On sale today! No pre-sale during 618, big changes for e-commerce platforms

E-commerce platforms collectively cancel pre-sales, simplify the 618 shopping process, and solve the shopping troubles caused by pre-sales. Recommended reading for consumers who pursue simple and convenient shopping. !

This is both a necessity of the times and a proactive correction. A promotion rule that has been in use for many years was abolished by e-commerce platforms themselves during this year's 618 shopping festival. In May, Taobao, JD.com, and Kuaishou announced that they would completely cancel the pre-sale system and directly sell spot goods. Douyin e-commerce followed suit. The promotion cycles and core gameplay of each platform are as follows:

Some e-commerce platform rules have not yet been fully announced

In the first year of the large-scale disappearance of pre-sales, all players pointed to the word "simple" in the rules of the game. However, from the perspective of time span, the 618 battle line has not been shortened, and some platforms can even be called "the longest 618 in history". "The pre-sale mechanism, which 'only hurts buyers', has finally been cancelled." Under the relevant Weibo hot search, a large number of users expressed their support for the cancellation of the pre-sale system. Looking back at the origin of the pre-sale system, it has its historical inevitability due to technical limitations, supply pressure and the early stage of competition. But more than a decade later, in the past two years, this system has been criticized for its damage to user experience, and it is inevitable that it will end.

In the triangle of interests between platforms, merchants, and users, the struggle never stops. In 2024, major e-commerce platforms collectively gave up pre-sales, which was both forced by the times and a proactive correction. The fundamental reason was to return to "user experience". The end of the pre-sale system for many years may be seen as a signal that the balance is tilting - e-commerce platforms will move towards "C" (consumer), entering a new era where buyers are prioritized and users are king.

1. From a win-win situation for all three parties to a situation where only buyers are hurt, the pre-sale system finally comes to an end

1. Sales exceeded 10 billion in 13 hours, Tmall pioneered the e-commerce pre-sale system

"In 2012, Tmall introduced the pre-sale model of the real estate industry into e-commerce promotions for the first time, and competitors followed suit," Titanium Media said earlier. That year, Taobao Mall was renamed Tmall, and on Singles' Day, or Double 11, it called out "50% off for all items," and sold 10 billion yuan in just 13 hours, setting a world record.

Looking back at the Double 11 in the old days, consumers only did two things: stay up late and wait, and grab the goods on time.

At 0:00 on the day of the big promotion, the traffic surges like a flood, and the Taobao server is like walking on a tightrope, and it will "hang up" in an instant if you are not careful. In addition to the platform seeing this as a major test, the pressure on millions of merchants and express logistics is also doubled. Single machines are working so hard that they smoke, and there are not enough products to be taken off the shelves, and large-scale express warehouses are often overwhelmed.

The task of solving Taobao's insufficient computing power fell on Alibaba Cloud. However, this technical training was not achieved overnight. At that time, Alibaba Cloud was less than three years old. According to reports, in 2012, when Alibaba Cloud participated in Double 11 for the first time, it only processed 20% of Taobao and Tmall's orders.

The birth of the pre-sale system helped a lot in that era - not only for the platform and merchants, but also for user experience. Zhang Yong, then president of Tmall, said that the pre-sale model was the direction of Tmall's optimistic e-commerce strategic development. "The future of e-commerce will definitely not be B2B or B2C, but C2B. The pre-sale model meets this requirement, and it tests the merchant's efficient supply chain."

Since pre-sales require users to pay a deposit in advance to lock in the product, and pay the balance about a week later, after the sales period is extended, user orders can be diverted, alleviating the platform's technical support pressure on the day of the big promotion.

Merchants also breathed a sigh of relief. With pre-sales, some sellers who lack the ability to respond quickly to small orders can produce in quantity according to orders, thereby reducing inventory risks, logistics pressure, and speeding up capital turnover.

For users, the page will not get stuck when grabbing products, and the overall experience is also improved.

From the overall effect, pre-sale can not only lock in users in advance, but also guide demand - because the deposit amount is small, consumers are prone to impulse purchases, and when they pay the balance, they may consume again. For platforms and merchants, this is an effective way to drive GMV growth.

