Image source: @VisualChina
Text | Ray Technology Ieitech
When Pinduoduo first launched the "tens of billions of subsidies" in 2019, many people did not know what drugs were sold in Pinduoduo gourd.
Competitors waited and watched, and even laughed at Huang Zhengqian's stupidity.
But who would have thought that "tens of billions of subsidies" would become today's daily routine?
Following Taobao's launch of "Juhuasuan", at the beginning of this year, JD.com announced the launch of the "10 billion subsidy" channel.
In addition to self-operated business, JD.com also claims to cooperate with third-party brands and merchants to directly subsidize real money and bring the most cost-effective goods in the form of direct price reduction, and the subsidized categories cover all categories of goods on 3C home appliances, beauty, fresh food, life services, medical and health and other platforms.
With the entry of the three major platforms, it seems that several leading platforms have temporarily put aside the argument of "premiumization", and the smell of a new round of e-commerce "price war" is gradually growing. The question is, what is the difference between the tens of billions of subsidies of these three e-commerce platforms? Or to put it simply, which is the strongest "tens of billions of subsidies", let's compare and analyze in detail today.
I'm not afraid that I won't find it, I'm afraid I won't buy it
To compare the "tens of billions of subsidies" of the three platforms, we naturally have to start from the entrance.
After all, no matter how good the function, you can't find the entrance, that's just a piece of paper.
As a selling point strongly promoted by JD.com this year, the entrance of "tens of billions of subsidies" is set on the homepage.
As shown in the figure, the entrance of Jingdong's "10 billion subsidy" directly occupies the center of the home page, the left side is the 10 billion subsidy icon, and the right side is the sample commodity and price display based on big data, the basic structure is consistent with Pinduoduo, which can be said to be directly benchmarked against the design of Pinduoduo.
(Source: Ray Technology self-made)
Let's take a look at Pinduoduo, because there is no banner design on the home page, so the position of "tens of billions of subsidies" is more eye-catching, and the "Duoduo Grocery Shopping" function promoted in recent years occupies the center position of the home page, making people feel the urge to open every time they open it.
(Source: Ray Technology self-made)
As for Taobao, it seems to be much more "restrained".
At a glance, on this home page crammed with all kinds of functional gameplay, there is not even a way to find the button of tens of billions of subsidies in the first time.
If you choose to click on "Juhuasuan", you will only enter a page that focuses on daily necessities, somewhat similar to the Taobao special version.
Only by opening the small icon of "tens of billions of subsidies" located below the search bar, users can correctly enter the activity page of tens of billions of subsidies, and the activity page is more cluttered than the other two, and the buttons for snapping up goods and other functions occupy most of the space, which seems to be a bit upside down.
(Source: Ray Technology self-made)
Next, let's look at the product coverage.
Of course, the most important thing is to look at the "tens of billions of subsidies" of JD.com, which was only launched this year, and what is the difference between the other two manufacturers in terms of categories.
As the initiator of the "10 billion subsidy" game, Pinduoduo currently has a total of 27 categories, most of which have 8 sub-categories, with unique "5% off" and "newly listed" categories, and subsidized goods are also the largest number and most extensive among the three major platforms.
(Source: Ray Technology self-made)
On the Jingdong side, there are currently 17 categories of "tens of billions of subsidies", and each category has 8 subcategories. According to the statistics of Jiuqian Zhongtai, Jingdong's subsidized goods are still lower than the number of subsidized goods in Pinduoduo, but the commodity category is more focused on core categories such as household appliances and mobile phone communications, and the category concentration is high.
(Source: Ray Technology self-made)
Although it started slightly later than Pinduoduo, Taobao's "10 billion subsidy" also has 26 product categories. In addition to the regular settings, there are also categories such as "new on the new", "limited-time rush", "foodie festival" and other categories, and the existing product SKUs are also more than the level of JD.com's "tens of billions of subsidies".
It is worth noting that at present, Taobao's "tens of billions of subsidies" do not have a separate small category under large categories, so we can see that tablets, desktop computers and laptops are mixed together, which will inevitably cause certain difficulties for users to browse goods.
(Source: Ray Technology self-made)
There is nothing that cannot be subsidized
Of course, the entrance setting and product category can be said to be different from the degree of attention paid by the platform.
In the end, consumers pay more attention to the discount of goods.
