Not live ecommerce, nor content ecommerce, but interest ecommerce-the latter is much more extensive than the first two. The first two are from the product function perspective, the latter is from the user experience.

According to the official Douyin statement, "interest e-commerce is an e-commerce that satisfies users' potential shopping interest and improves consumers' quality of life based on people's yearning for a better life." "it sounds a little mysterious, rising to the philosophical level, and many people don't necessarily understand. There is a simpler saying: "the core of interest e-commerce is to take the initiative to help users find their potential needs." "

Let's think about it: there are so many e-commerce platforms, from large platforms to vertical platforms, a variety of Internet companies are doing e-commerce across the border. No matter what APP, you click to open, you will see the shopping / delivery link. Any platform, any KOL, can sell things in any scenario. So, where is the competitiveness of Douyin as an e-commerce? In other words, why should users buy things on Douyin rather than other platforms?

Because on the Douyin platform, there is a very rich content of life and art. You see an interesting video or live broadcast that happens to attract you-it could be a piece of clothing, an ingredient, a book, or even a game. You watch the consumption process, and perhaps the production process, with great interest; you can also interact with other audiences in the comments section and listen to their feelings. Then you will happily place the order.

It's like shopping, you go out just because it's sunny today, and you want to change your mood. When you go home, you bring large and small bags of things that you are willing to buy. It is said that shopping itself is a kind of enjoyment, I would like to add: high-quality, interesting shopping experience is a kind of enjoyment. The content and social interaction on Douyin makes the shopping process interesting and makes you enjoy shopping more.

Before joining Douyin, Beijing byte jump chairman Zhang Lidong asked him "what do you want to buy today", but he didn't know what to buy after thinking about it for a long time, Kang Zeyu, president of Douyin e-commerce, said in a speech. Zhang Lidong advised him to "browse Douyin and know what to buy". Later, Kang Zeyu saw a crayfish in the Douyin studio, which looked particularly delicious, and placed an order. I believe that the first order of the vast majority of people in Douyin e-commerce is likely to be generated spontaneously in this way.

You have to ask: this kind of thing is not just Douyin can do? Everyone knows the truth, and there seems to be no barriers, so it is easy to be imitated. Yes, in fact, we all wanted to go together a long time ago.

Now, traditional e-commerce platforms all emphasize internalization, social media, and constantly strengthen internal live streaming and video information flow. A variety of content platforms are trying to bring goods to turn the influence of content into consumer behavior. As a result, the e-commerce market is becoming more and more crowded and users have more and more choices. So what are the advantages of Douyin? Why do consumers buy things on Douyin and why do merchants go to Douyin to sell things? These two questions are actually the same problem.

I have tried all social / content platforms with e-commerce capabilities. I think the advantages of Douyin are very obvious and difficult to reproduce:

• 1. Huge user base and user diversity

• two。 Mature recommendation and distribution technology

• 3. The platform governance idea of sustainable development.
  

The first is obvious and well known: the DAU of Douyin (including volcanoes) exceeded 600m as early as August 2020, taking the lead in all short videos and live APP. Consumers on Douyin can find the goods they are interested in by watching the content they like; because Douyin has a broad mass base, all kinds of goods and businesses can find suitable consumption scenes and achieve transformation.

Remember the Slogan of Douyin? "record the good life. "since users are willing to watch and share the good life on Douyin, the next step is to use Douyin to achieve the good life. They will be interested in the goods that appear in other people's lives and use them to improve their quality of life. This business logic is very clear and persuasive.

The second is also easy to understand: of all the content platforms, Douyin's distribution and recommendation technology is probably the strongest. The most important function of the platform is to build a bridge between merchants and consumers to help them reach each other efficiently. During the Spring Festival, I chatted with several MCN outlets about the current situation of the short video industry, and they told me: "talented creators have opportunities on any platform, but they have a greater chance on Douyin because their distribution mechanism is the most accurate. "

The same is true for goods. No matter how good the product is, it must reach the right user in the right scene. Form itself is not the key-whether it's short videos, live broadcasts or other forms of content, the key is to find people who are really interested. Therefore, the slogan put forward by Douyin is not live e-commerce or content e-commerce, but a more essential "interest e-commerce".

The third is "sustainable development" and "social responsibility" emphasized by the Douyin platform, which is not just a slogan. It is meaningless to simply enlarge the GMV, the important thing is the "quality GMV". If you can not identify illegal goods, carry out merchant control, and guarantee the rights and interests of consumers, then GMV will not be sustainable. Since July 2020 alone, more than 1 million illegal products have been removed from the Douyin platform and more than 300000 have been intercepted before they are put on the shelves. No growth is worth sacrificing the user experience, and the strictest governance is necessary.

At the same time, only by encouraging and supporting various types and levels of businesses, can we maximize the enrichment of goods and scenes and meet the different interests of users. For example, Douyin's support for agricultural products and traditional handicrafts since 2020 has not only directly improved the situation of producers, but also ultimately helped users meet specific needs that are often difficult to meet on traditional e-commerce platforms.

I have studied the e-commerce industry for a long time. Over the past decade, China's e-commerce industry has gone through several stages, each of which competes with different core competencies:

• Before 2011, in the embryonic and early stages of e-commerce, the major platforms competed with the richness of goods, that is, the question of "availability".

• From 2011 to 2014, in the rapid development stage of mobile e-commerce, the major platforms competed with the problems of mobile user experience and vertical characteristics. Of course, the question of "whether it is available or not" has not been completely solved.

• In 2015-19, e-commerce entered a mature stage of development, the major platforms not only continue to compete for user experience and vertical features, but also compete for compliance capabilities, so people have to strengthen logistics and other infrastructure.

• After 2020, the e-commerce market has become so mature that it seems that all the territories have been carved up. However, platforms such as Douyin e-commerce have found new opportunities, proving that users still have unmet needs, and merchants also have the need to find new channels.

In the traditional e-commerce platform, merchants have been facing the problem of "insufficient flow". The reason is simple: users open e-commerce APP; only when they have shopping needs. The only difference is that sometimes users have clear ideas for shopping, sometimes they only have vague ideas. In this case, the flow of merchants is certainly insufficient-you can imagine that all the facades of a shopping mall are shops, there are no places of entertainment, no dining and sitting areas, then the flow of people must be very limited, and people won't stay for long.

Douyin is like a theme park with rich projects, with a variety of rides, performances in the theatre at any time, and float parades on the road. In the process of visiting the park, users will notice a lot of specialty stores, and may directly like the clothes of theater actors and even the bouquets on floats-all of which can be ordered to buy home at any time. If you don't buy anything, it doesn't matter, this paradise is still worth visiting for you, because the experience it brings is very rich and enjoyable.

As you get used to shopping in the park, you will find that there are more and more shops in the park, more and more categories, faster and faster delivery after placing orders, and more and more cost-effective goods. At this moment, this is not only a theme park, but also can provide you with comprehensive life services.

According to third-party estimates, the GMV of interested e-commerce may exceed 9.5 trillion by 2023, becoming the mainstream of the e-commerce market. Will this come true? I don't know, but from the objective law of the development of things, it's possible.

Interest in e-commerce is a good thing, I hope Douyin can do it well.