Over the past decade or so, e-commerce promotions have seen frequently updated and impressive results, and the pre-sale system has also contributed to this.

2. Pre-sales, which contributed 30% of sales to the promotion, gradually turned sour

Following Tmall, platforms such as JD.com have followed suit. After the rise of content e-commerce, Douyin and Kuaishou have also joined the big promotion pre-sale camp.

At the beginning, consumers were not actually averse to pre-sales. The gameplay was fresh, the purchase was cheap, and there were additional benefits such as gifts. Pre-sales mobilized a large number of consumer enthusiasm. Young people joked about being deceived by consumerism, but were willing to be "final payment people". The 618 pre-sale, which began at the end of May every year, often issued large consumer coupons between the deposit and the final payment. The gameplay also changed from the final payment that could only be paid separately at the beginning to being able to combine orders to get a discount. The live broadcast room with large discounts and strong incitement has become one of the main battlefields for pre-sales.

On the first day of pre-sale on June 18, 2021, hundreds of millions of users flocked to the live broadcast rooms of Li Jiaqi and Wei Ya. On Double 11 of the same year, Li Jiaqi's live broadcast of Double 11 pre-sale exceeded 10 billion, reaching 10.6 billion yuan. Guliangjiji, a domestic luggage brand founded 10 years ago, ushered in a turning point in its destiny with a mid-year promotion. In 2020, Guliangjiji sold 30,000 bags in a live broadcast of Li Jiaqi on June 18, and the brand's sales soared to 230 million yuan the following year.

"The pre-sale system really helped us relieve the pressure of stocking up at a critical moment." Founder Gu Liang told "Tianxia Online Business" that the longest pre-sale time for live broadcasts at that time was marked as 25 to 30 days. "Relying on the supply chain advantages of Guangzhou, we rushed to produce 15,000 bags within 7 days, and the subsequent pre-sales made up for it in just over 20 days."

Previous data showed that the transaction volume generated by pre-sales accounted for about one-third of the final transaction volume of the 618 promotion in previous years. The pre-sale transaction volume of major anchors accounted for more than 50% of their total live broadcast transaction volume. However, this seemingly win-win situation for all three parties has gradually become unbalanced as the full-reduction mechanism has become more and more complicated and the waiting period has become longer and longer. The pre-sale system is still beneficial to merchants and platforms, but for users, the consumption experience is getting worse.

"One month has passed, and the clothes I bought on June 18 have not been shipped yet. They are out of season when I receive them." "A beauty instrument priced at 2,699 yuan was added to the shopping cart. The price increased by 500 yuan on June 18. It is more expensive than the spot price." "I forgot to pay the balance and I can't get my deposit back." There are complaints about the low timeliness of pre-sale and disguised price increases. These negative voices are related to the shortcomings of the pre-sale mechanism itself, and on the other hand, some merchants have taken advantage of the pre-sale loopholes and have engaged in shady behaviors such as delayed delivery and secretly raising prices.

A survey of 1,507 respondents by China Youth Daily showed that 79.6% of the respondents said that long pre-sales would reduce their shopping experience. On the "Black Cat Complaint" website, there are tens of thousands of complaints related to pre-sales, most of which are related to false advertising and delayed delivery.

3. Pre-sales have withdrawn from the promotion stage, and e-commerce is no longer focused on GMV

The end of the big promotion pre-sale is on the agenda. JD.com announced that it will sell products directly from the spot on November 11, 2023. Taobao e-commerce has cut the longest pre-sale period from 45 days to 30 days, and Douyin has only kept it for 15 days.

A larger-scale "pre-sale cancellation" will occur in 2024.

In April this year, at an internal meeting of Taotian, there was a heated debate on whether to "cancel the 618 pre-sale", and the supporters won in the end. According to Wandian, an employee said, "In an era when supply is not scarce, it is difficult to win users by artificially creating a sense of scarcity." The shock caused by the cancellation of the pre-sale system may lie in the overall transaction scale. Previously, the pre-sale of the big promotion mainly promoted a small number of popular products. Many merchants and anchors would concentrate their marketing and promotion expenses on the day of sale, using the promotion intensity and scarcity as hooks to create a "snatching" atmosphere and achieve a big node explosion.

