During this year's Double 11, new chaos in the field of online live broadcast marketing was frequently exposed, causing heated discussions in the society. Among them, the unfair price comparison behavior in online live broadcast marketing is one of them, which deserves our attention.
1. What is improper price comparison?
Attracting and retaining audiences and maximizing traffic monetization are the basic logic of Internet business. To this end, Internet operators not only need to work product quality and after-sales service, but also compete in the first place to gain trading advantages. The same is true for online live marketing, MCN institutions in order to seize the market, in the quality, gifts, and other three aspects;The anchor takes advantage of the trust of fans, brings its own traffic**, and ships a large number of goods. Among them, the anchor was affected by factors such as the performance of the goods, the instructions of the institution, and the instigation of the platform, and improperly displayed the same product of other platforms and other anchors through **means**, and accompanied by "others**....We**....and other words for the first comparison, supplemented by the atmosphere, to stimulate consumers to market with herd psychology, this kind of phenomenon is an improper price comparison behavior.
2. Improper price comparison
It is understandable to show that the goods are normal and eliminate the poor information between operators and consumers. However, in order to highlight the advantages of the live broadcast room, MCN institutions will generally require operators to give preferential treatment on goods, and will also require operators to provide proof of goods. If the operator meets the requirements for product discounts, it will make a lot of money;If you don't meet the requirements, you won't be able to get the blessing of anchor traffic, which provides a realistic basis for improper price comparison. Improper price comparison can be roughly divided into the following ways:
1.The material is not hard, and the forgery comes first. Since there is no bargaining power, operators must not only meet the discount requirements of MCN institutions before live marketing, but also ensure a certain profit margin. To this end, the operator will launch a higher single product on his own, take a screenshot as a material, and then quickly take the product offline;Operators also often use the screenshot of a certain product as the base board, add or delete relevant information through PS technology, and cooperate with the live broadcast room** to meet the discount requirements.
2.The discount is not low, and the real and fake are half-mixed. When the operator is unable to provide forged materials, and the company itself is also in the market, the MCN agency will also take compromises. That is, the anchor is required to use means such as cropping materials, hand blocking, and partial display to hide the best information, resulting in the illusion that the goods in the live broadcast room have never been discounted, artificially widening the ** difference, and achieving the best effect.
3.If you don't have enough confidence, just shake it. If neither of the above two means is applicable, and it is not possible to create a huge **difference, the anchor will make up the oral expression of the product**. In order to show that he is honest and trustworthy and does not deceive people, the anchor will shake the certification materials provided by the merchant in front of the camera and put them away. In this way, it can not only enhance the audience's sense of trust, but also achieve the purpose of marketing, and make more use of the characteristics of online live broadcast marketing to avoid the responsibility of false words.
4.Sincerity is not enough, giveaways to make up. In order to stimulate consumers' desire to buy, and to prevent consumers from verifying the authenticity of the propaganda in real time, anchors usually use words such as "breaking prices" and "negotiating for consumers" as leads, and attach a large number of giveaways to turn the marketed goods into "another" goods from a physical sense. In addition, in order to highlight the advantages of goods in the live broadcast room, the anchor will calculate and accumulate the value of the single product of the goods and gifts one by one, and discount them on the basis of the cumulative number to stimulate consumers to place orders.
5.The credit is not strong, and the big store is on the top cylinder. The ** of the material is an important consideration for the trust of the price comparison. With the acquiescence of the platform, the anchor and MCN agency will show the third-party platform with high integrity*** to enhance credibility. In this way, it can not only enhance the authenticity of the price comparison, but also make the affiliated platform into a depression, and help the affiliated platform to promote the pace of commercialization, killing two birds with one stone.
3. The true purpose of the improper price comparison
Improper price comparison seems to be to eliminate the information gap for consumers, but it is actually a malicious increase in the information gap, through the "small incision" behavior, ** illegal market grabbing, "taking shortcuts" to seize trading opportunities is the real purpose behind the improper price comparison. This behavior will not only undermine the order of market competition, but also damage the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.
1.Confusing the scene, creating the illusion of good price and good quality. Online live broadcast marketing pursues the speed of commodity circulation and wins by quantity, and the time for product introduction and audience selection is limited, which can be understood as online wholesale behavior. Daily e-commerce marketing can be understood as the daily retail behavior of the network, the operator can freely decide the marketing behavior of the product, whether to carry out the market, and the consumer also has sufficient time to compare and choose, and freely decide whether to trade. Online live marketing and daily e-commerce marketing belong to two different marketing scenarios, comparing the best in different scenarios, highlighting their own live broadcast room bargaining ability and strong ability to bring goods, itself is a kind of perception and mental misdirection of consumers, and may also cause the illusion of good price and quality in the live broadcast room.
2.Amplify the merits and belittle the rest of the competition. On the surface, the improper price comparison is only to amplify the advantages of the live broadcast room, and to stimulate consumers' "wool" psychology with the "knife from the palace" and "jumping off the building to sell". In fact, the anchor shows that the operator has greatly discounted**, which improperly magnifies the disadvantages of the daily business model of similar operators who have not participated in live broadcast marketing, and seizes trading opportunities through "artificial" improper operations.
Attract attention and form a positive marketing cycle. The improper price comparison model can generate a huge turnover in a short period of time, and the anchor will show the audience the marketing results before the end of the live broadcast. On the one hand, this move can show that related products are highly sought after by consumers, and on the other hand, it can also highlight the popularity and marketing ability of the anchor, further attract the attention of fans, increase the value, form a "snowball" effect, pave the way for the next marketing, and form a positive marketing cycle of low price**, huge turnover, popularity growth, brand aggregation, and traffic improvement.
