Illustration courtesy of Canva
After years of development, the new e-commerce model of live streaming has already gained the recognition and favor of consumers, and the live broadcast e-commerce industry has also taken advantage of the trend and achieved rapid development. Douyin, Kuaishou and other short video platforms have taken this opportunity to develop their own e-commerce business and successfully entered the field of e-commerce.
Nowadays, live broadcast e-commerce has long become a field targeted by various e-commerce giants, and they have made efforts to try to make some achievements in the field of live broadcast e-commerce, and because of this, the competition in the field of live broadcast e-commerce has become extremely fierce. In this context, Douyin, Kuaishou, and Channels have made moves to continue to make efforts in content, services, merchants and other aspects, in order to accumulate more weight in the increasingly fierce competition.
Content "Expanded and Filled"
As we all know, content is the biggest "killer feature" for content platforms represented by Douyin and Kuaishou to successfully develop e-commerce business. As consumers gradually develop the habit of stimulating consumption by content, the importance of content to e-commerce platforms is increasing day by day, which is why various e-commerce giants are competing to increase content. The value of content has been confirmed, even Douyin, Kuaishou, and Youtube, which have advantages in terms of content, are still moving non-stop and constantly working hard around content.
Douyin has launched a series of support policies to stimulate the creative enthusiasm of content creators, thereby enriching the content ecology of the platform. Content is the foundation of Douyin's e-commerce business development, and it is precisely because Douyin has huge content resources that it has gathered a large number of users and provided the possibility for the development of its e-commerce business, so Douyin understands the importance of content more than any platform. Based on this, Douyin is still continuing to focus on content to consolidate its existing content advantages.
It is reported that Douyin e-commerce has launched a high-quality content incentive program called "Spring Rain Plan" to encourage merchants and influencers to produce high-quality e-commerce content through a variety of support policies. The launch of these support programs will stimulate the creative passion of content creators and enable the platform to obtain a steady stream of content.
Kuaishou is a heavy pressure on short dramas, using short dramas to attract more users, and then promote the development of e-commerce business. In recent years, the popularity of short dramas has remained high, and Kuaishou, as a pioneer in the short drama industry, has achieved outstanding results. According to the financial report data, the average daily DAU (daily active users) of Kuaishou short dramas has reached 270 million, accounting for 70% of the site's 383 million DAUs. It can be seen that the skit is very attractive to users of the Kuaishou platform.
Users are the foundation of e-commerce business development, and if there is not enough user support, the development of e-commerce business will inevitably be limited. Relying on short dramas, Kuaishou can continue to attract new users and retain, and finally achieve transformation. It is reported that Kuaishou previously announced a new and upgraded Kuaishou "Xingmang Short Drama" cooperation plan, which provides greater support for high-quality short dramas from account sharing rules to commercial empowerment.
Channels continue to enrich the protection of creators' rights and interests, so as to enhance creators' willingness to create content and achieve the accumulation of high-quality content. As content has become the focus of the development of the e-commerce industry, content creation has become "involuted", and some novice content creators are difficult to get ahead. In order to solve such problems, Channels not only brings a number of support programs, but also continues to optimize the rights and interests of creators to enhance creators' willingness to create and help creators increase their income. For example, on May 29 last year, Channels launched three original capabilities, namely the appearance of original markers, original protection records, and creation sharing plans, to protect the efforts of creators and realize content monetization.
Service "Continuous Improvement"
For consumers, service is also one of the important factors in choosing a shopping platform. Especially in the current fierce competition in the industry, high-quality service is often the key to brand differentiation. Therefore, whether it is to better meet the needs of consumers or to enhance their own competitiveness, Douyin, Kuaishou, and Channels have reached a consensus on optimizing services.
Douyin has upgraded a number of consumer service rights and interests in order to allow consumers to enjoy more intimate shopping services. In fact, Douyin has always attached great importance to the shopping experience of consumers, and has also continuously upgraded consumer rights and interests on the basis of existing ones to attract consumers to repurchase. For example, Douyin has launched the "Newcomer Guarantee" to provide special services for new consumers throughout the process; It also launched the "Compensation for Late Arrival" service to ensure the quality of logistics performance of Douyin Supermarket, so that consumers can enjoy better logistics services; The implementation of the "fast refund" service optimizes the refund experience of consumers and makes consumers feel more at ease when buying. It is reported that by the end of 2023, the "Quick Return" service has covered more than 82% of refund orders.
Kuaishou continues to improve the platform's service capabilities to create a shopping environment that satisfies consumers. In recent years, Kuaishou's e-commerce business has developed rapidly, and the GMV scale in 2023 will exceed 1.18 trillion yuan, entering the "trillion club". For example, Kuaishou has launched the "Big Names and Big Supplements" channel, so that consumers can buy high-quality products at very cost-effective prices; The comprehensive evaluation index system of operators has been upgraded, and through the method of scoring, the survival of the fittest has been realized, and finally high-quality goods are presented to consumers to improve their satisfaction.
