Don’t let the membership of Taobao, Pinduoduo, JD.com and other e-commerce platforms change

Judging from the data, all major e-commerce platforms are pushing for membership. Why are Taobao, Pinduoduo, and JD.com all asking people to buy membership? There are so many membership tricks on e-commerce platforms, so is it still possible to buy membership on e-commerce platforms?

Now, when you open any e-commerce app such as Taobao, Pinduoduo, JD.com, Vipshop, and Suning.com, the platform will constantly prompt you to purchase VIP and become a "distinguished member" of the platform. Under the temptation of various coupons, discount coupons, and services, if you are a high-frequency user of a certain platform, you will easily be impressed by these membership services.

Alibaba's Q1 2024 financial report shows that the number of 88VIP members exceeds 35 million. As early as the end of 2022, JD.com announced that the number of JD.com PLUS members reached 34 million by the end of the fourth quarter. Vipshop also mentioned in its Q4 2022 financial report that the number of active super VIP users of Vipshop has increased to 6.7 million.

Judging from the above data, all major e-commerce platforms are vigorously promoting membership and have achieved remarkable results. Why do Taobao, Pinduoduo, and JD.com all require people to buy membership? What is their purpose in getting users to become members?

1. Multiple Screening

First, enhance user stickiness . Whether it is traditional e-commerce platforms such as Taobao, Pinduoduo, JD.com, Vipshop, and Suning.com, or emerging e-commerce platforms such as Douyin, Kuaishou, and Xiaohongshu, users have a wide range of channels to choose from for online shopping, which means that competition between platforms will be very fierce. However, users are not very aware of this because in recent years, there has been almost no overt confrontation and competition between e-commerce companies, and a "peaceful life" situation has been formed between them .

Although there is no overt competition, there is implicit competition all the time, such as short videos, live broadcasts, and short dramas. According to Guo Jing's observations in the Internet circle, since short dramas became a popular category, platforms such as Pinduoduo, JD.com, and Taobao have also launched short drama functions on the "video" channel. Watching short dramas on other platforms costs money, but watching short dramas on e-commerce platforms does not cost money at all .

Allowing users to become members of the platform is also a hidden means of competition. When users purchase membership of the platform, their user stickiness will be greatly enhanced.

We can first look at the membership prices of each platform:

• Taobao 88VIP annual card: 88 yuan/year;
• Pinduoduo's monthly saving card is different for each user, ranging from 0 to 9.9 yuan, and 10 yuan/month the next month;
• JD Plus membership is 99 yuan/year;
• Suning.com Super membership is 149 yuan/year;
• Vipshop Super VIP continuous annual package is 79 yuan/year.

Compared with a few years ago, the thresholds and membership fees of various platforms have been greatly reduced. The platforms hope to attract more users to become members to a greater extent. After all, there are video websites and digital music platforms with more than 100 million members, and the membership scale of e-commerce platforms still has room for further improvement.

The platform's membership service actually allows users to make choices among various platforms. Once they choose to become a member of a certain platform, their purchase frequency on that platform will inevitably increase. After this usage habit is gradually formed, the purchase frequency on other platforms will be greatly reduced.

Membership is a relatively effective means of increasing user stickiness because users are “voting with their money” behind the scenes.

Second, screen out high-quality users . Faced with hundreds of millions of users on the platform, completely identical models and gameplay cannot maximize ROI. Some users pay more attention to the quality of platform services, some users care more about prices, and some users care more about logistics and delivery speed. Different needs naturally require matching different services.

Through the membership gameplay, the platform can achieve user stratification, thereby screening out high-quality users. Faced with high-quality users, the platform can naturally match better services and preferential strategies.

Many people believe that e-commerce platforms launch membership services to "make money", but this is not the case. According to the current membership scale of various e-commerce platforms, even if the membership fee is 149 yuan/year, the platform may not be able to make money. When users purchase membership, they need corresponding services to match, such as coupons, free shipping coupons, manual customer service, etc., and these all cost money. If a user consumes a little more frequently on a certain platform in a year, his annual membership fee will be covered.

Then, some people will definitely say, are e-commerce platforms stupid? The platform certainly does not lose money by losing money to get users to become members, because after users purchase membership, their purchase frequency will increase, and as long as users buy more, the platform will definitely make money in the end.

So, what can the platform do after screening out high-quality users? First, recommend more products that match their needs to users, and second, cooperate with other merchants so that merchants can make money.