Next, we will start with 3C digital, bulk home appliances and daily commodities, and compare and analyze the price level of the "tens of billions of subsidies" of the three platforms.
As its own core category, Jingdong's "tens of billions of subsidies" specially opened up an Apple zone. From the price point of view, the discount given by Jingdong is unambiguous, most of the iPhone model subsidies are more than 500 yuan, and the MacBook subsidies are more than 2,000 yuan.
Among them, the iPhone 14 Starlight Color 256G, the price of Jingdong's tens of billions of subsidies is 5729, the price on Pinduoduo is 5729 yuan, the price on Taobao is 5849 yuan, and even you need to grab coupons regularly to be on par with the price of the previous two platforms.
(Source: Ray Technology self-made)
MacBook Air 13 8+256G version, the daily price marked by Jingdong is 6898 yuan, the subsidy price is 5359 yuan, while the same subsidy price on Pinduoduo is 5488 yuan, and the same subsidy price on Taobao is 5363 yuan, JD.com has certain advantages.
(Source: Ray Technology self-made)
iPad 10th generation WLAN version, Jingdong's subsidized price is 2989 yuan, Pinduoduo's price is 3059 yuan, and Taobao's price is 2998 yuan.
(Source: Ray Technology self-made)
Through comparison, we can find that if we only talk about Apple goods, the products in the Jingdong Apple zone are basically the most favorable among the three platforms - although the price difference is only dozens of yuan, and the price of the same goods, JD.com also saves the step of grabbing coupons regularly.
It is worth noting that although JD.com is slightly superior in Apple products, it is not necessarily put on other products.
For example, Xiaomi air conditioner 1.5 horses In the new level, the subsidized price of JD.com is 1897 yuan, the price after Pinduoduo is 1820 yuan, and the price after Taobao subsidy is 1799 yuan - but you need to grab coupons regularly to reach this price.
(Source: Ray Technology self-made)
Another example is Xiaomi TV EA55, the subsidized price of this product in Jingdong is 1399 yuan, and the price after Taobao subsidy is 1289 yuan, and in Pinduoduo can even achieve a super low price of 1099 yuan through time-limited coupons, no matter which side is much cheaper than Jingdong.
(Source: Ray Technology self-made)
Let's look at daily necessities, first of all, food, Jindian pure milk 250ml * 12 boxes * 1 box, Jingdong's subsidy price is 39.8 yuan, Taobao's price is 34.6 yuan, and Pinduoduo's price is 29.9 yuan.
(Source: Ray Technology self-made)
The same is true for other categories of daily necessities, Vinda paper drawer 3 layers 120 draws* 20 packs, Jingdong's subsidized price is 39.8 yuan, Taobao's price is 34.6 yuan, and Pinduoduo's price is 29.9 yuan.
(Source: Ray Technology self-made)
In general, in addition to digital 3C products, the price of JD.com's "tens of billions of subsidies" is in most cases inferior to Taobao and Pinduoduo. Pinduoduo's "tens of billions of subsidies" have a price advantage in most cases, and only a few cases will lose to Taobao's limited-time coupon subsidy.
In the case that tens of billions of subsidies have become Pinduoduo's "golden signboard", the sincerity of the other two platforms does not seem to be enough to shake Pinduoduo's status.
The lower the price, the better the experience?
As the saying goes, delivery quality is also an important part of the shopping experience.
After all, whoever lets them come, they are not happy to wait for days to get their own.
Unfortunately, in this link, JD.com cannot play its due advantages. Because the stores participating in Jingdong's "tens of billions of subsidies" are mainly third-party merchants, and self-operated stores still rarely participate in tens of billions of subsidies, which leads to most of the tens of billions of subsidized goods you buy on Jingdong are shipped by the stores themselves.
As for Taobao and Pinduoduo, their logistics services are still mainly ZTO and YTO, so the logistics experience of the three platforms is basically inseparable.
The same is true for after-sales, because the stores participating in the "tens of billions of subsidies" are mainly third-party merchants, so these goods are basically responsible for after-sales by the store, even Jingdong Plus members have no way to use the worry-free and labor-saving Jingdong after-sales service.
In order to reduce consumers' worries, the three platforms have actually introduced relevant strategies, such as JD.com's "return and exchange freight insurance" and "double compensation for expensive purchases", Taobao's "fake one pays ten" and "worry-free after-sales", and Pinduoduo's "buy with peace of mind" and "return at will" and other services.
