Targeting 600 million users, Taobao returns to PC, just because of what Jack Ma said?

After seven years, Taobao has made a major update and made some comprehensive optimizations to the PC version of Taobao. Why did it suddenly update the PC version after "all-in on wireless"?

Eleven years ago, Jack Ma’s words “All in wireless” relegated the PC version of Taobao to the sidelines. After a major update in 2017, it completely became a marginal business of Alibaba.

However, with the surging e-commerce market, Taobao has ushered in a major update after 7 years. It is reported that this update has improved the consumer experience of shopping on the web version, and has made comprehensive optimizations in product experience, product supply, content supply and other aspects.

For example, the login status is maintained for a longer time, the shopping cart shows the price after coupons for the first time, the product details have been automatically redeemed for discounts, and "My Taobao" has added invoice management. It is worth mentioning that the most prominent position of Taobao.com is given to the early forum entrance "Taojianghu", and sections such as "Teahouse" and "Business Tips" have been set up.

On the forum, Kong Wu, the head of Taobao's website business department, posted an internal letter in the capacity of "Taobao website administrator."

He said that upgrading Taobao is part of Taobao's overall experience optimization. Taobao and Taobao App complement each other and jointly serve the goal of improving user experience.

With the strong rise of Pinduoduo and the decline of JD.com's rights and interests, Taobao has shown signs of becoming outdated. In order to retain users, it has introduced a number of measures, including shortening the delivery cycle, launching "refund only", introducing free shipping in Xinjiang, and upgrading 88VIP rights and interests.

Take the 88VIP benefit upgrade as an example. After the upgrade, each return order can receive a maximum subsidy of 25 yuan postage, with no limit on the number of returns, and can be used together with shipping insurance. Not long ago, Jack Ma’s internal letter also reiterated the importance of returning users. This major update of Taobao is also considered an important part of improving user experience.

Statistics show that 100 million independent users have visited the web version of Taobao in the past year, and tens of millions of users use the web versions of Taobao and Tmall every day, spanning all age groups. Among them, those born after 1995 account for 30%, mainly high-net-worth users such as college students, white-collar workers, designers, and programmers.

According to industry research data, there are about 600 million people using computers in China, and more than 40 million PCs are shipped each year. The emergence of AI PCs has increased the frequency and potential of PC use. The large screen of computers and the multi-window browser feature give the Taobao web version an experience advantage that cannot be matched by mobile phones. The upgrade of the Taobao web version will greatly release the needs of this group of people.

Kong Wu also stated in the in-site message that AI applications in PC browsers have huge application imagination space, which can give users a broader vision and a more immersive and effective shopping experience. 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, and optimize the user experience. The update of Taobao is a new starting point.

In the first 10 years of domestic e-commerce development, Taobao and JD.com divided the market, and online shopping was also the mainstream, but the current industry environment is completely different. Entering the stock era, the entire e-commerce industry is facing more intense and diversified competition.

The three-legged situation five years ago has become a fond memory for Taobao and JD.com. Pinduoduo, which was born in the era of mobile Internet, previously had only two main columns on its web page: "Exciting Activities (Limited Time Flash Sales, 9.9 Special Sales)" and "Selected Topics", but now various categories are gradually enriched, and even Duoduo Maicai has appeared on the web page; content platforms such as Douyin, Kuaishou, and Xiaohongshu are also actively deploying web versions and enriching sections. For example, Douyin, except for the small yellow car, almost all other functions are online.

It is foreseeable that the mobile end will still be the main battlefield for e-commerce giants to dominate in the future, but with the help of AI, the value of the PC market will return. Objectively speaking, this is an opportunity for Alibaba and JD.com, two traditional giants, to regain the initiative in the market. However, it must be admitted that picking up PC users will also be Alibaba's last chance to fight back strongly, and with the active layout of its peers, it will not be so easy to retain users smoothly.