Standing on the tail of 2023 and looking forward, retail practitioners all have the same question in their hearts:Can consumption be good in 2024?The opportunity for growth is in the **??
I would say: have faith, the consumer industry is always young. Economist Xiang Shuai said at the "2023 Practical Entrepreneur Summit - Consumption Session" held by Enterprise WeChat that if any economy wants to develop, the importance of consumption will only rise, not decline. It's just that today, the market is undergoing structural changes, and companies need to iterate their cognition and find their own ways to grow.
So, the crux of the matter is:The growth comes from **?What kind of method is suitable for you?
To answer these two questions, we may be able to get some inspiration from companies such as MINISO, Decathlon, and Ubichon that have maintained continuous growth in recent years.
The era of explosive products
Organize KOC to achieve the ultimate in marketing
On March 18, 2023, a clerk at a store in Luoyang, MINISO, had a whim to wear a ** for a "Dundun chicken" in the store, and casually sent a note on Xiaohongshu. The fact that the doll became a **model unexpectedly became popular——Within 24 hours, the note had garnered more than 50,000 likes.
This note is the epitome of the power of content marketing. With the prevalence of social networking, a single piece of content may attract huge attention, and it is possible to bring a popular product through content marketing.
After seeing the case of the Luoyang store, the headquarters of MINISO immediately sent it to the heads of all major regions of the country through WeChat, so that more stores could follow Luoyang's approach. At the same time,The headquarters also distributed more technical materials to its store managers, store assistants and private domain KOCs through Enterprise WeChat(brand fans with high desire to share), which is convenient for them to carry out secondary creation and share to various platforms.
Driven by the store and KOC, "Dundun Chicken" was played by young people across the country, and at the same time, the chicken doll was once sold out of stock on the whole networkmade netizens shout: "Give a 'chicken' meeting!."It is revealed that since the "Dundun Chicken" has been on the shelves, the sales have exceeded 40 million yuan, and it is a proper annual hit doll.
This case makes users feel that MINISO is a very interesting, young people who understand it very well, and can play with memes. At the same time, our products also have more**. Talking about this case, Liu Xiaobin, vice president and chief marketing officer of MINISO Group, couldn't hide his excitement.
The key to accomplishing such an extreme marketing is inseparable from the 50,000 private domain KOCs operated by MINISO using Enterprise WeChat. "Don't underestimate only 50,000, the energy of these 50,000 people is huge. In the past two years, they have helped MINISO produce excellent products4 million pieces of content, created 1.7 billion times**, and saved 40 million marketing costs. Liu Xiaobin said that private domain KOC has helped one product after another to become "explosive products", and it is a moat for MINISO brand marketing.
Today, it is a marketing strategy adopted by many companies to increase user engagement and trust and promote the production of explosive products through KOC account generation content and word-of-mouth effect.
Xiang Shuai believes that according to the famous historian Neil Ferguson, at the level of communication, the previous society was a tower-like society, and influence was transmitted from the top down. But the deep penetration of social ** changed everythingThe influence of the Tower's authority is being distributed among KOCs large and small. More and more popular models in society are driven by KOC, and after rounds of self-fermentation by netizens, merchants have added fuel to the fire.
Therefore, it is necessary for all consumer brands to cultivate their own KOC. But the challenge is: how to establish a close connection with KOC, and how to keep KOC passionate about creation?
MINISO has tried to establish its own user base on various short** and community platforms, but found that the communication efficiency is not as high as on WeChat, so it finally chose to operate its own users in WeChat. So far, more than 39 million private domain users have been introduced through stores, and more than 50,000 private domain KOCs have been precipitated, and these 50,000 private domain KOCs have almost become the "Royal Forest Army" of MINISO content marketing.
In order to stimulate KOC's enthusiasm for continuous creation, MINISO has also established a complete set of grading incentive systemWhen you post a piece of content, you join the organization. If you continue to create, you can become an intermediate KOC and get official benefits such as new products that have not been released. When the user's notes post more than 1,000 likes, they can become a high-level KOC, and they can join the high-level KOC group to communicate and grow with masters.
