618, the peak shopping season of the year with high demand and transaction level and multi-peak outbreak. For most merchants, there is no longer a need to answer "whether to participate", but "how to participate".
Recently, Taobao Tmall has played the slogan of "the easiest 618 in history" and completely canceled the pre-sale period. The first wave starts at 8 p.m. on May 20 and the second wave starts at 8 p.m. on May 31. The official sale period has been increased by 10 days to a maximum of 30 days. Under the new rules and new rhythm, merchants' marketing ideas, gameplay, channels and tools need to be adjusted accordingly.
Alimama and Yicai Business School jointly released the "Alimama Business Guide 618 Special Edition" (hereinafter referred to as the "Guide"), which proposes the business solution of 618 promotion based on three types of merchants (novice merchants, product-driven and brand-driven) corresponding to six major industries (clothing and fashion, sports and outdoor, food and beverage, beauty and personal care, mother and child and parent-child and consumer electronics).
The most important thing is to be able to prescribe the right medicine. Based on industry characteristics, consumer preferences, paid traffic and transaction distribution during the promotion period, the guide provides a panoramic map of suggestions for 18 types of merchants, such as the main target group of "people", the combination of "goods" products, the "field" delivery channel and the "time" delivery rhythm. This article will focus on three types of merchants based on the core content of the guide: apparel fashion X novice merchants, consumer electronics X goods-driven merchants, and beauty and personal care X brand-driven merchants.
1. The big promotion is always new, and the "time of people and goods" is eternal
often hit new promotions, and the eternal proposition is the four words "when people and goods are in the field". This guide not only focuses on people, goods, channels and rhythms, but also divides the two dimensions of business types and industries, trying to provide merchants with more logical and planned fine business suggestions in a more complex and changeable business environment, so that business growth and explosion become more certain. The guide divides merchants into three tiers: newbie, product-driven, and brand-driven, who have their own demands and priorities during the sale.
Novice merchants: Novice merchants in the Tao department still have doubts about the rules, rhythm and gameplay of the big promotion, and they also need to master the budget allocation ratio of new and old customers and new explosive products, as well as the proportion of paid free traffic.
Product-driven merchants: have strong product capabilities, but weak brand mentality. Therefore, crowd breaking and marketing innovation based on high-quality goods are the most important means for them to escape from the fierce price competition in homogeneous goods.
Brand-driven merchants: With a brand mindset and the pursuit of quality and efficiency, they need to achieve a deterministic outbreak of promotion through a more comprehensive brand strategy.
In addition, the guide also proposes three general rules for six major industries:
First, capture user relationships at scale. Merchants can expand through brand placement, super short videos, and targeted crowd promotion.
Second, high-frequency user relationship tracking deepens. You can use "keyword promotion" to search for card slots during the storage period to lock in search traffic. When choosing keyword types, there are slight differences between industries - Alimama Keyword BEST methodology divides keywords into 4 categories, namely store words (Brand word), category precision words (Exact word), industry hot words (Hot Search), and trend word (Trend word), the traffic scale is gradually expanding, and the accuracy is from refined to general. For example, the competition in the 3C electronic market is fierce, the homogeneity of goods is strong, and consumers value cost performance and performance, so they need to defend the store's exclusive words and seize the share of category precision words; In the beauty industry, brand loyalty is generally low, and merchants need to pay attention to the core selling points of products, and pay attention to the operation of category precise words and industry hot words.
Third, efficient user relationship conversion. Through super live broadcast/short direct linkage, it can quickly promote the direct conversion of potential customers into transactions or realize the repurchase of old customers.
From the perspective of the difference type of the industry, taking the rhythm of transaction explosion as an example, beauty and personal care belongs to the "pioneer type", and the GMV created by the good start and carnival day accounts for 74% of the entire promotion period - the super live broadcast room has stimulated and released a large amount of demand during the water storage period and the good start period; Apparel fashion and food and beverage are "stamina" industries, and the second wave of GMV accounts for more than 60% of the overall promotion period. The decision-making cycle of these two categories is short, and consumers tend to generate purchase demand under the stimulation of the big promotion atmosphere; The maternal and infant parent-child, sports and outdoor and consumer electronics industries belong to the "steady-state bimodal type", and the GMV of the two bands is relatively average. The reasons behind this are related to their relatively long decision-making cycles, which are mostly planned purchases.
2. Clothing Fashion X Novice Merchant: "New with New"
For novices in the apparel and fashion industry, 618 is not only a big promotion to bring transactions, but also an important node to bring new customers and accumulate strength for growth in the second half of the year. Even though June may not be the peak season for some sub-categories, merchants can still create their own stores by participating in the big promotions.
Taking Tmall's head luggage brand Kara Sheep as an example, the sales season of its flagship products suitcases and schoolbags is concentrated before the start of school in July and August. According to the founder Zhang Xinhua, Kara Sheep attaches great importance to 618. There are two reasons for this: first, June has not yet reached the beginning of the school season, but the gift demand for schoolbags has been born, and many consumers will choose exquisite and ceremonial schoolbags as gifts; Second, the peak season is too concentrated, which is a huge challenge to the supply chain, and participating in the big promotion means that the peak season is in advance, occupying the minds of consumers before peers, and it can also reduce the pressure of centralized delivery in the later stage.
