Double 11 "return": a secret battle between official event operations and private domain traffic

After the Double Eleven “100 billion” shopping carnival came to an end, another program that ate away at the remaining heat - the “encore” activities initiated by the merchants themselves - began again.

In recent years, the "return of sales" after Double 11 seems to have become the highlight of merchants' promotions, which has also allowed some consumers to no longer be immersed in the regret of "missing one day and waiting another year". Some industry insiders revealed that the discounts offered by the "returning" activities in recent years are even as good as those on the Double 11 event day.

This year’s Double 11 unofficial “return” event lasted until around the 19th. As of the 20th, some e-commerce stores still have "returning" signs hanging and are handing out "coupons" with discounts that match those on the day of the event.

The constant updates on discounts are actually a good thing for consumers. However, there are also a lot of discordant voices in this year's "return" event. Many businesses and gray industries are mixed in, and all kinds of tricks make this round of return highlight the weird atmosphere.

The carnival continues to "return to the stage", and "out-of-the-field" orders are frequent

"The encore event has taken place in recent years, but this year it took a particularly long time and the format was particularly chaotic. Many promotions were sent through social software."

"I feel like I received a lot of advertisements for return promotions in the past few days, and some of the discounts were even greater than those on Double 11."

Yali, a consumer who just spent more than 10,000 yuan during the Double 11 event, told Dongdong Notes that in recent years, before various e-commerce events, her friends always invited her to join some "cashback groups", "internal purchase groups" and "discount groups", and this year's Double 11 was particularly lively.

Before shopping, these groups released a large number of in-app purchase coupons and event vouchers. After Double 11 ended, some merchants continued to "return" and push coupons, which were quite tempting.

"However, many of the return activities pushed in recent days are not passwords, but links and QR codes." Yali said that although the words and pictures of these "advertising content" contain icons or names of mainstream e-commerce platforms, after clicking or scanning the code to enter, they are all purchase pages and links of some unfamiliar platforms or mini-program stores. "The mobile page looks similar to the page of the big e-commerce platform, but if you look closely, you can still find that it is not a regular one."

A large number of promotional links for Double 11 events in an in-app purchase group

Curious, Yali searched for the products and merchant names displayed on these pages on e-commerce platforms such as Tmall and JD.com, but found no results. Only a few merchants have opened corporate stores on the Taobao platform. She soon discovered that these corporate stores did not participate in any promotional activities and did not offer any coupons.

This is strange. Why are there so many return promotions and discounts, but after checking, there are only a few corporate stores that have no discounts at all?

At first glance, the pages of these discounted products all have the names of JD.com and Tmall, but when you click on them, they all lead to unofficial e-commerce platforms. Several group members were quite dissatisfied and began to question the group administrators who posted promotional links and shopping links. However, the other party responded confidently: the goods are all genuine and we will compensate you ten times if they are fake.

"It's not just one group that is sending this information. Many (in-app purchasing) groups are sending similar links to return discounts." Yali told Dongdong Notes that in addition to this so-called return information in the in-app purchasing group, many friends around her have also forwarded some "copycat" return discount promotions of regular e-commerce platforms in their Moments and private messages.

Although the products on this kind of fraudulent e-commerce platform are priced extremely low, even their own platform or store is fake. Will the things they sell be even more unreliable?

"I asked my friends and group members, and found that some people have actually bought the products in these links and received them. They don't feel fake." After asking around, Yali found that friends who received the goods said that most of these products were unfamiliar or not well-known, and the quality was relatively average.

These products did not participate in the shopping activities of major e-commerce platforms on Double 11, and they don’t even have stores on mainstream e-commerce platforms. They are purely relying on fraud to promote so-called special offers. So, why do the group administrators who posted the promotional links dare to promise group members that if the products are fake, they will get ten times the compensation?

Unknown small brands, diverting traffic to "counter" rules

"It's just that if the product is fake, I will compensate you ten times. How can you not dare to make such a promise?"

Regarding the above questions, Dongdong Notes consulted several professionals in the field of e-commerce operations. Xuan Yi, who has been engaged in e-commerce agency operations for nearly ten years, told Dongdong Notes that whenever an e-commerce shopping festival is approaching, many agencies and merchants will set up so-called "internal purchase discount groups" just to create more private domain traffic .

