiyan, Huazhi and Xiangyi Bencao, introduced the new products and discounts launched in the big sale to the audience in the form of PPT, and responded to the "hot comments and feedback" of netizens. In a real, exciting and interesting atmosphere, the brands directly faced consumers' complaints and made corrections, and consumers further understood the brand characteristics based on their cognition, and the relationship between the two became closer.

After the show was over, a user wrote in the comment section: I learned more stories behind the brands from the bosses’ performance reports. I like this kind of “electronic pistachio”.

In terms of products, Mei ONE is expanding its product pool by broadening product categories horizontally and extending the shopping experience vertically.

Mei ONE VP Xinchuan revealed that on the eve of 618, they fully considered the two directions of "what users need and what users like", and based on user needs, they comprehensively upgraded product types and quantities, and innovated different live broadcast scenarios.

Horizontally, the three matrix accounts under Mei ONE were launched simultaneously, and different special themes were set up respectively, covering as many areas as possible from core popular tracks to niche vertical fields to meet the differentiated demands of different consumers.

For example, the pre-sale theme of Li Jiaqi's live broadcast room is "Beauty + All Categories". Consumers do not have to wait and see. They can buy their favorite products on the first day of the sale. During the promotion period, niche sessions such as pets and outdoor will be opened. The live broadcast room of "All Girls" has opened special sessions for fashion, beauty, fresh food, and food traceability. "All Girls' Wardrobes" also subdivides the vertical category of clothing, dividing it into sports, workplace, and home, and provides matching references for different scenarios.

Vertically, the live broadcast scene is upgraded and digital people are added to enhance the user's sense of participation in the live broadcast. For example, during the 618 promotion this year, Mei ONE will use the visualization of the live broadcast scene to match the various themes during the promotion period; the digital people in the live broadcast room of "all girls" will accompany consumers around the clock to understand their demands in a timely manner.

Li Jiaqi's live broadcast calendar

Overall, the pre-sale idea of ​​Li Jiaqi's live broadcast room for the 618 event is in line with the actions of Mei ONE in the past two years. Both are centered around consumers and long-term value: continuous innovation and upgrading in content, and a stable and rich product selection mechanism and shopping experience.

Based on the industry environment, information fragmentation has made consumers' attention more dispersed. Under the general trend of pursuing cost-effectiveness, consumers' shopping decisions have also become more rational. In addition, the e-commerce industry has reached a turning point from competing in volume to competing in quality. If the live broadcast room relies solely on shouting and price, it will be difficult to attract consumers in the long run. For brands, with the upgrade and improvement of the store broadcast system, the requirements and premiums for expert anchors will naturally become higher.

Therefore, whether it is a general trend or an active choice, the live broadcast room continuously outputs high-quality content and provides a thorough user experience, which is the core of long-term development.

3. Product and service upgrades, brands provide good products

The platform canceled the pre-sale, while the anchor retained the pre-sale. But in fact, for the brand, whether to choose pre-sale or not is just a change in form. This year on 618, the focus of competition between brands is still good products and high-quality services, which is related to whether the brand can achieve commercial growth.

1. Before the 618 promotion, many brands have made product innovations and upgrades.

Specifically, it is embodied in: iterating around the brand's original hot products, such as the Ruby Essence 3.0 launched before the PROYA big promotion. It is based on consumers' skin anti-aging needs. The team spent three years studying the wrinkle database of thousands of people and 1,000+ image surveys before launching this product suitable for all age groups. In addition to hot products, the brand also creates new products for big promotions: for example, after the broadcast of "Offer to All Girls 3" last year, Hansu listened to consumers' suggestions on "big single products" and specially launched Hansu Revitalizing Essence on the eve of this 618, using double bacteria and double fermentation technology to promote skin renewal.

Hanshu's new upgraded products

2. The 618 promotion is an all-round competition. Brands not only need to make good products, but also need to provide good guarantees in logistics, after-sales and other aspects.

Unlike previous years, this year's 618 is full of "variables" - the cancellation of the pre-sale mechanism and the changes in the rules have posed challenges to brand merchants in the process of stocking and fulfilling contracts. In this regard, brand merchants must do a good job in "after-sales".

For example, Mofashijia cooperated with JD Logistics Supply Chain to prepare for the 618 shopping event by stocking more than 100,000 popular products in advance to ensure delivery time and reduce consumers' waiting time. In the after-sales stage, many brands also launched a full price guarantee and a seven-day no-reason return and exchange mechanism to ensure a smoother shopping experience for consumers. Another example is that during the 618 shopping event, after the new vivo products were launched on Pinduoduo, they provided comprehensive after-sales and maintenance services, and guaranteed "no-reason return within seven days after activation".

In the past two years, e-commerce has been full of twists and turns. The previous traffic strategy of spending money on marketing has obviously failed. Whether it is the platform, the anchor, or the brand, everyone has tacitly returned to the user's consumption experience. It is not about endlessly "low-price" and playing tricks, but returning to the essence and using better products and better services to gain consumer recognition.

Returning to user experience and consumer value is the general trend and what the industry people want. When the roles in the e-commerce chain such as platforms, anchors, and brands each perform their duties, shopping has returned to its original simple and happy purpose. At the same time, this also means that platforms, brands, and anchors are back on the same starting line. How to truly think about what users want and implement discounts is a difficult problem in the new stage.

Author: Zu Yang

WeChat public account: Shen Xiang