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Pinduoduo merchants self-positioning: help the platform make money or help the platform earn users

author:Everybody is a product manager
On e-commerce platforms, the value exchange between merchants and platforms is the key to survival. Merchants need to be clear about what value they can bring to the platform, whether it is to make money or attract users, so as to obtain the platform's traffic support. In this article, we'll take a closer look at the business nature of e-commerce platforms and how they can effectively create value for them to capture traffic and achieve business success.
Pinduoduo merchants self-positioning: help the platform make money or help the platform earn users

There is a line in Xingye's movie "Domestic Lingling Paint": Even a tissue has its use. Looking back at our e-commerce, why does the platform give us traffic, it is because we are useful to the platform. If you don't have any value to the platform, then the store you open on the e-commerce platform doesn't have any traffic and orders.

Taking Pinduoduo as an example, the value of our merchants to the platform is only 2, either to help the platform make money, or to help the platform earn users, neither of which, so you can stay where you are cool.

These two values fall on the specific gameplay, which is the current strong payment and natural flow gameplay. Isn't it to help the platform make money when you play strong pay, how much money is sold to the platform at a clear price, and the platform will give you more orders in order to make more money;

Isn't it true that you play natural flow to help the platform earn users? If you open a ramen restaurant offline and engage in 9.9 yuan to eat all you want, can you bring a steady stream of traffic, and the e-commerce platform also needs merchants like you who like to do charity to help the platform continue to drain traffic.

1. The essence of business is the exchange of interests

There are often e-commerce operators shouting in the group, who can take me. People who can ask such questions are either naïve or chicken thieves. Naively thought that there would be saints who would help others regardless of the return, and the chicken thief just wanted to prostitute other people's knowledge for nothing.

We must first ask ourselves in everything we do, when we ask others, why should others help you? The answer is, there is only profit. Even if someone really doesn't want money to help you, it's for fame, and fame naturally brings profit.

Not to mention the place where goods are traded like an e-commerce platform, the platform spends billions of dollars every year to recruit new users from the whole network to advertise and pay for advertising fees, what does the platform want? These users can bring value to the platform, to put it bluntly, money.

Where the money comes from, of course, it is the merchants. The platform gives everyone traffic, then it is natural for everyone to give the platform money, business is transaction, don't think about prostitution, unless you really feel that you are superior in ability and can control the rules of the platform.

There are only 2 demands of the platform, either to give money or to traffic. Why Taobao has little organic traffic, because the penetration rate of the platform has peaked, and there is basically no room for new recruits.

Pinduoduo still has a large number of first-line and second-tier buyers and losses, and the platform needs everyone's low-priced products to drain the platform and retain users.

2. How to help the platform earn users

Just like the example given above, when everyone's offline physical store opens, we must engage in low-price profit-making activities to attract a wave of users first. I have a newly opened kebab shop downstairs, buy one get one free 3 days before it opens, and don't want it if there are many people in line.

If this store has capital intervention, financing 2 billion, and the barbecue restaurant next door, and engaging in a buy-one-get-one-free activity all year round, will it hardly cause the loss of users, and maintain the grand situation of queuing all year round.

The idea of the e-commerce platform is also like this, and now the price perception of each e-commerce platform is probably like this, a certain east is the highest, a certain treasure is second, a certain is the lowest, and there is no lower limit for a certain shake.

In a short period of time, it is unlikely that the share of each platform will fluctuate violently, but in the long run, after three or five years, the concept of low price will be deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and there will be more and more buyers, and the stickiness will become stronger and stronger.

So, do you know how to help the platform earn users? Low price is the same transaction weapon for thousands of years, so to speak, in the face of absolute low price link, any operation technology is a floating cloud.

For example, I sell a genuine Apple mobile phone 1999, do I need to operate? I don't need it at all, I have 1 main picture, I don't put the details, SKU writes that I love to buy it or not, it can be sold out, because of the low price.

In order to maintain the concept of low price, the platform also knows that low price must have very low profits, and there is no profit to share. But in order to retain users, it will also allow everyone to get traffic without paying. Do you think the platform doesn't want to draw points?

Some manufacturers sell at cost, and the profit supports the operation of their own factories at most. The platform also understands, and will deduct as little money as possible to give you a natural flow. Therefore, natural flow equals low price, if you are really the lowest price on the whole network, then you can go to the platform to earn users and play the game of natural flow.

3. How to help the platform make money

As a strong payer, I am familiar with this topic. To put it bluntly, to help the platform make money, it is to send money to the platform, how to send it? The merchants who help the platform make money are all price advantage, and the price is not advantageous, so they will naturally not help the platform to drain traffic, but on the contrary, they will lose platform users.

After the platform merchants raised a wave of prices last year, users lost some. It's normal that buyers don't have loyalty to the platform, and they go wherever it's cheap. Since a high selling price is not good for buyers, why would the platform still push your high-selling price? Because you can bring money to the platform.

For the same product that costs 20 yuan, the manufacturer sells it for 22 yuan, and 1 order earns less than 1 yuan, and you sell it for 39 yuan, and you earn less than 1 yuan for 1 order. Why is the profit high but the profit is not much? Because you have to invest the extra 17 yuan in the through train, so that you can sell at a high price to get the order volume.

You may ask, since the money is the same, why do I want to play strong pay? That's because everyone's cost difference is too big, you can't play natural flow. The cost of taking the goods may be the same as the selling price of other people's tens of thousands of people, and you still play natural flow?

However, in terms of strong payment, it's not that you can play if you want to, so many people hold the money to Pinduoduo to send it, why should the platform love you and give you traffic. That's because your internal strength is better than others, and the bid is higher than others, and the platform will give you more of the only paid traffic.

Strong payment is the main way to play this year, after all, there are only a few manufacturers, most of the merchants are agents, brands, and agents, except for strong payment, there is no second way to go.

Fourth, finally

If you want to make money on Pinduoduo or other e-commerce platforms, you must clearly know your positioning, what can you bring to the platform?

Everyone is an adult, be realistic, if you don't have a price advantage, don't think about playing natural flow, obediently pay money to the platform, and just use the money to buy volume.

Columnist

Tiger Talks Operation, WeChat Public Account: Tiger Talks Operation, everyone is a product manager columnist, and the author of the year in 2019. Author of the operation book "The Full-Stack Operation Master That the Company Can't Rely On", and a trader of tens of millions of turnover projects. Focus on product operation and promotion, proficient in all modules of operation, and play operation and promotion in the palm of your hand.

This article was originally published on Everyone is a Product Manager. Reproduction without permission is prohibited.

The title image is from Unsplash and is licensed under CC0

The views in this article only represent the author's own, everyone is a product manager, and the platform only provides information storage space services.

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