With 47 million members and an online GMV exceeding RMB 5 billion, how does Rainbow Department Store achieve sustained growth through private domains?

Private domain operations are crucial to brand growth and development. This article uses Rainbow as an example to detail how to conduct private domain operations to promote brand development. It is recommended for students who want to learn more about private domain operations.

With the development of the economy, shopping malls have gradually become places for people's daily lives. According to statistics, as of 2022, the number of shopping malls in China has exceeded 15,000 and is still growing steadily.

Shopping malls not only focus on offline, but also continue to exert efforts on online platforms. According to a set of data disclosed by the official mini program, 99% of shopping malls in China currently have mini programs. In 2022, the mini program transactions in the shopping industry maintained a 60% growth. Rainbow is particularly representative. In 2015, Rainbow moved its offline business online and developed an independent APP. It quickly achieved 16 million digital member conversions.

Through years of public-private linkage, private domain operations have been refined. Currently, Rainbow has accumulated more than 47 million members , and its annual online GMV has exceeded 5 billion . The following is a detailed analysis of how Rainbow's private domain operations are laid out.

1. Case Background

1. Brand Introduction

Tianhong was founded in 1984 and is a state-controlled listed company that went public in 2010. Tianhong took the lead in transformation in the industry, breaking through the traditional shopping model and implementing the three major business strategies of digitalization, experience and supply chain.

At present, Rainbow Digital has achieved full store, full-state, and full-process coverage, forming an integrated retail of "in-store + home delivery", and promoting the output of technical services, becoming a leader in technology retail.

According to Tianhong’s 2021 annual report, Tianhong’s online merchandise sales and digital service revenue GMV exceeded 5.1 billion yuan, accounting for approximately 14.6% of total sales (34.8 billion yuan).

2. Market size

The report analyzes China's shopping mall industry in 2018, and the market size reached 800 billion yuan. Many studies have shown that China's shopping mall industry will continue to grow in the future and is expected to reach 1.3 trillion yuan in 2026.

3. User portrait

87% of Rainbow's consumers are under 35 years old, with those born after 1990 being the core consumers. Full-time housewives account for 21%, office white-collar workers account for 27%, and the proportion of unmarried people in the overall consumption has been increasing year by year.

2. Traffic Channel Analysis

1. Private Domain Platform

(1) Official Account

The Tianhong public account has set up community entrances in the welcome message and menu bar. Path 1: Public account welcome message - enter the community - scan the code to add the company's WeChat account - invite to join the group Path 2: Public account menu bar - shopping - community benefits - scan the code to add the company's WeChat account - invite to join the group

2. Public Domain Platform

(1) Video Account

Tianhong has placed a corporate WeChat contact point on the video account homepage, which can be added by clicking on it. The video content is mainly marketing activities, product recommendations, and brand promotion.

(2) Tik Tok

Tianhong has two official accounts on Douyin, with a total number of fans exceeding 300,000.

The main account "Tianhong" will regularly start live streaming to sell goods. The homepage also has an entrance to offline stores and the operation of two fan groups. The videos include brand promotion, live slicing, etc.

Another account, "Rainbow Happy Hour", publishes videos that focus more on activities.

(3) Weibo

Tianhong has 180,000 followers on Weibo and has posted 11,880 microblogs. Currently, Tianhong updates its microblogs at least once a day.

The main content published is marketing activities, brand charity and brand promotion.

3. Disassembly of Private Domain IP

Tianhong has refined its customer service WeChat account, with the role of the corporate IP being mainly a health partner. It mainly focuses on new product introductions, trial solicitations, and holiday benefits. Below is a detailed analysis of the corporate IP I added.

1. Personal positioning

Nickname: Xiaotian

Avatar: Tianhong's own IP Xiaotian (cartoon image)

Role : Welfare Officer

2. Automatic welcome message

Add a self-introduction as soon as possible, inform users of the benefits provided, and send a community QR code to immediately guide users into the community.

3. Moments Operation

Release frequency : 1-3 posts per day

Release time: Unfixed

Moments cover : Use copywriting to guide users to join the community

Moments content: divided into product recommendations and event introductions, as well as some daily life content.

4. Analysis of Community Operation

Community is the most effective and common scenario for promoting activation in the private domain. Currently, Rainbow has more than 40,000 communities with more than 10 million community users . In addition, it will conduct refined community operations based on different member tags to achieve thousands of communities with thousands of faces. Below is an example of the community I added.

1. Basic information of the community

Group nickname: group number + name + group location; example: NO.60 Tianhong Online Mall Sharing Group

Group positioning: welfare group

Group announcement: Introducing recent community welfare activities

2. Community Content

The overall frequency of posting in Tianhong’s community is not very high, about 2-3 times a day, but the content types are relatively complete, including benefits, traffic generation, and grass-planting, for example:

Community welfare activities: collect likes in Moments and get a monthly QQ music membership

Douyin live streaming traffic: Live streaming benefits explained

Exclusive shipping coupons for traffic diversion: Free 6 yuan free shipping coupons for the community

Community exclusive coupons: Free community special 60-6 discount coupons

Brand promotion: copywriting to recommend products or directly sending mini program links

5. Membership System Analysis

Tianhong has established a membership system within the mini program, which is mainly based on a growth membership + points system, as well as rights cards for specific groups of people. The following is a detailed analysis.

1. Growing Members

Currently, Rainbow members are divided into three levels. The higher the level, the more benefits they have. The specific requirements and benefits are as follows:

1. Silver card members (0 yuan membership) : enjoy 8 benefits including member activities, fast returns, parking discounts, etc.
2. Gold card members (spending over 15,000) : enjoy 12 benefits including free parking, free mailing, gift wrapping, etc.
3. Platinum Card members (spending an additional 50,000 on top of the gold card) : enjoy 15 benefits including free car wash, free dry cleaning, and appointment shopping companionship.

2. Points system

Tianhong has established a complete points system, and users can earn points through consumption.

Different types of goods have different points. For example, in shopping malls, regular-priced goods earn 1 point for every 1 yuan spent, discounted goods earn 1 point for every 5 yuan spent, cosmetics/catering/entertainment/life service goods earn 1 point for every 10 yuan spent, and educational goods earn 1 point for every 100 yuan spent.

Users can use their points to redeem a series of gifts including parking coupons, merchandise, APP membership cards, etc. in the points mall.

3. Equity Card

Next to the membership card, there are two entrances to different types of rights cards, one is the "MINI Card" for parents and children, and the other is the "Cute Pet Card" for pet owners.

"MINI Card": After receiving the card, children aged 12 and under can receive free store gifts and exclusive birthday gifts.

「Cute Pet Card」: After users create a pet profile, they can receive new member gift certificates, enjoy membership benefits, enter the community, etc.

VI. Summary

Finally, let’s summarize the highlights and shortcomings of Tianhong’s private domain operations:

1. Limited private domain traffic channels

Tianhong only directed traffic through official accounts and video accounts, and did not set up a traffic entrance in the mini program. In addition, platforms including Xiaohongshu did not provide special private domain guidance.

2. Member benefits are targeted at specific groups of people

Tianhong has specially created different rights and interests content for parent-child groups and pet owners to establish in-depth connections with users.

3. The points redemption system is very rich

As a large chain shopping mall, Rainbow has the strength to cooperate with brands from different industries. Therefore, Rainbow's points redemption system is very rich, which can not only be exchanged for physical goods, but also for coupons, monthly membership of online platforms, etc.

Author: Yan Tao Sanshou