Taobao model VS Douyin model, WeChat e-commerce stands at a crossroads

This article deeply explores the coexistence of the Taobao model and the Douyin model in the WeChat e-commerce system, analyzes the different advantages and applicable scenarios of video account stores and third-party mini-program malls, and guides readers to understand the diversified development of WeChat e-commerce. I hope it will be helpful for your e-commerce strategy on the WeChat platform.

Just now, Tencent released its Q1 2024 financial report. The most eye-catching thing is that the total user usage time of video accounts increased by more than 80% year-on-year; the total user usage time of mini-programs increased by more than 20% year-on-year. Among them, the average daily usage of non-game mini-programs achieved a double-digit percentage year-on-year growth, and the mini-game revenue increased by 30% year-on-year.

It can be seen that in addition to the video account ecosystem, Tencent's mini-program ecosystem is still growing strongly, but it seems that game mini-programs are performing better at the moment.

Recently, Taozi (pseudonym), a front-line salesperson at a third-party mini program service provider, revealed to New Standpoint that they have received requests from more than one customer in recent months: "When we initially established the connection, they wanted to create a WeChat mini program mall, and then asked if our mini program could be directly linked to their video account homepage. It would be best if the product link could be linked below the video like TikTok, so that users can place an order when they see the video."

Taozi also revealed: "Before, it was indeed possible to post our (third-party) mini program on the homepage of the video account, and sometimes we would use this as a selling point to promote it to customers . But now the situation has changed. New customers can no longer post it. Those who posted our mini program on the video account before can continue to use it before it expires."

Taozi said that currently, if you want to put a product showcase on the homepage of the video account, you can only do so through the video account’s own “Video Account Shop” function, which is an official component of the WeChat Video Account.

As we all know, before the rise of video account e-commerce, WeChat's e-commerce system mainly relied on the form of mall mini-programs, and the suppliers of these mini-programs were often third-party service providers rather than official WeChat.

The current WeChat e-commerce system seems to be generating a certain degree of competition within the system from a perspective that users cannot see. Through an in-depth understanding of the customer ecology and private domain layout awareness of third-party service providers, "New Stance" found that because WeChat currently has both obvious public and private domain attributes, the entire WeChat e-commerce has a higher degree of freedom than we imagined.

However, with such a high degree of freedom, the development speed of the WeChat e-commerce system is actually extremely cautious due to the lack of a clear optimal path.

1. Core links: ordering, payment, and after-sales service

Taking "PROYA", a brand that has been a pioneer in the evolution of WeChat's e-commerce system in recent years, as an example, "New Standpoint" observed that the homepage of the video account named "PROYA Official Mall" does indeed have both the official "Video Account Store" and a third-party mall mini-program.

After comparison, it is found that the functions of the two have both overlaps and differences.

For example, both have functions such as product display and ordering. The difference is that the third-party mini-programs have more modules, a richer and more comprehensive membership system, and functional coverage is similar to Taobao; while the official store of the video account mainly focuses on product display, which is similar to the product showcase of Douyin.

In terms of fulfillment and other services, to view orders from third-party mini-programs, one must enter the mini-program, and actions such as signing for and evaluating are also completed within the mini-program; and orders from video account stores can be viewed directly in WeChat-Me-Orders and Card Wallets, which is the official functional section of WeChat and is at the same level as functions such as "Settings".

Therefore, for goods ordered in the video account store, you can directly check the logistics/confirm receipt/apply for after-sales service/evaluate, etc. on the main function section of WeChat.

In terms of the payment system, both third-party mini-programs and video account stores can use WeChat Pay. The difference is that mini-programs can use their own electronic cards for payment (need to be bound), while video account stores have an additional "pay later" function, which greatly reduces the threshold for users to place orders.

As Ma Huateng said: "The most eye-catching business of WXG (WeChat Business Group) is the video account, which is basically the hope of the whole field (the entire company)." WeChat will naturally provide greater support for its own video account stores.

In addition, the customer service systems of the two are also different. The third-party mini programs use the mini program customer service. Taking PROYA as an example, the mini program customer service needs to first direct and distribute the consulting customers from the mini program mall channel to the brand's corporate WeChat; while the customer service function of the video account store is directly undertaken by corporate WeChat, and the corporate WeChat dialog boxes of multiple brands will be uniformly collected in the "Customer Service Message" column.

It can be seen from this that WeChat's mini-program e-commerce is equivalent to grafting a Taobao-style third-party mall into WeChat. And because the video account had not yet emerged when its ecosystem grew and matured, it has less dependence on public domain traffic. The mini-program e-commerce itself has formed a complete and self-consistent system, which is closer to shelf-type e-commerce; and the model of the video account store is closer to content e-commerce.

It just so happens that the benchmark products of the two during their growth era were Taobao and Douyin respectively, so we can even regard it as the case that the Taobao model and the Douyin model are coexisting in the entire WeChat e-commerce system.

In addition, if a brand or individual user promotes products for other company-owned stores, it can only be done through the product showcase of the video account, not a third-party mini program. The promotion page will also display the "number of people who followed the purchase" and "sales volume" like Douyin.

Perhaps because of this, Taozi said: "Roughly speaking, influencers are indeed more suitable for directly opening video account stores, while generally big brands will open video account stores and mini program malls at the same time."

However, when faced with the diverse demands of the vast number of B-side e-commerce customers, the actual situation is difficult to generalize.

