Recently, the price increase of e-commerce members has entered the fast lane, since last year's price increase, Tencent Video once again announced the price increase of VIP members, and then the Jingdong PLUS + Tencent Video Member Annual Pass also raised the price.
The reporter noted that at present, the sale of members on major e-commerce platforms has become a routine operation, and membership fees range from tens of yuan to hundreds of yuan a year. Many consumers say that this has become a silent cost, and no one can say how much these various members can save.
Members have increased their prices, do you still buy?
Recently, Tencent Video announced that the monthly price of VIP consecutive subscriptions has been adjusted from 20 yuan to 25 yuan, the price of consecutive package seasons has been adjusted from 58 yuan to 68 yuan, and the annual price of continuous packages has been adjusted from 218 yuan to 238 yuan. Separate season cards and annual cards have also increased in price to varying degrees.
Tencent Video VIP membership price increase. Screenshots
Subsequently, the price of the Jingdong PLUS + Tencent Video member annual card increased, and people close to JD.com told Zhongxin Finance that this was because of the price increase of Tencent Video VIP.
In fact, in recent years, member price increases have entered the fast lane, and the Tencent Video VIP price increase is only one year away from the last time; iQiyi also raised the VIP price last year; according to a number of media reports, JD PLUS has already raised the price once in 2017.
"For this Tencent Video VIP price increase, if you count from the continuous monthly subscription of 15 yuan before April last year, to this time of 25 yuan per month, the price increase is as high as 66.6%." Some netizens calculated it.
Some analysts pointed out that selling members has basically become an important profit model for all e-commerce platforms, and the Internet industry even has the ridicule of "if you don't have a profit model, either sell coffee or sell members".
Does it really save money or the cost of silence?
It is difficult to judge whether the online video VIP membership is worth it, after all, some film and television content cannot be watched without members. What about e-commerce members, are they also "required", and are they worth it?
Tmall APP screenshot
According to the introduction of members of many e-commerce platforms, members who spend tens of yuan or hundreds of yuan can save more than 1,000 yuan on average (expected). For example, Ali 88VIP is expected to save 1839 yuan per year; JD PLUS can save an average of 1847 yuan.
The reporter learned in the interview that for e-commerce members to save money, the respondents' perception is very different, some feel that they save thousands of dollars a year, but some feel that it is difficult to cover membership fees.
"More than 200 yuan bought a member of an e-commerce platform, which expires in one year immediately, and now the system shows that it has saved more than 180 yuan." In March, I saved 12 yuan. Some consumers told China News Finance.
Courtesy of respondents
There are also consumers to provide Jingdong PLUS members to save money bills show that the service has been 846 days, saving 1222.12 yuan. However, it is worth noting that the consumer said, "Among them, the exclusive price of PLUS is only 365.37 yuan, and there are some other benefits, such as a hundred yuan coupon package (100 yuan minus 5 yuan, etc.), sometimes although it is received, it conflicts with other coupons and cannot be stacked; there are services such as Jingdong Doctor and Jingdong Reading that I have never used at all." ”
The reporter's investigation found that in a sense, e-commerce members may not save as much money as advertised. For example, some e-commerce members have shopping rebates, but there are also rebates for members, but they do not return so much; usually e-commerce will also have full reductions and other activities, this discount in many cases and the full reduction of members can not be superimposed, so the full reduction of members can not be reflected at all.
Membership, and even sometimes lead to "misunderstandings". In December 2021, some consumers used two mobile phones on Meituan to use member accounts and non-member accounts to synchronize tests, and found that the delivery fee of the member account was 6 yuan, while the delivery fee of the non-member account was only 2 yuan.
Meituan's official response at the time said, "It is due to the existence of a positioning cache in the software, which incorrectly uses the user's last historical positioning, which deviates from the user's actual location, resulting in inaccurate estimation of delivery fees and no membership status." ”
"One year can save ** yuan", or involve false propaganda
As mentioned above, many e-commerce members declare to the outside world: "It is expected to save 1839 yuan per year", "an average annual saving of 421 yuan" and "an average of 1847 yuan". Is this suspected of false propaganda?
iQIYI APP screenshot
Interestingly, for the same kind of member, the amount of money saved by different platforms also varies greatly. For example, the Jingdong APP shows that doing PLUS "can save an average of 1847 yuan"; but the iQIYI APP shows that doing iQIYI VIP + Jingdong PLUS members, of which Jingdong PLUS "can save an average of 421 yuan a year". Which exactly is accurate?
Zhao Zhanzhang, deputy director of Beijing Yunjia Law Firm and a special researcher of the Intellectual Property Research Center of China University of Political Science and Law, told Zhongxin Finance, "How much money can be saved on average, this should be for the user's consumption when not having a member, and it is an average, as long as the e-commerce platform can provide relevant calculation basis." ”
Courtesy of respondents
The reporter noted that there is also a website that clearly states that "one year can save the first yuan". For example, an e-commerce platform shows that "super members can save 3122 yuan a year".
Zhao Zhanzhan said, "This expression may be problematic, because it is difficult to guarantee how much the user can actually save after applying for membership, and it has a lot to do with the user's own consumption amount." ”
Source: China News Network
Guangzhou Daily New Flower City Editor Lin Chuanling