Another popular doll in 2023, the Loopy doll, is to send a unique product to private domain KOCs a week in advance. These private domain KOCs will feel that this is an exclusive privilege, and they have shown it on Xiaohongshu, Douyin, and Moments, which is equivalent to helping Loopy warm up the new product in disguise.
"To do a brand is essentially to manage people and people's hearts, and the key to brand success is that we have established a long-term, mutually beneficial and symbiotic relationship with users. WeCom is a bridge between our brand and users, especially KOC. ”Liu Xiaobin said that with the help of efficient connection and interactive tools such as WeCom, MINISO has built its core competencies in user management and content marketing, and has also made MINISO's brand upgrade more stable and confident.
Stick to the user
Shift from selling products to serving experiences
Growth is a problem that all enterprises need to face at present, and it is also the goal that all enterprises want to achieve.
A traffic-based explosive product like "Dundun Chicken" can help companies quickly gather popularity and customer traffic and increase sales in the short term. However, at a time when growth is slowing down, establishing a closer connection with consumers and providing users with a better experience by serving users is another important way for businesses to grow.
A report from marketing firm Hubspot showsWhen customers have a good shopping experience, they are more likely to continue to spend, and it may also bring other benefits, which in turn will help the business grow.
For example, in the eyes of many people, Decathlon, which is popular with users because of its advantages, recently released a professional bicycle with a unit price of 40,000 yuan, but it was sold out within 5 seconds of being launched, which is hard to find.
Why are consumers willing to spend 40,000 yuan to buy a bicycle in Decathlon?In addition to the professionalism of the product itself, Xiao Lu, Executive Vice President of Decathlon China, believes that the secret lies in the experience. "One of the most important fulcrums in our business that cannot be ignored is the customer experience. ”
For sports products, most users will only make a choice after fully experiencing it. Decathlon's survey shows that the difference in purchase rate between customers who have experienced it and those who have not experienced it is more than 5 times.
Decathlon has set up experience areas for different sports in the store, allowing users to try out the game at will. At the same time, the store staff are professional and enthusiastic athletes who can help answer users' questions. But in the past, these experiences could only happen in stores. Once the customer leaves the store, the connection between the store and the customer is broken. Moreover, for many athletes, after buying sports equipment, it may be forgotten in the corner to eat ashes.
To this end, in 2021, Decathlon China began its digital transformation. One of the directions is to explore external growth factors, including private domain, mini program construction, etcWe hope to find more opportunities to interact with consumers by establishing richer connections with consumers, improve the user's experience after leaving the store, and continue to ignite their enthusiasm for sports.
Decathlon has tried a variety of ways to connect usersIn the end, it was found that using WeCom to operate private domain users is the most effective way.
Many companies are doing private domains, constantly pulling users into their member groups, but in the end it has become a welfare group that sends discounts and pushes products. This is clearly not what Decathlon wants.
In order to continue to ignite the enthusiasm of user sports, Decathlon has summarized three keys to its private domain operation:
First, community is based on interest. Decathlon has established a variety of sports interest groups with stores as areas, so that users can find "partners" with the same sports hobbies in the same area. According to the data, Decathlon has more than 80 sports interest groups, such as running groups, fitness groups, and even parent-child interaction groups with children exercising. Because they are the same sports interests, the interaction of the group friends is positive and professional, such as how to maintain the bicycle in the cycling group, how to avoid sports injuries, etc. The related products are new, corresponding to the interest, and users will not be disturbed.
Secondly, each interest group is equipped with a group leader served by a clerk, who will organize group activities regularly and regularly, and do a good job of logistics support for everyone's sports. Under the organization of these group leaders, Decathlon will hold tens of thousands of activities in 2023, with an average of more than 100 activities being held across the country every day, mobilizing hundreds of thousands of people to participate.
Third, use the strategy of "headquarters guidance + regional self-help" to provide support for ammunition to stores through digital tools. The Community Sports Center of Decathlon Headquarters will combine the current hot spots, such as autumn cycling, roller skating, etc., to plan activities in a unified manner, initiate topics, prepare materials, and then send them directly by the store through the "** assistant" of WeCom. In addition, Decathlon will also recommend a niche sport to users every month, which not only helps users learn new sports knowledge, but also helps stores expand categories.