In short, e-commerce platforms ask users to buy memberships, certainly not specifically to make money from membership fees, but rather to conduct multiple screening. As long as users buy memberships, the platform has won a step in the competition with other platforms.

2. Changing Members

In order to have a better online shopping experience, I have actually purchased membership of an e-commerce platform several times, but the membership of the e-commerce platform is gradually changing.

The membership services of the platform are not static. According to Guo Jing's observations in the Internet circle, the membership of the platform will gradually change over time. For example, the membership benefits purchased this year may be these, but some of the membership benefits will be removed next year or the year after. During this period, there are also membership benefits such as listening to music and online storage, but these benefits may disappear quietly after a while. During this period, it is called "XXX value", but after a while, it becomes "XXX level".

Before purchasing a membership, the platform said that it would give out coupons for all categories, but once users become members, they will find that the so-called exaggerated coupons are actually very rarely useful . As the membership period lengthens, there are almost no coupons in the later period.

The biggest harm to member users is that consumers think that after purchasing membership, the platform will have exclusive member discounts, but in fact, after a series of operations, they find that the purchase price of some users is much cheaper than the membership price. If two people compare their phones, they will find that the so-called members are definitely "big swindlers". Whoever buys the membership will be fooled . But at this point, you have already paid for the membership, so you can only stare blankly, and you can only decide whether to continue to buy the membership next year.

Due to the increase in merchants and SKUs on the platform, there will be overlap in members on the platform. In addition to platform members, users may also become members of a certain merchant. Therefore, when it comes to 618 and Double 11, there will be various coupons such as store coupons, general coupons, festival coupons, category coupons, membership coupons, etc. It is really like doing "Olympiad mathematics problems" for users to figure out which discount is which. Making shopping easier is just an empty slogan and it cannot be done at all.

The membership services of e-commerce platforms either face a reduction in membership rights or membership rights are completely useless. The prices of various coupons for members are even lower than those of ordinary users. This kind of distorted membership is very easy to hurt people's hearts. Therefore, for users, it is very simple in the end. Do not buy membership of a certain platform. Buy from whichever platform is cheaper and more convenient, and don't be cheated .

3. Can I still buy membership of the e-commerce platform?

Since there are so many membership tricks on e-commerce platforms, can we still buy membership on e-commerce platforms? The answer is yes. The membership rights of e-commerce platforms are currently mainly concentrated in three points:

First, free shipping;

Second, exclusive human customer service;

Third, returns and exchanges are hassle-free.

Although various other membership benefits are shrinking and changing, these three basic membership benefits are very solid.

Some netizens said on social networks, "It is becoming increasingly difficult to stimulate consumption." Consumption certainly needs to be stimulated, but users themselves also consume. The competition in e-commerce is actually more about competing with the entire consumer goods industry. Judging from the Q1 2024 financial reports of Alibaba and JD.com, their growth rate has begun to gradually increase again.

I don’t know if you have noticed that fewer and fewer people are going to traditional shopping malls and large supermarkets. This has a lot to do with the rapid development of e-commerce. The free shipping service for members launched by major e-commerce platforms allows users to buy a bottle of vinegar or a box of water through online shopping. As long as they are not in urgent need, the goods can be delivered on the same day or the next day, and can be delivered to the user’s door. In addition, the prices are cheaper than offline shopping malls and large supermarkets, so users have even fewer reasons to go to shopping malls and consume.

Nowadays, most shopping malls and supermarkets are driven by the consumption of the elderly. Young people prefer online shopping, which is cheap and convenient. Free shipping has greatly reduced users' various concerns about online shopping. Anyway, there is no shipping fee, so they can buy whatever they want. Exclusive manual customer service and worry-free returns and exchanges make users more willing to shop online.

How far has the e-commerce industry come? In the past, netizens thought that "only refunding" was very authentic. Unexpectedly, after discovering that users "only refunded", some platforms also sent users a few yuan of free threshold coupons. Although the money is not much, this kind of sincerity towards users really overflowed.

For the platform, the value of member users is obviously greater than that of ordinary users, but as a user, I still hope that the platform can be less tricky and treat people as human beings instead of playing tricks. Taobao, Pinduoduo, JD.com, Vipshop, Suning.com... Which platform is not for buying? If it annoys users, just change platforms.

Author: Guo Jing

WeChat public account: Guo Jing's Internet Circle