Channels continues to improve e-commerce functions to improve user experience and bring consumers a better shopping experience. In addition to continuing to increase the content aspect, Channels has also continued to make efforts in terms of services to stimulate consumers' shopping enthusiasm. Specifically, Channels not only launched the freight insurance function to eliminate consumers' worries, but also enabled the order encryption function to protect the privacy and security of user information. Not only that, Channels has issued a new regulation that "goods with a price of 30 yuan and below in Channels stores must be shipped free of charge" to combat the chaos of "low price and high postage" and avoid consumers being deceived.
Illustration courtesy of Canva
Merchants "compete for more"
In recent years, the competition in the e-commerce industry has not only shown no signs of extinguishing, but has become more anxious. Whether it is an old player or a new player, they are doing their best to accumulate strength for themselves in the second half of e-commerce. In addition to content and services, merchants have become the key to the competition of e-commerce platforms. After all, the abundance of merchant resources is also a key factor affecting consumers, so the "merchant war" in the e-commerce industry is intensifying. In this context, Douyin, Kuaishou, and Video Accounts are also frequently making moves.
Douyin e-commerce has adjusted its organizational structure to better help merchants operate and grow. Specifically, in June last year, Douyin e-commerce carried out a new round of organizational adjustments, adjusting the original more than ten industry operation groups and merchant development centers to two groups, A and B, of which Group A is all brand merchants and Group B is non-brand merchants, and each group is divided into different industries for targeted operation. In the past, Douyin e-commerce did not distinguish between industries and merchant types, and all merchants adopted a unified GMV assessment standard, and non-brand merchants were naturally at a disadvantage. After the adjustment, while supporting brand merchants, Douyin will not ignore the development of non-brand merchants, which can attract more industrial belt merchants and white-label merchants to come, which can drive the increase in the number of platform merchants.
Kuaishou has launched merchant management tools to solve merchants' confusion in business development. In order to solve the business problems encountered by merchants after entering Kuaishou, as well as to better adapt to the rules of the platform, Kuaishou has launched merchant management tools and exclusive merchant services. For example, Kuaishou e-commerce provides diagnostic product tools to help merchants and influencers attribute data to high and low scores, and make targeted improvements and improvements; Provide 1v1 customer service exclusive services for key merchants to solve merchants' operational problems in a timely manner; It also provides improvement strategies and video courses to help merchants better adapt to the rules of the platform.
Channels has launched merchant incentives to attract more merchants and brands. In order to attract more and more live streaming influencers, merchants and brands to settle on the platform, Channels has launched a series of incentive policies. For example, in May last year, Tencent released a brand incentive plan for Channels; In September, Tencent launched three support policies: "Cold Start Support Policy", "Growth Support Policy" and "Benchmark Case Support Policy". In April this year, Channels began to implement the "Butterfly Plan" to encourage more new talents from other stations to settle in the live broadcast of Channels. The launch of many support policies such as Channels will also attract more merchants to come and help them grow better.
Race for the big model high ground
In recent years, AI technology has returned to the C position on the stage, attracting the attention of all parties, and the combination of AI and the industry has become the current development trend. Since last year, the importance of AI in the e-commerce industry has increased repeatedly, and major e-commerce giants have stepped up AI technology in person, including Douyin, Kuaishou, and Channels.
First, the combination of AI and the e-commerce industry has become an inevitable trend, and AI technology is expected to bring innovation to the e-commerce industry, and e-commerce giants in it may be able to obtain new opportunities. In the face of this new development trend, major e-commerce giants have upheld an open and positive attitude, and continue to improve their AI capabilities to better adapt to this development trend. For example, Douyin has launched AI functions and tools "AI search" and "instant creation"; Kuaishou has a self-developed large model "Kuaiyi"; Tencent, which is backed by the video account, also has strong AI capabilities. With the deepening of the combination of AI and e-commerce, e-commerce giants in the field of AI will benefit from it.
Second, the application of AI technology can optimize the e-commerce experience of consumers, which can help e-commerce giants achieve business growth. At present, AI technology is gradually landing in the e-commerce industry, and many e-commerce platforms have launched AI functions, and consumers' shopping experience will also be optimized. For example, with the blessing of AI technology, the accuracy of the platform's intelligent recommendation will be improved again, which can help consumers improve their decision-making efficiency. The increased intelligence of intelligent customer service can better answer consumers' questions. With the improvement of consumers' shopping experience, the likelihood of consumers repurchasing will also increase, which in turn will lead to the improvement of the performance of e-commerce platforms.
Judging from the current situation, the competition in the e-commerce industry is still anxious, and even Douyin, Kuaishou, and Channels, which have taken off with the new model of live broadcast e-commerce, are facing multiple pressures. Whether it is increasing in terms of content, services, and merchants, or keeping up with the wave of AI technology, it is an important measure for Douyin, Kuaishou, and Channels to enhance their competitiveness. In this rapidly changing era, every change may have an extraordinary impact, and Douyin, Kuaishou, and Channels are all actively running forward.