Is placing an order for the sake of return a new marketing tool?

Recently, Douyin's "Little Sheep Who Loves Finance" has set a record of 100 million yuan in live broadcasts with goods, but there is a strange performance of close to 100% return rate.

"Little Sheep Who Loves Financial Management" was originally an anchor who relied on sharing the tragic situation of investment failures and arousing the resonance of netizens to attract fans, relying on this "return" performance to test the waters of live broadcasting, and also rose a wave of fans.

Due to the natural attribute of "impulse consumption", live broadcast e-commerce has been facing the problem of high return rate, how can the live broadcast delivery model reduce the return rate?

In this issue of "Titanium Hot Review", Xu Liqing, the FMCG chain version of China Business News, and Yang Ze, a researcher of new consumer brands and marketing consultant of TopMarketing, were invited to discuss the topic of "placing an order for return, is it a live performance or a hidden harvest?", and the following is a collection of some views.

On the logic behind the phenomenon of near-100% return rates and why.

Yang Ze, a researcher of new consumer brands and a marketing consultant at TopMarketing, said that the interaction between Xiao Yang, who loves financial management, and his fans can be regarded as online performance art. As a financial blogger, Xiao Yang often suffers investment losses, and they send out a "return and exchange" meme in the live broadcast, and Xiao Yang cleverly amplifies this stalk. Although he questioned why fans canceled their orders on the surface, he actually amplified this behavior and triggered a group carnival. Xiao Yang's amplification behavior, which loves financial management, gives fans a direction, and everyone can deeply interact with Internet celebrities through returns to form a group carnival. For example, the Zibo barbecue and the Tianjin old man's diving incident, some people even participate in activities that they are not familiar with, just for fun. Once triggered, these behaviors can lead to an irrational state, such as seeing a 100% return rate. This 100% may be the result of his over-packaging, and individual non-returns may boost his revenue. He also saw some business opportunities throughout the process, and won a lot of popularity with this event.

Xu Liqing, the fast-moving consumer chain version of China Business Daily, said that Xiaoyang's personality, style and fan group attributes, as well as its way of bringing goods, have jointly led to this phenomenon. He is different from traditional bloggers in that he not only focuses on product features, but also highly reinforces personal branding. His fan base is different from the way he shops, for example, they may place huge orders, so the purchase is not purely a product purchase. By emphasizing contrasts, such as the amount of returns, Xiao Yang ignited attention. Regardless of whether his original purpose was just a normal live stream, it has actually played a marketing role.

As a financial entertainment blogger, he weaves a drama with a group of fans who love investment. They play a game of investment in the market, providing themselves with a sense of satisfaction that cannot be achieved in the investment market. Some netizens even said that Xiao Yang's live broadcast provided a way for shareholders who were frustrated in the A-share market.

In fact, the scene of his live broadcast is also different from the traditional delivery scene, he prefers to connect with consumers and brands, and have humorous chats with fans, creating a relaxed atmosphere and providing excellent emotional value.

Rather than being afraid of the return rate issue, he emphasizes it, creating a huge contrast in the constant posting of exaggerated and humorous messages. At the same time, he exploited the rebellious psychology of his fans and repeatedly warned them to "don't buy", which only made them more inclined to buy. In addition, his live broadcast clips have also achieved secondary or multiple dissemination, expanding his influence and achieving better marketing results.

Regarding the farce of placing orders for returns, what impact will it have on consumers, anchors and brands.

Yang Ze, a researcher on new consumer brands and a marketing consultant at TopMarketing, said that this event is beneficial to all four parties, including the Douyin platform. The Douyin platform needs topics and traffic and therefore benefits from this event. Xiao Yang's popularity exploded through this incident. Consumers seek group carnival and entertainment on the Internet, and this event also achieved the effect of entertainment.

Brands may seem to be victims on the surface, but in reality, some brands, especially niche brands, have gained enough exposure and attention from this process. At the same time, this event acts as a catalyst that gives the entire industry a long-term growth momentum.