2. Supporting system: distribution, membership, content

"New Standpoint" learned that although there is currently a certain competitive relationship between the mini program mall and the video account store, due to different models, the customer groups and scenarios they target are also different.

The above only compares the differences in the core link from placing an order and paying to receiving the goods . The three key touchpoints closely related to it: distribution system, membership system, and content system, can specifically determine what kind of merchants are suitable for what kind of WeChat e-commerce solutions.

As for the distribution system, Taozi said: "Our mini program distribution system is complete, and there are many ways to play when it comes to commission settlement. It can be regarded as a top-down distribution system, and the brand or product side has a high say. "

If influencers can be regarded as primary distribution, then in the content e-commerce model of Douyin, the right to speak in the goods-carrying system is in the hands of influencers, which is a typical bottom-up distribution model. The same is true for the goods-carrying system of video accounts.

Specifically, the top-down distribution system often relies on point-to-point, 1V1 communication, that is, communication in the WeChat chat area. Taozi said: "The product seller can encourage their old customers to forward the mini program mall to their friends and relatives who are interested, and set up exclusive links for these old customers. As long as someone clicks the link to enter the mini program and place an order, the commission will be settled to him."

The bottom-up distribution system of live streaming requires influencers to have a certain amount of public domain traffic, and then hang the product links on their own product showcases. Users who see their videos and enter the homepage of the video account will purchase the products through their showcases, and the product party will also settle commissions with the influencers.

Another judgment touchpoint is to estimate merchants' demand for the membership system.

Generally speaking, merchants with higher requirements for membership systems also have a certain scale of private domain customer accumulation. "New Standpoint" observed that in addition to the mini program mall having a richer membership system, the membership system data of the mini program mall and the video account store of the same brand are not interoperable.

After actual testing, after clicking to join as a member in the PROYA mini program mall to get a coupon, and then using the same mobile phone number and WeChat account to join the brand membership of its video account store, the member coupons are not interoperable.

In the previous article "Will the internal test jump to corporate WeChat reconstruct Xiaohongshu's commercialization path?", "New Standpoint" mentioned that customer information will flow to the databases of these third-party mini-programs. As a medium to link the brand and the WeChat platform, in terms of the membership system, the mini-programs can only obtain basic user data through the interface authorized by WeChat, and cannot transmit their own membership data one by one to the corresponding section of WeChat.

Therefore, when merchants have not accumulated any private or public traffic on WeChat, but have confirmed that they want to accumulate customers through the business model of coupons (i.e., the price is relatively flexible), then the mini program mall is more suitable. If the product price is transparent across the entire platform and changes little, then the video account store is more suitable.

For merchants who have neither accumulated traffic nor determined their sales and pricing models, there is another criterion to help them choose a solution, which is the content model.
The use of WeChat for Business is the key to judgment. Although the video store can also jump directly to WeChat for Business, the binding relationship between the mini program mall and WeChat for Business has obviously been deeper in the past. The two modules have also accumulated more linkage gameplay. Taozi revealed to us that their mini program does have a cooperative WeChat for Business service provider because "WeChat for Business is more conducive to customized output content."

If the merchant's content format is more precise, such as allowing customers with different labels to see different WeChat Moments, and different customers receiving private messages from different brands, then it is more suitable for the mini program mall. This content model is more common in product categories with high service and high social attributes.

In contrast, the content system of Video Account Store (i.e. Video Account) is more public in form, and the content is "equal". If you want to output the same content to your own users, Video Account Store is more suitable.

The above three touchpoints are Taozi’s way of judging whether B-side customers are suitable for mini program malls, but it also admits: "It is difficult to find core customers who meet these conditions."

Since the current WeChat e-commerce system is very rich and diverse, with modules such as mini-programs, enterprise WeChat, and video store, these three modules represent the three eras of WeChat e-commerce evolution. The modules can be linked and combined with each other, so these modules are like building blocks that merchants need to choose from, with a high degree of freedom.

In addition, video account e-commerce is not yet fully mature, and there are few reference templates in the industry. Even the leading fast-moving consumer goods brands are still exploring. Therefore, how will the WeChat e-commerce ecosystem develop in the future? How will mini programs, corporate WeChat, and video account stores coexist? As Taozi said:

“We are still waiting for a destined brand to play with these.”

3. Final Thoughts

Today, we can't help but ask a key question: why is the video account, which has been on the market for 4 years, only now gradually highlighting its commercial advantages?

"New Standpoint" believes that the key reason for such a change lies not in WeChat itself, but in the change in contemporary people's perception of the boundaries of private social networking.

In fact, when the video account first appeared, many users would deliberately not like the things they liked because they did not want their acquaintances in their WeChat list to see the content they liked. At this time, it was naturally difficult for the video account to capture the content preferences of users from their behavior, let alone accumulate high-quality content.

What is honey to others may be poison to me. This is also one of the reasons why short video platforms such as Douyin , which do not rely on the social system of acquaintances, can become popular. Nowadays, more and more people no longer mind expressing or spreading their views on public issues with their real social identities, and video accounts have risen.

However, compared with the diversity of WeChat's e-commerce system, the local life system is still dominated by a rich mini-program ecosystem, such as mini-program ordering, mini-program taxi-hailing, and mini-program linking to various life scenarios.

It just so happened that it was revealed some time ago that Video Account is also trying to do local life. It is also worth looking forward to what new collisions there will be between Video Account and the third-party mini-program ecosystem in local life in the future.

Author: XX; Editor: Wang Wei; Source: WeChat Official Account: New Standpoint Pro