Written by 丨 Yang Song
The automotive aftermarket accelerates the "touch net".
"Buy the oil online and take it directly to the store to replace." Li Xia, who has been driving oil trucks for more than ten years, no longer buys oil through repair shops or 4S stores and turns to new channels.
Many oil brand owners have seen new changes in old drivers such as Li Xia.
Wang Shuai, director of the emerging and special channel business of Unified Petrochemical, said that the company's data shows that 70% of the customers who replace the oil in the offline repair shop bring their own purchased oil, and some even bring their own filters, "The transformation of users towards the e-commerce channel is a major trend." ”
The rising number of automobiles has driven the aftermarket, including motor oil, to grow rapidly.
According to china insight consulting data, it is expected that the size of the automotive aftermarket will reach 1.7 trillion yuan by 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of 10%.
The change in the consumption habits of car owners has made a new type of entity enterprise with online sales channels and offline service stores such as JD.com, and the advantages accumulated in the supply chain field for many years have become prominent - joining hands with big-name oil manufacturers to attract car owners with high-quality services and promote the transformation of the offline channel ecology.
New demand from car owners
For oil truck consumers, changing oil is a regular consumption.
According to Li Xia's calculations, it needs to be replaced 2-3 times a year. The oil change process is cumbersome and requires professional technicians to operate. In the early years, he mainly purchased related products in offline stores.
Offline channels mainly include 4S stores, roadside stores and other car repair shops. For the sake of reducing inventory and increasing gross profit, there are not many oil brands to choose from in these channels.
Car owners have limited understanding of oil products, relying on the recommendation of so-called professionals, it is difficult to distinguish between different oil products and whether they are suitable for their vehicles.
"Some consumers know nothing about engine oil." For example, Wang Shuai's additional driving manual has recommended applicable oil models, but car owners often do not read and are accustomed to spending money to buy services.
With the increase in e-commerce penetration, consumers choose independently in the purchase of motor oil, which is replacing the recommendation of professionals - online purchase, offline replacement.
First, online purchases cost less.
Li Xia said that if you go to the 4S store, the working hours of replacing the oil are also expensive after the discount.
He calculated an account, a change of 5 liters of motor oil, in the 4S store price of more than 700 yuan, in Jingdong and other channels to buy, encounter promotions, only 400-500 yuan.
Source: JD Auto's official Weibo
The threshold for consumers to shop online has also been greatly reduced. As long as the owner of the small white car enters his car model, the platform will recommend the corresponding oil model.
Secondly, through online orders and offline services, consumers' repair and maintenance processes are efficient and convenient, and the service is transparent.
Li Xia generally buys motor oil online first, then goes to make an appointment offline, chooses a professional car maintenance chain store such as the Beijing Tokyo Car Club, and replaces the oil.
In his view, professional chain stores have digital capabilities and greatly improve efficiency. Li Xia changed the oil, oil filter, fuel filter, etc., in less than two hours.
With low cost and good experience, more and more car owners regard "online ordering, offline service" as the preferred way of oil consumption.
According to the Prospective Industry Research Institute, by 2026, the scale of e-commerce transactions in the mainland automotive aftermarket will grow to 208.2 billion yuan, with an annual compound growth rate of about 15%.
Technical authenticity
There are many kinds of engine oils, and it is difficult for consumers to identify the true and false with the naked eye, how to buy reliable products?
According to Chen Songfeng, general manager of JD.com's auto maintenance omni-channel business department, market research found that 51% of consumers "affected their purchase decisions because they were afraid of not being able to guarantee authenticity and quality."
Li Xia said that there is a shoddy phenomenon in the market, and some merchants pack cheap motor oil into big-name bottles, which is difficult for consumers to identify.
Sun Yi, general manager of exxonMobil Lubricants' new retail business unit, said that the official backstage often receives some customer inquiries to verify whether the oil purchased online is genuine.
In the past, consumers needed to distinguish the authenticity by themselves, such as comparing the anti-counterfeiting logo of the oil bottle body, manually entering information verification on ExxonMobil official micro or official website.
Cumbersome verification steps increase the cost of decision-making, which is not conducive to the development of the industry.
Based on the biggest pain point of consumers, JD Cloud has created a "one-code to the end" anti-counterfeiting traceability technology in recent years. The Jingdong Zhizhen Chain anti-counterfeiting traceability platform can chain important data in each link from the place of origin to the consumer, ensuring that the circulation of the whole link can be queried and traced, and providing the quality guarantee of "one code to the place of origin". This technical capability was implemented by JD Auto.