In addition, labels like "chicken feet with the highest rate of returns" can become a cognitive asset for brands. The courier industry may experience some pressure due to returns and exchanges, but most items may be returned before they arrive.

Overall, the incident simply amplified a phenomenon and added a hot topic to TikTok. This may be a situation where everyone can benefit from it, and there is no real loser, so it can be seen as a good thing for everyone.

Xu Liqing, a fast-moving consumer chain of China Business Daily, said that consumers are mainly divided into the anchor's inherent fans and the later melon-eating masses, both of which resonate and entertain from the event. The anchor has a part of the stock trading fans, and by participating in the return activity, they have obtained the psychological comfort of entertainment and investment failure that is rare in the capital market. The melon-eating masses are laughed at because of the anchor's humorous style, and some consumers may even buy their favorite products.

For streamers, the most obvious is the massive growth of fans, and the activity and discussion of fans are also very high. However, streamers should also pay attention to constraints so as not to trigger negative impacts, and at the same time, they need to continue to output high-quality content to maintain and increase their influence.

For brands, the traffic and brand exposure that are quickly acquired are the biggest impacts. Brands need to carefully consider whether the style of the influencer they are working with matches the brand image, whether it affects the brand image, and what the priority needs are, where they can be compromised, and where they can be obtained.

Regarding whether vertical anchors can usher in a wave of rapid development of the dividend period.

Yang Ze, a researcher of new consumer brands and a marketing consultant of TopMarketing, said that the development process of each platform starts with funny and emotional accounts that are demanded by the masses, and with the saturation of the market, vertical accounts appear and develop. These accounts usually emerge in a certain category first, and then come out of the circle due to a certain incident, such as Xiao Yang, who loves financial management. At present, the top funny accounts have stabilized, and vertical accounts are looking for their own unique attractiveness.

The success of Xiao Yang, who loves financial management, does not lie in the failure of sharing, but in the failure of most investors in the market, and he achieves empathy with the audience by sharing him. At a time when the industry as a whole was in a downturn, he took the approach to ignite everyone's enthusiasm and let the audience experience an experience that had never been experienced before.

For the development trend of the entire vertical account, it is recommended to first deepen in a certain industry to establish influence, and then find funny topics or points to amplify the publicity and let more people know. However, the funny topic system is short-lived, and account managers need to propose follow-up operation strategies around their own capabilities and achieve a stable state. Other vertical accounts can also mimic this process, find a subset of customers, build influence with them, use promotions to improve the level, and finally find a more durable and stable operation mode to achieve greater business value.

Xu Liqing, the FMCG chain of China Business Daily, said that the top anchors in the live streaming industry have always occupied a strong position, and now they have expanded to do more content output, not only to sell goods, but also to become a trust intermediary between brands and consumers. For example, Li Jiaqi negotiated with the brand in the variety show, which not only showed the brand story, but also showed his efforts to fight for the best price for consumers.

At the same time, various platforms are supporting waist anchors, for example, 70% of Douyin's sales come from anchors below 10 million, which shows that the industry is moving towards a healthier, more diversified, and non-monopolistic development direction.

For vertical anchors, they have certain expertise in a certain field, which is suitable for deep cultivation of subdivided categories or subdivided groups, so as to improve fan stickiness. Different from comprehensive anchors, vertical anchors have a more obvious style and more targeted content output, such as beauty anchors who not only introduce products, but also teach skincare and even provide one-on-one consulting services.

Leading organizations such as Dongfang Selection and Make a Friend have set up a number of vertical live broadcast rooms, which fully shows that vertical anchors have development opportunities. But there are also problems, such as a lack of professionalism that can lead to a decline in consumer trust. For example, in the field of beauty, the competition is fierce, and whoever has more professional ability, more detailed storytelling, and better service is likely to win more fans.

In addition, vertical anchors may try to cross categories after a certain degree of specialization, but if they do not know enough about the new category, they are likely to make mistakes. Based on the above points, despite the problems, overall, vertical anchors have good room for development.

Regarding how the live streaming model can reduce the return rate and what efforts are being made by the major platforms of e-commerce that have entered the live broadcast in terms of return and exchange protection.