4.Cultivate the mind and seize the competitive platform market. The reason why unfair price comparison can be unscrupulous in the online live broadcast marketing format is inseparable from the support and connivance of relevant platforms. Acquiescing to MCN institutions to confuse marketing scenarios, use extremely misleading means, and associate third-party platforms with improper price comparisons is conducive to attracting more traffic attention to the platform, increasing platform revenue, and subtly cultivating consumers' minds, creating the impression that the platform is the best depression, and then seizing the market.
Fourth, the harm of improper price comparison
Improper price comparison is currently only concentrated in the live broadcast room of the head anchor. On the surface, it is a win-win situation for MCN institutions to build venues, operators to make small profits but quick turnover, and consumers to shop at an affordable price. However, it should be noted that improper price comparison may cause greater harm to the market.
1.Unable to generate positive value. A healthy market order can enable operators to innovate independently in a fair and fully competitive environment, continuously build core competitiveness, and form a virtuous cycle mechanism. However, unfair price comparison is more like exploiting the loopholes of the original competition mechanism, and it cannot produce any positive value related to creativity and innovation.
2.Disrupt the normal market order. Common sense tells us that different marketing scenarios have different product marketing purposes. There must be differences in commodities in different scenarios, and they are not comparable with each other. The Internet is also different from the offline scene, and the retail scene and the wholesale scene are constantly improperly compared, which will unjustly seize the trading opportunities of operators who do not participate in the live broadcast scene. For third-party platforms, it will also unduly cause the loss of traffic and users.
Capital flows are overly concentrated. Compared with traditional marketing, improper price comparison is attached to traffic, which is visually more simple and crude, and the traffic aggregation effect is more obvious. Some head anchors don't even have product introductions, and directly promote the advantages and giveaways of products. When the MCN agency where the head anchor is located has the bargaining power, the operator will inevitably choose between scientific and technological research and development expenses and high marketing costs, and a collusion and monopoly may be formed.
4.Information errors are increasing. Through the means mentioned above, the anchor takes advantage of the information gap to come up with the best fast transaction that the audience cannot refuse. Consumers think that they have "wool", but in fact they have become "wool", and their interests will be damaged in the end. At the same time, it will also make consumers think that the platform that builds daily business scenarios is on the highest ground, which will be misleading visually and psychologically.
5. Reflections on the governance of improper price comparison
Improper price comparison is a new type of improper behavior in the live broadcast marketing industry, and this method has become the "golden key" for individual practitioners to attract fans and drain traffic and seize the trading advantage, which has been tried and tested repeatedly. How to deal with unfair price comparison is worth thinking about and exploring by the regulatory authorities.
1.It is necessary to standardize and guide the correct price comparison behavior. Objectively speaking, comparing the best of the same kind of goods has a promoting effect on the development of market competition and the consumer's right to know, and the existence of the first comparison should be allowed within a certain range. However, in the Internet scenario, the concept and method of comparison have broken through the traditional economy. Completely uncontrolled and regulated comparison may lead to chaos in the economic order, and ultimately harm the legitimate rights and interests of operators and consumers. In view of the fact that the comparison behavior involves the interests of multiple parties, it is worth discussing and analyzing whether the comparison should be limited to the same platform and the same marketing scenario, and how to regulate the price comparison behavior and discourse.
It is necessary to pay close attention to unfair price comparisons. With the rapid development of the online live broadcast marketing industry, the competition between online platforms and top anchors has become more intense. Late-mover platforms and new head anchors are racking their brains to find a "shortcut to overtaking in corners", and improper price comparison is an effective way to alleviate the problem through "small incisions". Such "small incisions" and "free-riding" behaviors have become common problems in the Internet industry and need to attract the attention of regulatory authorities.
The governance of the live broadcast marketing industry needs to go to the deep water area. In recent years, in response to the chaos in the online live broadcast marketing industry, the relevant regulatory authorities have continuously taken action to rectify it. Through continuous efforts, industry governance has achieved initial results. However, the improper price comparison behavior has given us a wake-up call, with the continuous emergence of new problems, the industry rectification can no longer keep up with the speed of industry development, nor can it meet the requirements of the people, and the governance needs to go to the deep water area. Targeting "small incisions" and making precise efforts is conducive to establishing and improving the integrity system of the live broadcast marketing industry, standardizing industry behaviors by "leading from point to point", and protecting consumers' right to know.
Dealing with unfair price comparison is a comprehensive task. Improper treatment is like a doctor curing a disease, and the disease needs to be removed. Unfair price comparison involves advertising, unfair competition, compliance, collusion and monopoly, and is also related to a series of issues such as economic development, value orientation, public order and good customs. The head MCN institutions have high bargaining power, and the entity operators are miserableIn order to increase the popularity of the live broadcast room, the anchor mixed improper price comparison with edge speech and action, which is very spicy;The chaos in the live broadcast market has also created the illusion that it is easy for "Internet celebrities" to make money, and some surveys show that the profession that fresh graduates most want to engage in is "Internet celebrity". In order to take a peek at the leopard, the management of the problem of improper price comparison is a comprehensive work, which requires comprehensive measures, early detection, early treatment, and early standardization.
Author |Sichuan Provincial Market Supervision Bureau, Fang Min, Li Zhiyao.
Audit |Yu Jackie Chan Zhang Lijuan.
Duty Editor |Zhao Jing.
Practice Xi Editing |Zhang Jianing.
Produced by the New ** and Digital Publishing Department of China Industrial and Commercial Press.
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