At the beginning of 2021, with the help of the anti-counterfeiting traceability platform of Zhizhen Chain, the Jingdong Automobile team began to promote the authentic traceability project with major oil brands.
"The goal of authentic product traceability is that from the brand factory to the hands of consumers, the whole process is visible and the whole process can be traced, so that consumers can buy and use with peace of mind." For example, Chen Songfeng said that consumers bought a bottle of Silver Mobil No. 1 5W30 in Jingdong, warehouse delivery, order delivery, the consignee's mobile phone will receive a text message synchronously, the content will have the whole process of the goods from the factory to the hands of consumers traceability, as well as product quality inspection reports.
Customers can also scan the traceability code on the bottle, make a query, and also see the whole process information. Wang Shuai believes that the authentic traceability project solves the problem of "trust between consumers and online channels".
JD.com and the brand side double guarantee to improve consumer trust. Their shopping experience is enhanced.
"Consumers feel cared for." Ms. Sun Yi said, "ExxonMobil decided to participate in the first place because it felt that the project could help improve the consumer buying experience. ”
Up to now, JD Auto has cooperated with ExxonMobil, Unity, Fuchs and other oil brands to give each lubrication product a unique "IDENTITY card".
Chen Songfeng revealed that the follow-up Jingdong self-operated introduction of oil brands, the threshold will be increased, that is, whether to support the opening of traceability projects.
The authentic traceability project will promote the healthy development of the oil market.
"JD Auto is committed to escorting consumers' shopping experience and creating an industry-specific guarantee service ecosystem." This kind of cooperation will set an example in the industry, affecting more brands, service providers, etc., to join our 'authentic traceability' team." Chen Haifeng, general manager of JD Auto's omni-channel service business unit and vice president of JD Auto's business unit, said.
Build a new ecosystem together
"Authentic traceability" is only one of the cooperation projects between JD Auto and the brand side, in addition, JD Auto promotes the omni-channel integration of online and offline to help partners digitally transform.
Taking marketing as an example, on February 24, JD Auto joined hands with the well-known automobile Big V "Modified Car" to walk into the ExxonMobil Youshida Laboratory along the traceability route.
During the live broadcast, the two sides visited the test process of Mobil 1 successfully challenging the 18,000 km oil change cycle, as well as equipment such as moisture tester and centrifuge tester.
The live broadcast of only 1 hour attracted more than 430,000 viewers.
"This interaction gives consumers the opportunity to understand the R&D technology behind the brand side and strengthens their confidence in choosing Mobil on the JD platform." Ms. Sun Yi said, "ExxonMobil will hold such events on a regular basis, through cooperation with JD Live, so that users can have a deeper understanding of the brand." ”
Not only online marketing, JD Auto has more and more cooperation with brand owners, covering omni-channel consumers through the offline service network formed by the Combination of Beijing Tokyo Auto Club and third-party stores.
Wang Shuai revealed that the company is promoting the "1 + N" project, hoping to use new entities such as Jingdong to promote the true integration of online and offline by sharing offline maintenance stores and other ways - users can directly express to the offline maintenance plant of Unified Petrochemical after purchasing engine oil in Jingdong and enjoy the replacement of oil service.
Consumers' consumption habits have also changed from simply purchasing engine oil to a closed-loop service experience that integrates purchase and exchange, and user value can be maximized.
Chen Haifeng pointed out that a big pain point in the automotive aftermarket is that consumers are divided in various channels, the user's insight and reach are inefficient, the entire data link is broken, and the industry's digital intelligence upgrade is imperative.
"We will continue to export jd.com's various capabilities, including building a digital intelligent supply chain with industry partners, serving a network of markets, etc., to create a new ecosystem for the whole industry after the automotive industry and create win-win omni-channel value creation."
Up to now, Jingdong Automobile has developed into a business scale including vehicles, motorcycle vehicles and equipment, two-wheel travel business and services, auto supplies and services, B2B parts supply chain services, automotive omni-channel supply chain services, etc., and has opened more than 1,400 Beijing-Tokyo Auto Club stores in 163 cities across the country.
Through the above layout, JD Auto has grown into a one-stop sales and service platform covering the whole life cycle and omni-channel of vehicles, helping more brands and categories to precipitate global user assets.
(At the request of the parties, Li Xia is a pseudonym)