2013 e-commerce price war or normal development

In 2012, the e-commerce industry was filled with smoke. From "618" and "815" to "Double 11" and "Double 12", price wars fought one after another. Jingdong, Suning and Tmall, etc. Eyes, where exactly is the real reserve price? For a time, "Internet price comparison" has become a popular tool for consumers. 2013 is coming. Where can the price war go? Will it continue the 2012 heat?

In 2012, price wars among e-commerce companies have become more frequent. According to the price report for the “Double Eleventh” and “Double Twelve” monitoring of the “Four-Eleventh” and “Double-Twelveth” monitoring, the nine Nine B2C e-commerce providers (Jingdong, Amazon, Dangdang and Suningyi) were on the same day. Buying, Yihaodian, Yixun, Kuba, Xinqin, Gome) had more than 80% coverage of promotional merchandise (including the use of coupons, etc.), as well as price volatility after the first increase.

E-commerce "price wars" have played a role in both the industry and the e-commerce companies in terms of "making losses and making profits." In a certain sense, they have also become a "public information campaign." However, according to the “Buy 5” monitoring report, “815” and “Double 11”, the major e-commerce business experienced a significant increase in the flow of traffic on the day of the war, followed by a significant decline for some time, especially after the double-Eleven. Therefore, it can be seen that the sales performance of the main e-commerce company Double 11 actually overstretched the purchasing power of users for a period of time.

At the same time, the problem of vague search, oversold, streaming, and slow delivery of user experience in the price war has also caused the online shopping community to complain. Shopping search website to help the CEO of the 5 buy Yin Jie believes that if you continue to simply shopping and ignore the deeper user experience, it will only harm the consumer trust in the e-commerce brand, loss of loyal customers.

While the price war will stimulate traffic in the short term, it will create a vicious circle of sustained price war and loss of loyalty, which is not conducive to the long-term development of the industry. B2C e-commerce should pay more attention to user experience and affiliate marketing, and truly develop user-centric strategies to consolidate user loyalty and have long-term benefits over simple price promotions.

At the end of last year, many offline brands, such as Wanda Group and Wangfujing Department Store, laid out their e-commerce brands. Most of these offline brands were “not bad”, and they had government background and brand awareness, which would have caused fierce e-commerce competition in 2013. The year is more brutal and accelerates mergers and acquisitions in the e-commerce industry.

With the increasingly fierce B2C competition, due to the lack of loyalty of domestic online shopping population and the homogeneity of B2C e-commerce products, the price war has become the most direct marketing tool. In 2013, the price war will continue to normalize development, which is also a domestic price parity. The website offers more opportunities.

Recently, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Industry and Commerce, the Beijing Municipal Commission of Commerce and the Beijing E-Commerce Association convened 44 home appliance merchants' websites to sign the "Internet Retailer Promotion Customer Service Proposal." It stipulates that the e-commerce website should undertake the "three guarantees" service of consumers and issue consumer vouchers or documents to the consumers to ensure the truthfulness of the information, the accuracy of prices, and not to make false promises. Experts in the industry predict that the price war in 2013 will be relatively standardized, which will further test the overall strength of supply, capital, logistics, and service of major B2C e-commerce providers.

At the same time, from the “Double Twelve” Jingdong beauty delivery person and Suning’s “Buy Zero Love”, user experience and personalized precision marketing will receive further attention. The “double eleven” express delays, return and replacement claims and other complaints once again proved that valuing the user experience is beneficial to the win-win situation of the buyers and the sellers, not only to the price, but also to service, logistics, and reputation.