After the pre-sale is cancelled, the mentality of node outbreaks will likely weaken. Taking Taobao Live as an example, according to a late report, it is expected that the change in rules will cause a 5%-10% revenue fluctuation. In order to balance the GMV fluctuations brought about by the new regulations, lengthening the battle line is a coping plan. This year's 618, the activity cycles of Douyin, Kuaishou, and Tmall have been extended compared to 618 in 2023, which are 32 days, 26 days, and 42 days, respectively. "The extension of the 618 battle line means that merchants have to set the operating rhythm more finely." Gu Liang, the founder of Gu Liangjiji, told "Tianxia Online Merchants" that considering the uncertainty brought about by the changes, Gu Liangjiji decided to further advance the stocking this year and prepare to put more goods into the warehouse in advance.

A founder of a men's care brand said, "The cancellation of pre-sale has no impact on us. This year, we will cooperate with the top anchors to sell the goods directly on June 18, and prepare all the goods in advance." Industry insiders pointed out that this rule change has little impact on categories such as fast-moving consumer goods and daily necessities, and the clothing industry and some products involving original design and hand-made customization may be affected. However, "Tianxia Online Business" found that the withdrawal of the pre-sale system from the big promotion is not a one-size-fits-all approach, and some flexibility is still retained.

For example, Li Jiaqi still maintained a short one-day pre-sale during the 618 shopping festival this year. The products were pre-sold on May 19 and the final payment was made on May 20. He said the purpose was to "facilitate users to get discounts and large coupons from the platform."

Wu Weiqiang, vice president of the Chinese children's clothing brand Nianyi, told the World Online Business that Nianyi usually adopts the pre-sale system because the new Chinese style is a heavy-duty product, and many embroidery and printing processes take a long time. This model will still be retained on 618. Overall, although the rules are changing, the pace of merchants' stocking and marketing will inevitably be adjusted to a certain extent, but these changes are all within the controllable range.

With the development of e-commerce today, it is no longer difficult to predict the number of orders based on big data. After years of running big promotions, every step has become orderly. On the technical level, the computing power support for the peak of activities is no longer a problem. In terms of logistics, the phenomenon of warehouse explosions is also decreasing. Most merchants will sink the goods to provincial warehouses and city warehouses in major markets in advance on the eve of big promotions to ensure delivery timeliness. Another reality that cannot be ignored is that people’s enthusiasm for big promotions has changed. The dailyization and decentralization of low-price promotions have reduced the attractiveness of some node-based big promotions, and the explosiveness of 618 and Double 11 has weakened. As the merchants lamented, "The era of high-profile and fierce orders is over."

Since 2022, mainstream e-commerce platforms have stopped publishing GMV data for Double 11 and 618, and e-commerce promotions have become flat in terms of both volume and growth. Many merchants said that on mature platforms such as Tmall and JD.com, the coefficient between big promotions and daily sales has been relatively stable. "Tmall is currently placing orders in full according to forecasts, and any small inventory will be digested in the next one or two months, so there is no big problem." Gu Liangjiji, who will focus on Tmall and Douyin for 618 this year, believes that Douyin, by comparison, needs stronger forecasting and quick response capabilities.

2. Behind the disappearance of the pre-sale system, the balance of e-commerce has shifted to users

At the same time when the pre-sale system came to an end on June 18, another piece of news was quietly brewing in the corner - Taobao has made a comeback.

Since Taobao went all in on mobile, the web version of Taobao has slipped into the margins. But in the past year, there are still more than 10 million users using computers to shop on Taobao every day. Compared with the hundreds of millions of mobile Taobao users, they seem insignificant. Until 2024, Alibaba has set up a special team to be responsible for the optimization and upgrade of Taobao on PC. This seemingly minor change is actually a microcosm of the shift in priority of e-commerce platforms at this stage.

