** Industrial technology.
What has been there, there will be again;What has been done, it will be done again. Under the sun, there is nothing new. "Under the law of cycles, history tends to form a loop, repeating what has happened over an infinite span of time.
The same is true for e-commerce. Twenty years ago, when e-commerce was in its infancy, e-commerce platforms explored the optimal solution of efficiency and cost in order to reach consumers quicklyTwenty years later, the form of e-commerce has evolved several times, from shelf e-commerce, content e-commerce, live e-commerce to AI e-commerce, and cost and e-commerce have once again been pushed to the top of the strategy.
The momentum of industry transformation and upgrading is similar as always, and the division lies in whether it can grasp the next coordinate and course in the cycle loop. As far as e-commerce is concerned, everything new is rolled out around the extremely low price, and those "old platforms of factory goods" that have been tempered by cycles can naturally lead the trend again in the cycle resonance.
As no one expected, 1688, which was once regarded as the marginalized "side business" of Taotian's e-commerce, has now risen to the top and has become one of Ali's "Four Little Dragons" and the backbone of Ali's e-commerce platform. The logic of 1688 is consistent with the beginning of its establishment, the main focus is factory goods, cheap goods, infinitely close to the industrial belt, infinitely optimized efficiency and cost.
Not long ago, 1688 released the latest platform data, and a number of business indicators hit a record high in the company's 24 years since its establishment, and the development momentum is rapid. According to the data, the number of 1688 merchant members has exceeded 1 million, of which 600,000 are source factories, and the number of active users of 1688 app has also broken the historical record.
The increase in business indicators is directly attributable to the younger trend injecting new vitality into the platform. Affected by the new consumer trend, young people have begun to return to rational consumption, and 1688, which is mainly engaged in factory goods, has become the new favorite of young consumer groups, and a large number of young buyers and sellers have poured into the platform in search of cost performance.
In terms of user structure, the average age of users on the 1688 platform is 25 years old, and most of the new users are under 30 years oldMost of the new businesses are mainly the second generation and third generation of young factories born in the 90s and 00s.
When the old platform keeps retaining new users, the resilience through the cycle is formed.
Serve the small B and cultivate the big C
1688's unexpected exit from the circle, Xiaohongshu contributed a lot.
Since 2020, affected by the fluctuation of the consumer market, people have become more and more sensitive to goods, and "reverse consumption" has become a new consumption trend among young people.
Under this trend, there is a "flat tide" on Xiaohongshu, and major bloggers have begun to share how to spend less money and buy products with similar functions. As a direct sales platform for factory goods, 1688 is in the heart of young consumer groups because it is "rich and cheap" and "more cost-effective".
According to data, among the 1688 buyers, nearly 50% of the buyers are 25 to 30 years old, and nearly 45% are "new middle class" between 30 and 35 years old. Because the users of 1688 are highly consistent with the users of Xiaohongshu, the user resonance is formed, making Xiaohongshu the most powerful promoter of 1688 among young customers.
For a time, 1688 exploded in Xiaohongshu, and topics such as "1688 evaluation", "1688 unboxing", and "1688 pressure box recommendation" became popular, and the number of likes on the notes of related experts easily exceeded 1,000, which directly made the number of 1688 notes on Xiaohongshu break one million in one year. 1688 also gained a group of C-end fans who claimed to be "1688 girls", and the platform data skyrocketed.
Take this winter's "flat wind" hottest cotton clothing down jacket category as an example. 1688 data shows that from November 1 to December 12, the average daily search number of military coats on the platform increased by 236% year-on-year, the number of searches increased by 216% year-on-year, and the number of buyers increased by 50% year-on-year. During the same period, the number of searches for flower cotton jackets increased by 163% year-on-day on average, the number of searches increased by 159% year-on-year, and the number of buyers increased by 49% year-on-year.
In addition to Xiaohongshu, the "1688 Source Factory Excavator" group also appeared on the Douban platform very early, and there are also countless anchors on Douyin, Kuaishou and other ** platforms to share "1688 Visiting Stores" and "1688 Treasure List".
As 1688, which has always been based on B2B, B-end customers have always been the firm goal of the platform. In 1688's view, serving the big C well is also the process of cultivating the little B. Judging from the current increment of 1688**, one is the C-end consumers who have self-use needs, and the other is the small B distributors who are differentiated from the big B-end.
The so-called Xiao B is a user based on commercial purposes rather than personal needs, mainly Xiaohongshu bloggers, Douyin Kuaishou talents, Bao Ma, college student entrepreneurs, and community "leaders". And all big C's have the possibility of developing into small B's.
Compared with the traditional B-end is mostly factories and merchants, the small B group is dominated by young small and medium-sized entrepreneurs, who are more receptive, more sensitive to the best smell, more efficient and cost-effective, and more inclined to use online channels with high price comparison efficiency as the source of goods.
According to a survey, about 26% of young people have their own side hustles, of which e-commerce accounts for 204%, 17% of self-payment, 168%, which is the most popular type of side hustle among young people. The surge in demand for side hustles has skyrocketed the number of small B users in 1688, and at the same time, it means that big C will become the main increment of small B**.
1688 data shows that 97% of the platform's current GMV comes from the contribution of small B customers. Meeting the consumption demand of small B is the main development strategy of 1688 in the future, and cultivating large C class B users into small B will become the key to the increase of 1688 users.
Stand at the forefront of the industrial belt
Behind the rise of business indicators, as a support is 1688's unique first-class chain capability.
