Home > Article > WeChat Applet > Eight major trends awaken industry development, it’s time for micro-business to return to rationality
but all the time, the industry has received mixed reviews on the development of micro-business, with some being optimistic and some pessimistic. But it is unavoidable that micro-commerce has become an important branch of mobile e-commerce.
After experiencing the blocking of micro-business in the circle of friends, the exposure of various counterfeiting and selling tools, and the rise of major distribution platforms, micro-business has gradually returned to rationality, and more and more businesses have begun to achieve the goal of "preventing violations and counterfeiting." , abstain from pyramid schemes, do not disrupt the market, do not hoard goods, do not make huge profits, do not swipe the screen, and do not kill familiar people" business ethics and consensus.
What changes will the curve-developing micro-businesses usher in in 2017? As a micro-business enterprise, how should we innovate the discovery model? How should we change the misunderstandings of society and the public?
1. Team scaling
WeChat business was initially based on individuals, started in the circle of friends, and then became chaotic in the circle of friends. As more and more people join, product homogeneity becomes increasingly serious, and individual micro-businesses are submerged one after another, replaced by huge amounts of advertising and the rise of large-scale teams. The overnight rise of brands such as Qiao Shisui, Han Shu, and Sibu broke the entrepreneurial dream of individual micro-businesses. Team-based and group-based operations have made the competition among micro-businesses increasingly fierce. More and more businesses are moving from C2C to B2C. , they either "retreat to form a network" or stick together with each other.
There may also be a trap behind scale. The vast majority of micro-businesses have not escaped the transaction model of the Alibaba era. Most of today's micro-business players "have micro-stores but no micro-products" and there are still no Internet-based products. Most micro-businesses "will not have any." What’s the future?” But in the future, “everyone is a micro-business”, and micro-stores will become the basic configuration for most individuals. This undoubtedly conveys warmth while pouring cold water on micro-business.
2. User socialization
Micro-business is a trust economy based on mobile social networking. This kind of socialization is based on the same interests, hobbies and emotional resonance. It does not have a user base of millions like Luoji Thinking, nor does it have such high influence and appeal. It is more It is the role of brand spokesperson, resource replacement and word-of-mouth communication between merchants and merchants, merchants and users. In a sense, this "small but beautiful" community can be both a traffic entrance and a new way of monetization.
Social e-commerce is inseparable from the community, but the solidification and centralization of the community makes the expansion and new attraction of products very narrow. How to mobilize the community and use the community to generate fission communication has become a micro- The biggest problem of business community grouping.
3. Three-dimensionalization of channels
As micro-businesses gradually develop in a professional direction, the channel structure will become three-dimensional. Manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, agents, and consumers are organically combined to form an organic network system. By establishing network and systematization of channel "faces", the efficiency of the channel network is improved, and ultimately the optimization of the channel subject subsystem and the channel object main system is achieved. The three-dimensional channel can reverse the current situation of layers of agents and layers of goods in the original circle of friends. Agents, dealers, etc. do not need to stock up and store goods, and can trade online through social media distribution.
Although Zhang Xiaolong has repeatedly mentioned the decentralization and disintermediation of WeChat, for the traditional retail industry, intermediation and information opacity are the only ways to earn the price difference, and it is impossible for Wechat merchants to achieve comprehensive disintermediation. ization is just about simplifying management and processes.
4. Technical standardization
Technical standardization is to use technical means to help merchants and distributors standardize and adjust the entire transaction process caused by complicated channels. The current simple and crude method of selling goods in Moments is no longer suitable for the development of micro-business. Micro-business wants to use technology to standardize and meet its development needs, and social distribution platforms will become the stage for micro-business. For example, Weimob uses the SDP platform to systematize, platform and process problems such as scattered distributors, out-of-control channel management, market chaos, internal price wars, and distributors' cross-selling. In addition, pocket shopping and other products have also been launched on the online distribution platform.
Technical specifications may avoid the chaos of micro-business platforms, but the cost of development and marketing promotion is too high, which is a big threshold for C2C micro-businesses. They have to rely on the platform or If a third party develops, if supervision gets out of control, Taobao’s original phenomenon of counterfeiting and shoddy products will repeat itself.