Using the management of WeCom's private domain users, Decathlon has realized the transformation from selling products to selling sports experience, and has also gained tens of millions of loyal fans. After joining Decathlon's private domain membership, many customers have also ignited their continuous enthusiasm for sports, from camping and cycling to frisbee and roller skating, more and more sports they love have also generated new purchase needs. Compared with ordinary users, the repurchase rate of private domain members is several times higher.
A good experience is better than a good price. Xiao Lu, executive vice president of Decathlon China, saidPrivate domain operation enables Decathlon to directly connect with consumers, which can not only bring high repurchase and high customer orders, but also make the Decathlon brand deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Although Decathlon's stores have made a lot of adjustments in the past two years, through the operation of private domains such as WeCom, the number of members has continued to grow, the growth of new members has reached one million, and the activity of old members has continued to increase. Moreover, in 2023, Decathlon's performance will hit a record high, with sales exceeding 10 billion.
SME growth opportunities
Increase trust with communication and service
In addition to national big brands and chain brands such as MINISO and Decathlon, there are thousands of small community stores and small and medium-sized enterprises in China. Behind these small shops, small and medium-sized enterprises are employment, consumption and fireworks, and they are also the capillaries that drive China's economic development.
Compared with big brands and big enterprises, those of us who do small community stores have no money and no resources, but we also have to find a way, right?Huang Fengjuan, the founder of Ubibear, said to Business and Life.
Ubibear is a local chain mother and baby store in Foshan. In the past two years, China's birth rate has continued to decline, and everything from supermarkets to online e-commerce companies are competing for the mother and baby business. However, Ubibear has maintained continuous growth, and has opened more than 20 chain stores, with an annual revenue of tens of millions.
The secret of Ubibear's growth lies in the service to users. Huang Fengjuan believes that large shopping malls are very complete, and online shopping may be cheaper, but once users encounter urgent problems, it is difficult to get timely help. However, the biggest advantage of the community store is that it is close to the customer, can solve the customer's problem at any time, and they are all neighbors, and the customer does not need to worry about after-sales disputes after purchase.
In order to allow their own store to serve users well at any time, as long as a new customer enters the store, the store staff of Ubibear will invite customers to add their own enterprise WeChat. This way, customers can get a response as soon as they encounter a problem.
One night, when the store had already closed, a mother found that her milk powder had run out when she was making milk powder for her child, and at this time, the supermarket was also closed, and online shopping could not be delivered in time, so she tried to contact the store staff of Ubibear on WeChat. Unexpectedly, the clerk really rushed back and brought her milk powder.
In order not to disturb customers as much as possible, Ubibear's corporate WeChat group tries not to send messages, but chooses to share parenting experience and other useful knowledge for mothers in the circle of friends.
Once, Ubibear posted a circle of friends about how to take care of a baby's red fart, and a mother sent a private message saying that her baby's ass was very red. The clerk immediately comforted Bao's mother that this is a common situation, and there is no need to worry, and told her what to do next.
In the process of providing help, answering questions, and providing help again and again, more and more customers trust Ubibear. At present, Ubibear has more than 80,000 private domain customers maintained through WeCom. As the children of the neighborhood grow up, many old customers will take the initiative to ask, can they buy some supplies for older children?Slowly, Ubiko's business has become more diversified.
"The business of our small community store is supported by old customers. I think the most important thing is that the brand gives customers a sense of trust. Trust is subtle and takes time to accumulate. The private domain is the best channel to build trust. Huang Fengjuan said that she has a deep feeling, that is: for small community stores, when business is not good, you don't have enough resources to compete with large enterprises, you might as well go to the "private domain" to find opportunities.
"You want users to know what you're good at, why it's worth the money?I think this depends on in-depth communication, which can only be done in the private domain. ”Hao Xiangfeng, chairman of Bairuiyuan, said that he agreed with Huang Fengjuan's statement.