In 1999, Ali established 1688 relying on B2B business, which can be described as the most Ali sentiment and the business with the longest history of Alibaba, with a complete first-class chain system and rich industry resources.
At the beginning of its establishment, 1688, Yiwu Commodity City, which was engaged in small commodities, and the Canton Fair, which was engaged in advanced manufacturing, constituted the three poles of China's wholesale business. With wholesale and procurement business as the core, at present, 1688 business has covered 16 industry categories such as raw materials, industrial products, clothing and accessories, household department stores, and small commodities.
For a long time, Alibaba's strategic focus focused on developing the C2C and B2C markets, and 1688, with the B2B market as the core, was once marginalized and hidden behind the first. However, with the continuous changes in the market environment and the fact that Generation Z and the new middle-class consumer groups have become the mainstream, Alibaba has begun to re-emphasize the B2B business, and its strategic focus and resources have begun to tilt towards 1688.
In September 2022, 1688 launched the "1688 Strict Selection" to select super factory member merchants, and has achieved sales of 30 billion yuan within one year. In September last year, the 1688PLUS membership store was launched, providing brand replacement source goods with ultra-low **, meeting the personal self-use or family procurement needs of Generation Z and the new middle class, and dismantling the needs of B-end customers in more detail.
In November 2023, Alibaba upgraded 1688 to the first-level business of Taotian Group. Then, 1688 appeared again in the first batch of strategic innovation businesses announced by Alibaba. Since then, 1688, together with Salted Fish, DingTalk, and Quark, has been called the "Ali Four Little Dragons", and has been regarded by Ali as one of the products with the most development potential.
After identifying the younger Xiao B as the first customer, and having more resources and strategic support, 1688 quickly locked in the corresponding supply for the small B buyer group.
The influx of small B buyers has attracted more and more sources of flat supply to settle in, promoting the transformation of 1688's supply to a younger supply. Today, the supply side of 1688 has covered more than 50 million small and medium-sized buyers, such as ** shop owners, cross-border shop owners, live broadcast broadcasters, micro-businesses, small shop owners, and night market stall owners.
Compared with the original traditional supply of bulk ordering, these young new suppliers are more receptive to small B and big C buyers, and are more open to providing flexible ** chain services, which in turn has led to the influx of more young buyers. Advanced supply and advanced buyers complement each other and benefit from each other, which in turn promotes the growth of the number of 1688 users and transaction volume.
According to 1688 official data, the platform has attracted more than 65 million buyers, including more than 20 million new buyers in the past year, the annual GMV has reached 800 billion, and the monthly transaction volume is close to 30 billion, 80% of the daily traffic is entered by users independently, and users are active and maintain growth for a long time.
At the same time, the supply strategy of 1688 has also been upgrading, and has now crossed the initial stage of matching buyers and sellers to reach transactions, from rich supply to high-quality supply, and has entered the process of digital transaction and building a digital ** chain.
Wang Qiang, general manager of 1688 Merchant Development Center, said, "If 1688 only does one thing in the next three years, it is to do digital ** chain. Our goal is not to be the largest digital chain in China, but to be the best digital chain in China. ”
As one of the measures to build a digital ** chain, 1688 has launched AI technology to match people, goods and yards, replacing the past industry junior two. This year, the frequency of use of AI image search services, represented by AI technology, has increased by 100%.
The layout of the digital chain breaks through the barriers between people and goods yards in the traditional industrial belt, and makes it possible for the efficient circulation of resource elements in the industrial belt. In the past few years, 1688 has been deeply cultivated in the field of industrial belts, and plans to digitize the 1,000 industrial belts that it is deeply involved in as soon as possible, and go deep into 68 industrial belts of 10 billion yuan, analyze the changes and new product trends of each industrial belt category, and provide digital empowerment for each enterprise, including R&D, design, inventory, payment, trading, finance and logistics.
Previously, 1688 released the "1688 Industry Leading Plan" and conducted an in-depth interpretation. Relying on the "five new" strategies of new buyers, new channels, new supply, new members and new services, the plan focuses on 10 types of opportunity groups, undertakes the high-quality supply of six categories of merchants, and uses the "3+1" strategy such as digital maps to light up the source merchants, and faces three types of member merchants: honest and honest, powerful merchants and super factories.
1688 will promote the deep integration of the digital economy and the real economy through a number of assistance measures such as digital technology empowerment, digital marketing services, and digital school enterprise training, help enterprises open up the upstream and downstream of the first chain, expand and boost industrial development, promote the prosperity of online and offline consumption, provide diversified sales channels and rich business opportunities for enterprises, and better and faster drive enterprises to try digital transformation and meet more online business opportunities.
At the beginning of 2024, 1688 will be launched for manufacturers with industrial belts"Business multiplication plan", invest heavy resources of 100 million traffic to help source manufacturers improve quality and efficiency. To this end, 1688 has upgraded the two major business models of customer acquisition and sales according to different merchant groups, among which it provides customized and stockpiling wholesale businesses for brand merchants with operational experience, and merchants can obtain new customers through platform scenarios and traffic. For manufacturers who have products but lack operational capabilities, 1688 provides them with a more convenient sales model, allowing merchants to return to product development and production, and handing over marketing, sales, and fulfillment to 1688.
At present, 1688 has about 1,000 employees in the industrial belt, with about 1There are 60,000 channel partners, and the entire ecosystem has about 40,000-50,000 people, and the scale of investment far exceeds that of other platforms. The goal of 1688 is to build the largest digital map of China's industrial belt and become the largest digital industry gathering place.
Since 1688, a healthier and more sustainable low-price cycle has quietly taken place.