In the more than 10 years since the pre-sale system dominated the promotion market, the consumer market and the e-commerce competition landscape have undergone tremendous changes. From the perspective of consumption trends, although consumers are more easily tempted by price, at the same time, they have higher requirements for product quality, service, and experience. "Spend the same money, buy better things", the term cost-effectiveness has a new footnote in this era, making physical retailers such as Sam's Club, Decathlon, and ALDI all the way popular, and also forcing e-commerce platforms to respond to the trend.

Pinduoduo, which suddenly emerged, has implanted "low prices every day" into the minds of users; content platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou are good at stimulating consumption impulse with limited-time low prices in live broadcast rooms, creating demand based on interest, and breaking through the market from the flank; new players such as Xiaohongshu and Video Account are trying to grab a piece of the pie in a closed-loop model. Today, with a serious oversupply and it is difficult to find incremental e-commerce, the problem facing each platform is common - whoever can win and retain more users will have the possibility of achieving sustainable growth.

"In the past, Taobao has always emphasized merchant services and consumer upgrades, but ignored user experience. This wrong decision allowed Pinduoduo to rise." Alibaba Chairman Joseph Tsai once summed it up this way. After Wu Yongming took office as Alibaba CEO, he also announced that he would return to the main business of e-commerce and focus on improving user experience.

In 2023, JD.com founder Liu Qiangdong also said in a message on the intranet, "The starting point for any work done by JD.com should be 'don't forget the users when making decisions.'" Looking further, e-commerce platforms are collectively returning to user experience, and the competition has three core dimensions: low prices, good products, and good services , and they call on merchants to squeeze into this iron triangle to gain a foothold.

Price power is still the number one bayonet in the competition, and judging from this year's 618 policy, its strength has only increased.

Just two days ago, Tmall announced that millions of products would be discounted by 50%, and 200 products among the 10 billion yuan subsidy would be discounted by as much as 20%; JD.com launched the "lowest price in half a year" gameplay. According to the Beijing Business Daily, JD.com has established separate price comparison teams for some categories to benchmark the product prices on the Taobao platform.

Douyin and Kuaishou also announced that they will provide more subsidies and traffic support for low-priced products. In Douyin, low-priced products can get up to 500% traffic increase. However, the price war cannot be bottomless. After reaching a certain stage, many users have found in price comparison that the price difference of the same standard product on various platforms has decreased, and some are even the same price across the entire network. On the basis of price power, product value and user service have also become reference factors for consumer decision-making. The attractiveness of good products to users is related to product quality on the one hand, and on the other hand, it depends on whether the platform can provide differentiated goods.

At the TopTalk Conference in April, Tmall said that its goal for 2024 is to "focus on brand growth" and to focus on creating 5,000 super new products and supporting 100 new brands with sales of over 100 million yuan. This shows its emphasis on super products and growing trend brands, and behind this is its emphasis on differentiated high-quality supply. In terms of service, the major platforms that have returned to the principle of "users are God" have iterated themselves in the process of learning from each other and continued to increase platform benefits.

Since last year, Taobao and JD.com have jointly aligned themselves with Pinduoduo's "refund only" policy. In addition, Taobao has officially connected to WeChat Pay, launched a free shipping channel in Xinjiang, and expanded the benefits of 88VIP members, while JD.com has added services such as trade-in and free door-to-door returns and exchanges.

This year, various platforms cancelled the pre-sale system one after another on the eve of 618, also in response to users' strong calls for a simplified promotion process and optimized experience. However, for consumers, this new regulation change is more of an answer sheet for the platform's performance improvement, rather than a perfect answer sheet. Many netizens pointed out sharply - "Since the pre-sale has been cancelled, why can't we just give discounts?" In response to this, Taobao, which just announced the return of the "618 50% discount venue", has taken the lead in answering.

In an era when the balance of interests is collectively tilting towards buyers, perhaps all platforms will be faced with users who may "turn against" their competitors at any time.

Author: Tianxia Wangshang; Source public account: Tianxia Wangshang (ID: 1089443)