Bairuiyuan is a Ningxia wolfberry industry company. In the past, wolfberry lacked planting standards, the quality was uneven, and as soon as consumers opened the web page, the retouched pictures of each one looked the same, and it was impossible to distinguish which product's products were more trustworthy, so they could only choose the lowest one. The overall market is chaotic, the battle is fierce, and the wolfberry was once sold to 9 pounds$9.
This **, as a user who pursues health quality, you dare not eat, and our picking fee is not enough, which is the vicious competition in the industry. Hao Xiangfeng sighed. Therefore, Bairuiyuan decided to avoid the first-class war and serve the middle and high-end people. The brand goal is there, but how do you achieve it?The answer is to do a good job of using WeCom to do a good job in the private domain.
To this end, Bairuiyuan guides online users to the enterprise WeChat, communicates directly with users, and acts as a health consultant for customers in the private domain: teaching customers to eat and reminding customers to eat on time and in quantityOn the other hand, a "Hao Xiangfeng Direct Account" has been established, allowing users to directly contact the chairman and regularly announce various after-sales problems they encounter. Through continuous communication with users, online users gradually developed a higher level of trust in Braiyuan, and business grew naturally. “Not to mention the rest, our performance has increased in the past three years, and the contribution of the private domain is particularly large. Hao Xiangfeng said.
After returning to the everyday
Is private domain still mandatory?
In the past three years, under the special environment, private domain has become the main way for many retail enterprises to achieve business growth. Nowadays, with the reopening of society, it has become a mainstream trend to promote the recovery and development of the real economy. Some businesses will inevitably have questions:After returning to daily life, is private domain still a must?
Liu Xiaobin said that MINISO had the same swing in early 2023. However, it has been proven that managing the private domain well is the general trend of the retail industry.
The data shows that the repurchase rate of the private domain is higher - in 2023, the annual repurchase rate of MINISO will be about 284, while the private domain annual repurchase is 468。It can be seen that maintaining continuous connection and communication in the private domain can indeed enhance his stickiness to the brand, enhance repurchase, and improve brand loyalty. ”
Today, it is an indisputable fact that the dividend of public domain traffic has peaked, and traffic is getting more and more expensive. If enterprises want to build their own market competitiveness, the most urgent thing is to precipitate traffic into their own private domain.
Hao Xiangfeng, chairman of Bairuiyuan, told "Business and Life" that the company has also tried to bring goods through head anchors, but each live broadcast only brings a wave of traffic and sales, and users almost can't retain, and users recognize the anchor, not the brand. Therefore, to cultivate the brand's fans, you can only through the private domain. Moreover, the repurchase rate of the private domain is higher compared to the public domain.
The fact that everyone operates the private domain is not decreasing, but increasing, and the proportion of revenue brought by the private domain is also increasing. A lot of companies have made their own characteristics. Li Zhifeng, vice president of WeChat, told Business and Life.
For the private domain, each enterprise and each brand has different practices according to their own business characteristicsWeCom divides the use of private domain into four categories: service-oriented, welfare-oriented, interest-based, and online operation-orientedFor example, the service type is suitable for those brands with high unit prices and long product life cycles, while the welfare type is more suitable for high-frequency and low-unit price products, which remind customers to visit the store or directly promote online transactions through some benefits. Even if there is no one-size-fits-all approach, they still have a common feature, which is to provide emotional value and experience value through service to enhance customer stickiness. And this coincides with the "concept of people as a service" advocated by WeCom.
Enterprises want to provide users with different traditional values, and as a private domain tool, we hope to establish a two-way interaction channel between brands and consumers. Li Zhifeng said. To this end,WeCom has developed a variety of tools and integrated a variety of resources in the WeChat ecosystem, hoping to help enterprises and brands serve their users well, and ultimately form a positive cycle ecology of good products, good services and good products.
Xiang Shuai also said that the changes in the external environment in recent years have increased people's emotional demand for "neighborhood community" and increased demand for "experience and service". Therefore, "private domain" tools such as WeChat Work, which can allow enterprises, brands and users to establish closer connections, contain opportunities for consumption growth.