3 secrets to improve the private domain of the clothing industry in 2023

This article deeply analyzes the importance of private domain operations for apparel companies and proposes strategic recommendations for achieving high quality, high retention, and high conversion. It is recommended for in-depth reference by marketing decision makers of apparel companies.

In the current clothing industry, private domain operations have become a "standard feature." From the traditional offline store + online e-commerce business model, it has developed into an omni-channel private domain business model with mini-program malls, corporate WeChat, video accounts, and public accounts as core scenarios.

The pain points of the apparel industry are the key driving force behind its rapid transformation into the private sector:

• Serious product homogeneity: There are many brands and serious homogeneity, which leads to great price competition pressure and narrow profit margins;
• Inventory backlog: Physical stores face problems such as inventory imbalance, limited sales channels, and reduced traffic;
• Difficulty in retaining users: Offline customer flow is unstable and online traffic is difficult to retain. Merchants cannot generate traffic themselves, let alone retain it.
• Lack of management analysis: Customers’ decision-making factors for consumption and repurchase are complex, and merchants generally lack the tools and capabilities to understand, reach, and operate customers;
• Shopping guide efficiency: There are many shopping guides in stores, but they are difficult to participate in online operations, and their value in customer connection and in-depth services cannot be brought into play;
• …

Furthermore, the characteristics of the clothing industry make it naturally suitable for private domain operations: high repurchase rate, high loyalty, high sharing, high audience accuracy, high frequency of new product launches, and high gross profit.

Looking at the clothing market, brands such as Uniqlo, UR, Peacebird, IT, and Jiangnan Buyi are all deepening their private domain operations. It is no exaggeration to say that everyone is doing it, the difference is whether you do it well or not.

Let’s look at two cases.

Case 1

As early as 2015, when most businesses had not yet paid attention to private domain traffic, Jiangnan Buyi had already begun to build digital construction from offline stores to online platforms, and spent a lot of effort on member rights, laying the foundation for the incubation of "super users".

Today, Jiangnan Buyi has nearly 5 million members, and the retail sales contributed by these members account for 70% of the total . In 2021, the number of members with a total purchase amount of more than 5,000 yuan exceeded 209,000, with a retail sales of approximately 2.61 billion yuan, and an average contribution of 12,000 yuan per member.

It also launched the "More Than a Box" mini program online, which moved the shopping scene online and can tailor-make combinations for consumers, exploring a new sales path from "people looking for goods" to "goods looking for people" led by stylists.

Case 2

In the past few years, Jomoo has been gradually promoting the digital store operation system, and the chairman has personally promoted the establishment of a new retail department. In 2022, the digital upgrade of private domain 2.0 stores will be completed, and the headquarters will empower shopping guides to improve the member service experience.

For old VIP customers of offline stores who have reduced their visits to stores due to the epidemic, we guide them to purchase in the WeChat mall. For new customers who come to the store, they can become VIPs by adding the store clerk’s WeChat, thus realizing the digital operation of offline stores.

Shopping guides reach out to existing members and activate purchases through WeChat mall messages, e-vouchers, points redemption system, official accounts, text messages, WeChat Moments and other channels, with a conversion rate of over 10%.

Currently, Jiumuwang has used live streaming, one-to-one marketing, and community marketing as a combination of private domain operations. The daily sales of its mini-program online mall increased by 660% year-on-year, the average customer transaction increased by 60%, and the efficiency of public domain advertising in attracting new customers increased by 5 times.

There is no doubt that private domain has become the key to creating a second growth curve for the apparel industry. So how to do it specifically? What key actions can we learn from?

Combining our consulting service experience and cases, I believe that in addition to ensuring the quality of the product itself, the most important thing to do well in the private domain is to achieve three "highs": high quality, high retention, and high conversion.

1. High quality

The high quality here does not refer to the quality of the product, but the quality of private domain services.

The private domain operation we are talking about is actually the process of customer management and maintenance, and its essence is service. Therefore, the quality of your service also determines the quality of your private domain.

The fact is that many businesses have no operational focus in the private domain, and the service quality is uneven. The key is that they have not done a good job of user segmentation, and they have invested the same energy in member users and non-member users, which naturally cannot achieve good results.

According to Youzan data, the average order value of members in the clothing category is 2.6 times that of non-members; the repurchase rate of members in the clothing category is also 30% higher than that of non-members.

Therefore, the best solution is for businesses to do a good job of "user segmentation", identify "key" customers, and concentrate resources on key customers.

In addition to maximizing resource investment, another benefit of user segmentation is that it can provide targeted and diversified satisfaction to users with different needs, preferences, and purchasing reasons.

The RFM model can be used here. It combines the three dimensions of Rencency (most recent consumption), Frequency (consumption frequency), and Monetary (consumption amount) to classify users into levels.

After achieving user segmentation, merchants can provide targeted "high-quality" services to users. Take the clothing brand Jiangnan Buyi as an example. Their membership benefits include four dimensions:

Product categories: try before you buy, limited-time purchase, free shipping on returns Service categories: exclusive matching and customization services, cleaning and care services

Activities: Member price, member day, member birthday privileges

Welfare: discount privileges, points deduction, points redemption

It is through this high-quality service that advanced users feel more distinguished and superior, and it also creates motivation for other users, encouraging them to have more user privileges through more and more lasting consumption.