(Source: Ray Technology self-made)
Of course, in the seemingly beautiful promise, there are actually a lot of tricks.
Looking at the early compensation, Jingdong's "buy expensive double compensation" service is limited to goods with this mark, and the goods with this mark are only digital 3C categories with price advantages; Pinduoduo's "fake one pays ten" clearly states that it is a compensation for cash coupons, and the "price difference compensation" of the three platforms has extremely strict time requirements.
Looking at the after-sales service, according to the information provided by the black cat complaint, Pinduoduo has been complained about for "cutting orders" many times; Pinduoduo and Taobao have many complaints that the goods do not have certificates of conformity and cannot be traced, but they are rejected because it is difficult for buyers to provide evidence.
(Source: Ray Technology self-made)
Of course, Jingdong is not spared, Jingdong's "tens of billions of subsidies" also have many third-party merchants "back seal, missed" products, and because the product is not a fake commodity, it is difficult to obtain satisfactory compensation, but the probability of "cutting orders" on the Pinduoduo platform is much higher than that of the Jingdong platform
It can be seen that there are still many problems in after-sales service related to "tens of billions of subsidies".
summary
Behind the "tens of billions of subsidies", we are witnessing the ultimate battle for a sinking market.
According to the "Report" of the Puhua Research Institute of the Chinese Research Institute, as of the end of December 2021, the number of mobile Internet users in China reached 1.029 billion, an increase of 43.73 million throughout the year, and the growth rate of mobile Internet users slowed down significantly.
In contrast, according to QuestMobile's data, in recent years, the scale of monthly active users in the sinking market (third-tier cities and rural areas) has been increasing year by year, driven by Douyin, Kuaishou and Pinduoduo, the sinking market has become the main source of incremental dividends.
(Source: QuestMobile)
Not only that, according to the data released by the China Retail Industry Development Report and the Bureau of Statistics of the Ministry of Commerce, rural online retail sales have maintained growth for many consecutive years, and the proportion of overall online retail sales has been increasing, compared with the almost stagnant floating market, there is more room for improvement.
In fact, last year's data also supports this. It is reported that JD.com's GMV in 2022 is about 3.2 trillion, no increase from previous years, while Taobao and Tmall's online GMV recorded a single-digit year-on-year decline, only Pinduoduo is the only giant in the e-commerce track that continues to maintain rapid growth, with a year-on-year increase of about 23%.
Because of this, under the influence of the epidemic and the consumption capacity of first- and second-tier cities is close to saturation, various e-commerce platforms have chosen to continue to lay out the sinking market, and the "price war" is about to break out.
From the current situation, as the initiator of the entire game, the price of Pinduoduo's "tens of billions of subsidies" is still the lowest of the three, establishing a very short link between consumers and factories, so that the cost of logistics and intermediate links is minimized, and the underlying logic of the business model establishes the core competitiveness of Pinduoduo in price.
Jingdong's "tens of billions of subsidies", which has high hopes, has indeed achieved lower prices than Pinduoduo in some products, but there is still a gap between the overall quantity and commodities and Pinduoduo, so it cannot attract that group of extremely price-sensitive users, which is more like a way to increase the activity of existing Jingdong customer groups.
As for Taobao's "Juhuasuan" tens of billions of subsidies, it is the most moderate choice among the three. The price of digital 3C is higher than that of JD.com, and the price of other goods is mostly higher than that of Pinduoduo. From the perspective of the entrance setting, Ali's current attitude towards the "tens of billions of subsidies" business is still relatively vague, and if the subsidy is not followed up in the future, it may be further widened by JD.com and Pinduoduo.
Frankly speaking, as an ordinary consumer, Xiaolei is more concerned about the discounts that can be obtained. The three major e-commerce platforms have compared prices with each other, creating new opportunities for wool, and no matter how this "tens of billions of subsidies" battle is fought, the ultimate beneficiary is consumers.
For e-commerce platforms, in fact, no one will have any loyalty, and the same goods naturally choose the channel with the lowest price. Of course, we welcome JD.com and other e-commerce companies to join the tens of billions of subsidies and other profit activities, no matter how they are involved, making decisions after shopping around is still the best choice for consumers.
E-commerce rivers and lakes, who is in charge of ups and downs?
Until the dust settles, everything is unknown.