Two months before the big promotion, the brand will store content and test the model while planting grass. Under the demand for gifts, the high-priced Yousheng small schoolbag is more popular, and during the 618 period, you can amplify the content and explode the market for this explosive product. "618 is a practice ground for novice marketing, with the most stable traffic peaks and the longest cycle of shopping season." Zhang Xinhua said.
At the specific operational level, there are many SKUs in the apparel and fashion industry, and merchants mainly rely on high-frequency new customers. Even during the promotion period, the characteristics of chasing new products are still prominent, and the number of new product buyers accounts for 42% of the overall proportion. Therefore, "bringing new customers with new" is the most effective strategy: new products bring new customers, and new customers rely on content.
Among the newcomers, the most valuable consumers are the "small town ladies" with high spending power. For new products, clothing and fashion merchants can strongly promote "content marketing" to attract new customers, and the TGI preference is as high as 147, which has an obvious effect on promoting transactions. For explosive products, "precise crowd promotion" is the most cost-effective.
3. Consumer Electronics X Commodity Driven: "Ants vs. Elephants"
Yicai Business School compared the list of consumer electronics promoted in the past three years, and found that almost all of the top brands are super brands, and the changes mainly occur in the rankings. A large number of supply chain merchants with cost-effective products and weak in operation and brand capabilities can cut into a more segmented track with lower customer orders, and focus on small products with strong visualization and real household scenarios, such as roasters and coffee machines, to avoid the fierce competition of traditional power consumption.
In the consumer electronics industry, explosive products are paramount. Merchants can consider multi-channel combined placement to boost the sales of explosive products; For new products, you can use "keyword promotion" or "multi-target direct investment" placement. For different groups of people, it is recommended to use "content marketing" to promote repurchase, and use "smart scenes" to target potential customers to convert transactions.
In terms of specific content, the strategy of "ants fighting elephants" can be adopted - the Red Sea track of staggering crowds and traffic through product matrix and content to achieve low-cost new customers and promote transactions. For example, the razor market, which is mainly aimed at men, can attract female users to buy by creating content directions such as "the first gift for boyfriend"; Similarly, keyboard brands that are dominated by male groups can also focus on student users by co-branding with IPs such as Little Yellow Duck, and focus on working women by launching keyboards of different colors such as milk coffee, so as to achieve the same product, and target different groups of people with different scenes, different colors and different selling points.
Through planting grass inside and outside the site, the dislocation competition of product matrix + content marketing can bring more content traffic to the store instead of pure search traffic, and it can also bring a customer unit price much higher than that of peers.
4. Beauty & Personal Care X Brand-Driven: "Mind + Transaction"
Big promotions have always been a fierce battlefield for beauty and personal care merchants, with high transactions and multiple placements. According to the guide, the paid traffic of beauty and personal care in the whole cycle is at a stable high water level, and the advertising behavior of the other five industries during the promotion period shows strong fluctuations, such as mothers, infants, and parents belong to the advanced water storage type, and the peak water storage flow is reached before the first wave of sales; The consumer electronics industry belongs to the band climbing type, and 618 only reached the highest traffic value on the same day.
In order to stand out in such fierce traffic competition, brand-driven merchants should fight the battle of mind and transaction, grasp the rhythm of delivery, and seize the opportunity. The guidelines point out that beauty is the only "pioneer type" among the six major industries, and GMV has exploded in a concentrated manner, and the GMV contributed by the opening and carnival days accounted for 75% of the whole cycle.
In terms of specific rhythm, during the water storage period, merchants can "keyword promotion" search card slots to lock in core search traffic. If you want to get the effect of 1+1>2, you can plant grass nicknames inside and outside the station to leverage public domain traffic. For example, in "cat's eye nail polish", "cat's eye" is a nickname word, and "nail polish" belongs to a category word, and circling the nickname word + category word can bring the traffic of subsequent category words/core transaction words/core drainage words. In the outbreak period, "multi-target direct investment" can be used to carry out global linkage to achieve brand mind domination, and at the same time, combined with the combination of precise crowd promotion + content marketing + intelligent scenes, repeatedly reach the people who have achieved water storage in the early stage, and promote them to return to the transaction.
For different groups of people and product delivery channels, the guide also puts forward suggestions: "content marketing" to promote repurchase, and "smart scenes" to target potential customers to convert transactions; Consumers are keen to chase explosive products, and the performance of explosive product channel delivery is balanced, multi-channel combined delivery can be considered to boost the sales of explosive products; For new products, "content marketing" can be launched to attract new customers and promote transactions.
618 traffic is surging, rather than onlookers, it is better to get involved. Especially when Alimama provides richer business tools and more scientific business guides, the big promotion presents three characteristics: simple growth, clear path, and certain results.
Based on the massive data of Taotian Group, "Alimama Business Guide 618 Special" reflects the in-depth insight into consumers, and is also the extraction and refinement of business experience and playing style. Specific practical suggestions for crowds, goods, channels and rhythms make the previously complex big promotion gameplay clear and operable, which greatly reduces the difficulty of business operations.
(This article is from Yicai)