2. High Retention

Most private domain businesses will encounter these problems:

No activity: Community activity is getting lower and lower, and many communities have become advertising and red envelope groups; No accumulation: The deletion rate of corporate WeChat friends is high, and the increase of personal WeChat private domain traffic is slow;

No conversion: The private domain conversion rate is low, and accurate users cannot be converted; No sedimentation: In addition to this, no other tools are sought to complete the sedimentation and accumulation of private domain content.

Therefore, the private domain traffic converted from the public domain does not mean that it will always be fixed and will not be lost. We not only want traffic, but also need to be able to "retain" it.

So how can we improve the retention of private domain users? The following methods can be used as a reference:

1. Sign in and punch in

Signing in and clocking in can greatly improve user retention and activity. The time and frequency of clocking in should be based on the principle of short-term and high-frequency, so that users will feel fresh.

For example, you can set up a "30-day check-in challenge" and receive benefits after signing in for 30 consecutive days.

2. Outfit recommendations

Recommend items/outfits in the form of text + pictures or text + videos. Make different recommendations based on seasons or occupations. This can attract users to pay attention to product information and promote orders.

At the same time, when using official accounts or video accounts for recommendations, it can guide users to pay attention and also play a role in promoting the increase of fans.

3. Good morning greetings

Many companies are doing morning greetings on social media, but none of them are doing it well. There are two main reasons: it has nothing to do with me and it’s too busy on the screen.

How to change this form? First of all, the form must be effective. It is recommended to change it to a mini program to punch in, or generate a good morning quote picture (to guide customers to post it on WeChat Moments). Cooperate with interest inducement, such as punching in to get points, points can be exchanged for rewards, and gifts can be given out in a lucky draw at the end of the month.

4. Lucky draw/welfare distribution

Send out coupons or lucky draws and other benefits in the community to promote community activity. For example, the clothing brand ONLY has a member day lucky draw every Friday, which is held in the official account.

Regular interactive lottery activities can enhance the stickiness with users and also guide users to follow the official account.

5. Content Sharing

Movies, food, music, etc. are shared in the group several times a week, which can increase users' attention to the group. At the same time, non-product content can also greatly promote community retention.

In general, if you want to effectively improve user stickiness, you must provide them with valuable content and provide services that exceed their expectations, so that your private domain can truly become an "effective private domain."

3. High conversion

If you ask me which conversion method has the best effect in the private domain, my answer is: live streaming.

By continuously guiding private domain users into the live broadcast room, we can concentrate on promoting user order conversions in a short period of time.
What’s more, the clothing category is naturally suitable for live streaming, as the anchor can demonstrate the products by actually wearing them, thus solving the drawbacks of users’ online purchases.

Therefore, the key lies in whether you want to do it and how to do it. Regarding live broadcast, we can do the following:

1. Preheat

Before the live broadcast, a lot of preheating promotion is needed, and the screen needs to be refreshed many times before the broadcast. Three aspects:

Warm up through short videos: Release some product-related short videos before the broadcast and preview the live broadcast;

Preheat through private channels: promote in social groups, public accounts, and Moments, and coordinate with live broadcast interest points to trigger users to watch and forward.

Repost during live broadcast: During the live broadcast, especially before opening the lucky bag, guide users to forward the message in the live broadcast room, and you should also forward it again in the community.

2. Prepare your words

Sales pitch is a weapon for sales. Sales pitch is also very important to determine whether the conversion rate of live broadcast is high or not. In the clothing category, there is a sales pitch formula that can be used as a reference: selling point + crowd + scene + forced order .

Selling point: Purely hand-sewn, each style is limited in quantity. Crowd: 100-150 catties can wear it

Scene: Daily shopping, work can wear forced order: Today's special price, only 20 orders

3. Be interactive

The key to whether a live broadcast room is popular or not lies in whether the anchor can interact well. There are some templates for reference in the clothing category:

Size interaction: We have 4 sizes for this model. If you don’t know how to choose a size, please type your height and weight on the public screen and I will help you choose.

Color interaction: Let me see which color you all like, and let the operation department do some statistics. We will try them on later and stock more;

Select interaction: I have two coats in my hand. I want button 1 of this one and button 2 of this one. We will go first to the one with more people.

After-sales interaction: For those who have purchased this dress and want it shipped as soon as possible, please reply to me that you have purchased it and I will help you queue up the order.

Lucky draw interaction: The number of people in the live broadcast room will soon exceed 10,000. When 10,000 people are reached, a prize will be drawn. Don’t leave, everyone.

4. Do a good job of review

If live streaming is to be sustainable in the long term, it is necessary to review every time, in several dimensions:

Live broadcast data: focus on the average number of online users, number of viewers, average stay time, interaction rate, and conversion rate;

E-commerce data: focus on average order value, number of transactions, and conversion rate;

Violations: Review issues that occurred during the live broadcast.

Final Thoughts

Today, the clothing industry is gradually shifting from a "goods"-centered direction to a "people"-centered direction. Private domain operations, as a business model that directly interacts with consumers, further emphasize the vital importance of "people".

In the current ever-increasingly converging online and offline environment, companies cannot simply limit themselves to digital growth, but should base their growth on private domains. The core is to capture users and understand their real needs.

At present, the apparel industry still has room for steady growth. With the rapid iteration of emerging technologies such as AI, the future is even more worth looking forward to.

Source: Yan Tao

WeChat public account: Yan Tao San Shou