618: Automotive e-commerce finally takes shape

In the past, the relationship between cars and e-commerce was often affected by the car's own attributes and price, with the gimmick being more gimmick than reality. However, affected by the epidemic and sales pressure, cars have had more contacts with the Internet. , and 618 has become the first test of automobile e-commerce in 2020, but judging from the sales of complete vehicles, it still cannot escape the old path of low-price and word-of-mouth best-selling cars...

文丨 AutoR Smart Driving? Wang Shuoqi

Just one day after 618, domestic e-commerce companies led by Tmall, JD.com, and Pinduoduo have successively released battle reports. However, in terms of automobile categories, the attitudes of the three companies are completely different. Cat sales are high-profile, JD.com is deeply involved in the aftermarket, and Pinduoduo has lost its voice.

“Confidence is stable”, Tmall’s poster uses these four words as the red poster headline.

After nearly 14 months of continuous decline, passenger car sales achieved both year-on-year and month-on-month growth in May. Just when people were debating whether this was a flash in the pan or a continued rise, Tian Mao is trying to use its own sales to announce a slogan to the market that is similar to a tonic, but in Zhijiajun’s view, it has more e-commerce channels that mean it is saving traditional channels.

Tmall data shows that since June 1, it has brought more than 120,000 orders to car companies, nearly double the same period last year. This achievement is also equivalent to the total sales volume of 100 4S stores owned by China's largest automobile dealer group in one year.

On June 1st, the Buick Micro Blue special-priced car went online, and 18 units were sold out within one minute; the 50% off special-priced cars every night were sold out in seconds; on June 14th, Volvo was sold live on Taobao Within 2 and a half hours, more than 3,000 online orders were placed. As of June 16, FAW-Volkswagen, Audi, and SAIC-Volkswagen ranked among the top three in Tmall 618 sales.

During June 18th, Tmall Meow Car Group cooperated with official subsidies from SAIC Volkswagen, GM Buick, Dongfeng Nissan, BYD and other car companies to offer more than 100 popular models at a 50% discount. The pure electric version of SAIC Volkswagen's Lavida is only 81,800 yuan at a 50% discount; BYD's new Qin Comfort model is priced at 32,000 yuan after a 50% discount, which is only equivalent to the price of two top-of-the-line iPhones.

JD.com, an e-commerce company with service as its advantage, seems to be not interested in the vehicle business and focuses more on the automotive aftermarket.

The data that can be collected so far is a poster released by JD.com Big Data: "On 618 JD.com, all categories of automobiles showed explosive growth? The tire transaction amount exceeded 20 million in one hour."

Judging from the data provided by JD.com, tires, vehicle electrical appliances, and maintenance consumables account for the majority, and the output of these categories means that the repair and maintenance income of 4S stores is decreasing. JD.com is seizing the It is the most profitable business of 4S stores, the automobile aftermarket.

Pinduoduo is booming in 2020, and its market value officially surpassed JD.com last month. News of Pinduoduo selling cars has not stopped, but it failed on 618.

As of now, Pinduoduo has not released any news about 618 and Automobile, and the last close contact with Automobile can be traced back to the street stall craze three weeks ago.

When Wuling Motors became popular on social networks with its "artifact for setting up stalls", Pinduoduo was building momentum for its auto retail business in the name of the people. From June 3 to June 4, Pinduoduo launched the "Wuling Rongguang Sales Truck" subsidy activity for two consecutive days, with a subsidy of 3,000 yuan per unit and a total limit of 300 units.

During this campaign, Pinduoduo’s official Weibo bluntly said, “Whatever the people need, Wuling will produce; whatever the people need, Pinduoduo will subsidize it!” Pinduoduo Vice President Chen Qiu also personally Going into battle, he said, "Wuling Rongguang sales trucks are currently very popular on the Internet. Many consumers have called on Pinduoduo to subsidize through social media. We also hope to help more people reduce the cost of starting a business and fight together."

In addition, in terms of automobiles, Pinduoduo also has its own carnival "66 Carpool Festival", and the importance of 618 car sales will also be weakened.

On September 30, 2019, Pinduoduo’s “66 Carpool Festival” was online for a total of 70 hours. Xiu Chun, who served as Pinduoduo’s automotive business director at the time, told the media that during the event, Pinduoduo’s “66 Carpooling Festival” concluded 9,463 orders, with about 40,000 customers purchasing cars every hour. Such a result is equivalent to half a year's sales of a large dealer group.