5. Product Diversification
Product diversification will be a major feature that distinguishes micro-business from Taobao e-commerce. Micro-business is more suitable for non-standard products. This diversification is mainly reflected in the gradual rise of "small but beautiful" products, and products with unique styles and differentiation will become more and more popular. According to a WeChat shopping survey report, personalized shopping is second only to smart consumption, accounting for one-fifth of the total consumption. At the same time, users’ purchase rate of non-standard products is constantly increasing.
Although many big names and opinion leaders are now repeating one word: product personification. But except for a few self-media, there are probably very few people who can truly personify themselves. Diversified products must be explored and guided by industry leaders or big Vs. No big V is willing to use his personality to endorse products that he doesn’t understand or doesn’t agree with. Behind the diversification of products is actually the decentralization of users. Experts and buyers will become more and more valuable.
6. Marketing media
The essence of social e-commerce is trust transactions. Micro-business has not changed the nature of traditional e-commerce transactions. The products are still the same, but the marketing methods and presentation methods have changed. In the past, there was a direct buyer-seller relationship. People had needs first and then purchased. After the transaction was completed, it was basically difficult for users to accumulate. However, the development of micro-business is a kind of awareness first before purchasing. Her requirements for people and products will be stricter. And as long as it is managed well, it is basically possible to attract users. Micro-business has very high requirements for marketing and communication. Whether it is mobilizing the power of the community or the power of fans, the premise is that the product must have enough highlights to attract people. These highlights include: story, feelings, sense of belonging, trust, premium, etc. . Micro-business media is the most cost-effective marketing method.
Use the thinking of media people to do micro-business. This is indeed a smart marketing method. Media e-commerce may be a simple monetization model. WeChat itself is a platform that produces rich content, but how many institutions or self-media can play in this way?
7. Operational capitalization
At present, micro-businesses are mostly based on individual retail investors and have not yet formed economies of scale. If such a melee situation is not regulated and rectified, it will inevitably lead to short selling and chaos. market. More and more capital has been injected into the micro-business field, and this trend will become more intense in 2017.
Some of the micro-businesses on the limelight say they have hundreds of billions of business opportunities, while others say they are inflated bubbles. No matter what it is, new things are always accompanied by what Jack Ma said: "Invisible, unclear, incomprehensible, and too late." It's not a good thing if someone wants to try it.
8. Flexibility of policy
The flexibility of policy is mainly reflected in two aspects: First, at the national level: in some aspects, micro-business marketing is already on the verge of pyramid selling, and even some Through continuous development and offline, it can be regarded as an online pyramid scheme. If it is allowed to develop, it will inevitably cause serious consequences in the end. Second, WeChat official: In the face of malicious marketing and violent screen brushing that destroys user experience, WeChat We will definitely vigorously rectify and punish them. At the level of WeChat policy formulation, the state and the WeChat team will still show a relatively flexible side. After all, WeChat is a new type of commercial entity. A large part of the active users of WeChat’s Moments come from these WeChat businesses. According to China The "Research Report on the Social and Economic Impact of WeChat" released by the Information Economics Society stated that the number of jobs driven by WeChat has reached 10.07 million, so there is reason to believe that micro-business will usher in great development.
In addition, WeChat Moments ads, WeChat short videos and other functions are a milestone for WeChat commercialization. It also proves that WeChat officials are very optimistic about WeChat businesses, and the days of violent screen surfing may be gone. Now, can flexible policies bring great prosperity to micro-businesses? Maybe everyone will ask, maybe yes, maybe not. But no one has an answer.
However, WeChat business is no longer about a naked advertisement that pops up when you open your circle of friends, nor is it about buying fake goods and not knowing who to call for rights protection, but a complete transaction and trustworthy A platform for sustainable development.
WeChat is Tencent’s last trump card in defeating Alibaba, and WeChat business is the most important part of it. If Wechat merchants do not shift from selling goods to media thinking, what WeChat is doing is undoubtedly equivalent to building another Taobao on the mobile terminal. Using Taobao's thinking to resist Taobao will eventually lead to failure.
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