Xu Liqing, a fast-moving consumer goods chain of China Business Daily, said that to reduce the return rate, we must first clarify which categories have a high return rate and the main reasons for returns. For example, the high return rate in the apparel sector may be due to problems such as light color difference, clothing version and texture in the live broadcast room.

Streamers should be realistic when introducing products and avoid exaggeration. If there is a big contrast between the product and the expectation, the consumer may choose to return it. The anchor should show the actual scenarios for which the product is applicable in detail and clearly, so that consumers can place orders more rationally. At the same time, the display pictures of the product should be as real as possible to avoid excessive retouching that leads to consumers' high expectations for the product.

Adequate communication between the streamer and the consumer is also important. Avoid using words that induce consumers to place orders impulsively to achieve rational consumption. Some anchors will call on viewers to consume rationally when they notice that consumers' consumption status may be irrational, which also helps to reduce the return rate.

Yang Ze, a researcher of new consumer brands and a marketing consultant at TopMarketing, said that the return rate of interest e-commerce platforms such as Douyin is higher than that of other e-commerce platforms, which is determined by product form and consumer behavior. Douyin strongly stimulates users to buy through videos, but when consumers calm down, there may be a demand for returns and exchanges.

On the other hand, as a latecomer platform, Douyin focuses on providing a better service experience, so the process is designed to make it more convenient for consumers to return and exchange goods. Consumers can return goods risk-free, which also leads to a higher return rate.

To operate on such platforms, merchants must adapt to this state, otherwise they may be suitable for more traditional search e-commerce, such as Taobao and JD.com. At the same time, China's e-commerce industry is highly competitive, and even in overseas markets, Chinese e-commerce can compete with companies such as Amazon, which reflects the strength and quality service of Chinese e-commerce.

On the whole, the reason behind the high return rate is that the service is too good and the ability is too strong, which makes users have higher requirements and expectations for the shopping process.

Regarding whether the only way to monetize traffic is to bring goods, what problems still need to be solved in the current field of live streaming.

Xu Liqing, the FMCG chain of China Business Daily, said that the ways to monetize traffic include live streaming, rewarding talents for performances, implanting brand advertisements, and creating paid courses for knowledge. However, the problems of live streaming, such as fakes and price monopolies, as well as exaggerated publicity, need to be regulated by platforms and policies.

Algorithmic personalized push may reinforce consumer behavior, but it can also lead to information distress. In addition, the price confusion and after-sales problems of live streaming have also affected the consumer experience, and even with the improvement of services, there is still room for further improvement.

Yang Ze, a researcher on new consumer brands and a marketing consultant at TopMarketing, said that the development of e-commerce starts with standardized products, such as clothes, beauty and beverages, and its product process is simple and standardized. Service-type goods, such as food and beverage and knowledge payments, were subsequently developed. The same is true for the current live broadcast ecosystem, first with product sales and then with services.

For example, there are many service businesses and individuals on Douyin who market through their influence, such as real estate transactions, business finance, home improvement design, programming, AI, etc. Their monetization approach may differ from regular discounted sales, and instead showcase and monetize by providing services. This is mainly related to the type of streamer and the services they can provide.

Like Xiao Yang, who loves financial management, he has a great influence in the financial circle. The mere mention of a fund could lead to a significant increase in the fund's sales. However, his later entry into the field of live streaming does not mean that he can't bring goods in his original field.

In the ecosystem of short videos, more and more people are building their own brands and influence, and then reaping benefits by providing capability services (including standardized and non-standardized services). For example, there are a lot of real estate agents and used car agents on Douyin right now.

So in this ecosystem, the key test is your professional ability. If you have professional capabilities in a certain field, you can get a group of potential customers through this ecosystem, and monetize them through live broadcasts, short videos, etc. Since this ecology is large enough, there are many possibilities. For example, Xiao Yang, who loves money management, has opened up an incredible start in the conventional sense, opening up unimaginable paths, and there may be others who will open up different paths in the future.

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