So in summary, on the 618 battlefield, only Taobao is selling cars seriously, JD.com is engaged in spare parts and maintenance, and Pinduoduo has not organized strong car discounts. , so Mr. Zhijia believes that the paths and difficulties of the three families are completely different.

Tmall is a dealer that is hard to get rid of

Judging from the results, Tmall became the winner of this 618 car sales, but judging from the final sales volume, the top three models They are still well-known brands and models to the public. In other words, Tmall is more of a diversion function, rather than a platform that can make more difficult-to-sell cars easier to sell. Consumers need real discounts before they dare to buy them. Order car models you are familiar with online.

Almost all half-price cars have quotas. These gimmicks are used to attract onlookers and guide the purchase of cars with normal discounts.

Tmall’s 50% discount models include the SAIC Volkswagen Lavida pure electric version, which is priced at 81,895,000 yuan with a 50% discount; the Buick Micro Blue Interconnected and Fashionable New Energy Car, which is priced at 112,090 yuan with a 50% discount; and the MG 2019 MG6, which is priced at 112,090 yuan with a 50% discount. The price is RMB 74,900 with a 50% discount; the Dongfeng Nissan Sylphy pure electric car is priced at RMB 121,500 with a 50% discount; and BYD's new Qin comfort model is priced at RMB 32,450 after a 50% discount.

“Half-price cars” are naturally tempting, but you need to participate in the rush sale activity. After the rush sale is successful, you need to go to the corresponding car store to complete the pick-up of the car. So, what do you think is the success rate of panic buying?

In addition, due to the unique nature of the car, express delivery cannot be used. Therefore, after ordering non-half-price models, you need to go to a local dealer to pick up the car, and Tmall has become an additional layer of distribution. business.

The meaning of online shopping is to get rid of redundant dealers, but Tmall’s current approach is putting the cart before the horse. With one more dealer, the price is still cheaper than buying a car normally, so the price difference should be made by Who takes responsibility?

Therefore. The significance of selling cars on Tmall is more like a channel advertisement, using "half-price cars" to attract consumers who cannot go to 4S stores for various reasons.

If it is an advertisement, Zhijiajun can understand it, but if it is a regular sale of vehicles through subsidies, not only Zhijiajun will not agree with it, but the brand will not do it because of the dealer's profits.

Therefore, half-price cars can be grabbed, but other models are not worth buying. As long as you go to 4S stores more often, you will find Tmall’s normal discounts, which can be easily bought in reality, and the money is there. It’s your own pocket, don’t be afraid of any tricks.

Therefore, judging from the current logic of selling cars on Tmall, Zhijiajun is not optimistic. A business that does not have strong profit support and cannot develop user habits cannot last long.

What 4S stores fear most is JD.com

In the car dealer industry, everyone knows that selling cars does not make money, and maintenance is the profit support for the entire 4S. Because this is a technical job, the most difficult thing for roadside auto repair shops to solve is the issue of trust.

This has also become a more or less brand barrier, but this piece of fat has been targeted by many Internet companies. JD.com is the largest one. At least from now on, it has solved the problem of high maintenance prices and tariffs. The phenomenon of opacity.

Therefore, the automobile industry is one of the most difficult industries to adapt to the Internet. Because of its heavy assets, rich business formats, and long industrial chain, it is also the main direction of many companies. However, in recent years, not many have really improved. However, in the segmented fields, the Internetization of the automotive aftermarket is already very mature.

On May 29, 2020, JD.com and ExxonMobil announced in Shanghai that they had reached a strategic cooperation.

In addition to normal engine oil purchases, consumers can purchase Ustar oil analysis services online on JD.com, then go to JD.com stores to collect oil products, and then deliver the oil products to Mobil's top experiment Laboratory testing is carried out, and through the analysis report after the testing, consumers can have a comprehensive understanding and judgment of the health status of their car based on various indicators.

In addition, JD.com has also launched its own brand Jing Antu, which currently covers all categories of the automotive aftermarket and serves more than 10 million car owners. Jing Antu has released brand new engine oil, start-stop battery, tires and other consumables.

In order to solve the after-sales pain points of consumers shopping online, Jingantu batteries and tires have launched a national after-sales joint warranty service. Currently, Jingantu has officially certified after-sales service outlets in 5,000 stores, covering 96 cities across the country. , the nationwide warranty service will continue to be expanded to other categories in the future.

As an e-commerce platform that consumers know, JD.com can bring a high sense of trust to users, and the strategy of strategic cooperation with big brands will help extend services to In areas such as extended car warranty, testing and more, the Jingdong Automobile Fair that can be seen everywhere in Beijing is the best proof.

