After more than ten years of waiting, Taobao has finally changed: With the popularity of apps, will the “web version” disappear?

On the 21st anniversary of Taobao's founding, Taobao finally made a major upgrade to the web version, improving many problems that the web version once faced, such as login restrictions and missing functions. In this report, we will also discuss the phenomenon that e-commerce platforms generally shift their focus to mobile apps.

Nowadays, when online shopping is extremely convenient, browsing Taobao has become a common practice for many people and an activity for them to slack off during work.

Theoretically, the web version of Taobao is more comfortable to use than the mobile version. After all, the computer screen is large, and it is much more convenient to view product details and reviews. But the actual experience is the opposite.

First, let’s take logging in as an example. Although Taobao allows users to search directly, even if they find the product, they still have to log in to view the product details. This results in some users being stopped before they confirm they want to buy a product, which is really disappointing.

Even after logging in to the web version by scanning the QR code with a mobile phone, users cannot use all the functions of the App on a computer. For example, many products cannot be searched, and the shopping cart always shows the original price, and the discounted price cannot be seen.

The lack of some functions has caused inconvenience to users. Some netizens said that when they wanted to contact customer service before, the web version was basically unusable and they could only use the mobile version.

As early as a few years ago, many netizens expressed dissatisfaction with the user experience of Taobao's web version, and even suspected that Taobao had given up on the web version.

Today, on the 21st anniversary of Taobao's founding, the official announced that the Taobao web version has launched its first major upgrade in 7 years, making it more convenient for everyone to browse Taobao using a computer in the future.

Taobao new web version

This PC webpage revision is the most significant update Taobao has undergone in seven years, and has made comprehensive optimizations in product experience, product supply, content supply, and other aspects.

It is understood that in the past few weeks, Taobao's website has undergone some changes, including that users can log in with their account and password, extend their login status to seven days, no longer need to log in again every day, and can browse product details without logging in. The web version now also supports contacting customer service.

At the same time, the new version adds a live broadcast function and ensures that the product supply on the web version is synchronized with the App. In addition, the shopping cart can also display the price after coupons like a mobile phone, and the product details can automatically receive discounts. "My Taobao" has added invoice management and optimized web page loading performance.

Although the revision is not a complete transformation, it has improved many experience issues.

It is worth mentioning that the new homepage also re-launched Taobao’s early forum “Taojianghu”, attracting many netizens to check in, and the mobile version of the forum will be launched in the near future.

The official also revealed that the next stage will be to deeply explore AI e-commerce scenarios on the web version, fully tap the unique advantages of the large screen, optimize the user experience, and allow Taobao and Taobao App to complement each other.

From actual experience, the layout design of the new Taobao webpage has become simpler, and searching and ordering have become smoother.

Under a related topic, some netizens lamented that although mobile apps are becoming more and more popular, they still hope that major platforms will not give up the web version, because the web also has advantages that mobile phones do not have, such as a better shopping experience when browsing on a large computer screen.

It is a fact that must be acknowledged that in today's mobile Internet era, PC web versions are being marginalized.

Take Taobao for example. Since it chose to fully develop the App in 2013, the functions of the mobile version have been continuously increased and iterated over the past decade, but the web version has been almost left alone. To log in to the Taobao web version, you once needed to scan a QR code with your phone or receive a verification code via SMS to generate daily activity for the App.

Not only does Taobao restrict the experience of PC users, several other well-known e-commerce platforms have also made adjustments in recent years. Users are no longer allowed to browse and use web pages as "guests" and must log in first.

Some e-commerce platforms have simply cancelled the web version and placed a QR code on the official website to guide users to download the App.

In addition to e-commerce platforms, we can also find that many well-known Internet platforms have also suspended or restricted their web versions.

For example, in October 2022, Tencent Maps PC announced that it would cease service the following month, and released a poster with a QR code to guide users to download the Tencent Maps App to continue using it.

In addition, several major online communities such as Zhihu, Douban, and Baidu Tieba only display part of the content after entering the web version. If you want to view the complete content, you must log in or download the App.

Many people have encountered this problem before when browsing the web with mobile browsers: when you are halfway through reading an article, prompts such as "Please download the App to read" or "Open the App to continue browsing" appear on the web page.

The platform never displays all content on the search page, but instead creates a "content fold", with the reason given being that watching within the App can provide a better user experience.

The platform induces users to download apps because it is profitable. After all, it is a low-cost way to promote and acquire customers. Users cannot get a complete experience on the web page and are free from search engines and browsers controlling the traffic entrance. In order to obtain traffic entrance, manufacturers try their best to drive users to their own apps.

From the various drawbacks of the web side, it is not difficult to find that Internet companies have already shifted their focus to mobile apps with higher commercial value and security. After all, apps have higher permissions and can require users to turn on the microphone, access the photo album, and even read the address book. As long as netizens are persuaded to turn on the corresponding permissions, apps can collect richer and more accurate user data, which is of great benefit to personalized recommendations and precision marketing. Therefore, to attract users, apps play a much greater role than web pages.

However, we should also see that some Internet platforms still choose to retain or even deploy web versions. For example, Douyin launched a web version in 2021 and tested the product-carrying function on the PC side in early 2023. In early 2023, Xiaohongshu also officially launched a web version, which can show more than ten notes to users at the same time... But this is also for commercial considerations, because in some specific scenarios, the traffic on the web side is still abundant. But the web version may never be able to reproduce the glory of the past. The once all-encompassing, open and free web era can only be used for nostalgia.