This year, Jingche will also upgrade its stores, focusing on building 2.0 smart stores, with intelligence as the core, and strive to surpass the services of 4S stores.

It can be said that JD.com is accelerating the layout of one-stop services in the automotive industry and has already performed well in the aftermarket.

While ensuring authenticity from the source of the supply chain, we are also working together to deepen the automotive Internet and bring simple, convenient and reliable services to consumers. This is what JD.com is doing.

It rarely sells cars, but it makes it cheaper for you to keep a car.

Pinduoduo’s signboard is not yet in good taste

If you have observed Pinduoduo, in the “new track” of automobile retail, Pinduoduo continues to focus on the sinking market. And try to occupy the market through subsidies.

After hard work in 2019, Pinduoduo’s auto retail “empire” has taken shape. On the homepage of Pinduoduo APP, car products have become an independent menu, listed on the same page as mobile phones, furniture and other products.

However, relying directly on subsidies is a direct blow to brands or dealers, especially luxury brands. A while ago, Pinduoduo launched the Shanghai 55 Car Buying Festival with a 50% discount on Cadillac, which was refuted by Cadillac. The dramatic process of claiming fake goods and finally admitting it ("Pinduoduo used its own money to sell new SAIC cars at a 50% discount and Cadillac's own mistake in cracking down on counterfeit goods").

Therefore, currently no luxury brand is willing to sell cars to Pinduoduo, and Pinduoduo’s car sources come directly from dealers.

For Pinduoduo, it is of great significance to attract OEMs and auto e-commerce companies to directly enter. This ensures that the origin of new cars can be traced, provides trust and endorsement for Pinduoduo’s complete vehicle products, and is conducive to the branding of Pinduoduo’s auto retail business.

As of now, the OEMs include Great Wall Motors, Chery Automobile, Dongfeng Motors, Borgward Motors and other companies, and the automotive e-commerce companies include Maodou New Car, Car Horn, Yimai Car, New Car Mall and other e-commerce companies. In addition, Pinduoduo has reached a cooperation with Xiaolinggou Travel to provide new energy vehicle test drives and sales services.

But what must be noted is that, whether in terms of brand or quantity, compared to Tmall and JD.com, Pinduoduo is affected by its inherent label in the early stages of its development, and still has "shortcomings" in terms of appeal, namely Unattractive to mid- to high-end brands.

Take mainstream joint venture brands as an example. Tmall, which has huge influence, has long attracted brands such as FAW-Volkswagen, SAIC Volkswagen, SAIC-GM, FAW Toyota, GAC Toyota, GAC Honda and Ford Motor to directly settle in. , holding high-quality resources tightly in their hands. Although JD.com cannot compete with Tmall, it still attracts brands such as FAW-Volkswagen, SAIC Volkswagen and Guangzhou Automobile Honda to directly settle in, while Pinduoduo does not attract any of these brands to directly settle in.

Tmall is still the leader in the field of luxury brands with higher consumption levels, attracting brands such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, Lexus, Cadillac, Jaguar Land Rover and Lincoln to directly settle in . JD.com is on the second level, attracting brands such as BMW, Audi and Volvo to directly settle in, while Pinduoduo is still an embarrassing zero.

So Pinduoduo’s approach to selling cars is similar to Tmall. To be precise, Tmall is learning from Pinduoduo.

However, due to the low-price subsidies that Pinduoduo relied on during its rapid expansion in the early stage, Pinduoduo can only delve into the sinking market. Let’s not talk about luxury brands. How does the product transform from a national car to a branded one? The participating mainstream joint venture models will require Pinduoduo to put in a lot of effort.

Therefore, expensive cars are not yet Pinduoduo’s main battlefield, and Pinduoduo’s upward journey has just begun.

The Internet automobile industry is still in the exploratory stage

The Internet has subverted publishing, music, digital, daily necessities and many other industries at lightning speed. In comparison, the automobile industry has Internetization seems cumbersome and slow. In such a market where scale and consumption are very rigid, there are successive investors and entrepreneurs, but so far they have not been able to produce a super fruit.

The leading e-commerce companies are ready to take action, 4S stores are constantly transforming, and third-party service brands are performing the story of big fish eating small fish every day.

The final answer is subsidies? Is it an advertisement? It is still a one-stop service, no one has the answer, but what is certain now is that every industry participant is undergoing changes, and efficiency improvements in the entire industry will become the norm.

This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.