By sharing discounts in in-app purchase groups, more consumers can use coupons to shop at related merchants' stores, and all parties involved benefit. In recent years, a large number of small and medium-sized e-commerce stores have preferred to promote and attract traffic through internal purchase groups because they cannot get official traffic. "In recent years, many merchants who have spent money on e-commerce platforms to organize activities but have not achieved good results have also begun to join the group to attract traffic."

Some "fake" APP e-commerce pages are completely unknown to well-known e-commerce platforms

Whether it is an agency or a small and medium-sized business, setting up a group to share so-called in-app purchase coupons is to compete with the official platform that has obtained a bias towards "public domain traffic". Therefore, most of the promoted products they release are genuine. "Even if you buy through third-party e-commerce tools or mini-programs, there is a certain chance that you can buy high-quality and low-priced products, because some merchants really want to sell things for profit."

Why do these links or promotional advertisements all use the names or logos of regular e-commerce platforms?

Xuan Yi explained that part of the reason was that some small brands operating stores on mainstream platforms were unable to participate in the Double 11 event due to limited funds; some small businesses did not open stores on these e-commerce platforms, but just wanted to clear inventory during the e-commerce festival.

"They all understand that the marketing and promotion influence of Double 11 is huge, so many small businesses want to endorse their products by using the method of "touching on" large platforms." According to Xuan Yi, most small businesses release and promote their products through agency operations, and these agency operations have many WeChat groups. By releasing "touching on" links under the guise of "discount returns" and other names, they can guide a large number of consumers to buy.

"Everyone is crazy about shopping on Double 11. Sometimes users will click and place orders as soon as they see the return discount. They don't even notice whether it is an official store of Tmall or JD.com or other platforms, and they don't even pay attention to whether the transaction and payment are made through WeChat Pay or Alipay." Xuan Yi emphasized that although the payment method can be used to identify whether it is a mainstream e-commerce platform, some consumers are still willing to try it for the discount. "Some merchants will even set up a support chain to encourage consumers to forward and earn gifts."

The so-called "high-quality" walnuts sold by consumers for 9.9 yuan are mostly empty shells and hollow

According to the 2019 Double 11 Insight Report released by QuestMobile, on the day of the Double 11 event, 660 million netizens were active in the mobile shopping industry. Even if only 5% of them made purchases through private domain traffic, that would be nearly 30 million consumers.

"Everyone is shopping, and there is no way of knowing how many consumers have been deceived by private domain traffic scams during the shopping process." Xuan Yi analyzed that the preferential promotions and connections of these mainstream platforms take advantage of consumers' "habitual thinking." Because the discounted products they promote are mostly genuine goods from small brands, the operating agencies naturally dare to promise "ten times the compensation if the products are fake" during the promotion process.

So, are the products with these fake promotional links 100% safe? The answer is no. Especially those activities that give "gifts" to consumers under the banner of mainstream e-commerce platforms, many of which are tricks of the gray industry.

Behind the temptation propaganda, there are many tricks and deceptions

"It's a return event. As long as you buy designated items, you will get a beautiful suitcase for free."

After the Double 11 event ended, Ms. Zhang, who lives in Huizhou, received a promotional picture message sent by a WeChat friend. The content shows that a certain brand merchant is holding a Double 11 promotion "return" event, and the first 300 consumers who participate can get a 20-inch aluminum-magnesium alloy suitcase for free.

Next to the content description, there is a QR code of the e-commerce platform, prompting you to scan the code before shopping. Ms. Zhang was somewhat tempted, so she long-pressed the screen to identify the QR code in the picture. Instead of jumping to the purchase details, WeChat popped up a request page to add a friend.

A "free gift" activity in an in-app purchase group that pretends to be a well-known e-commerce platform

"He said I needed to add an assistant called New Product Gifts, so I asked him what shopping activity I could participate in to get the suitcase." Ms. Zhang thought that if the purchased product happened to be what the family needed and the price was right, she could consider it. After all, she could get an aluminum-magnesium alloy suitcase for free after shopping.

The assistant seemed to "read" Ms. Zhang's thoughts and asked her if there were any products she wanted to buy. Since the toilet paper at home had just been used up, Ms. Zhang told the other party that she wanted to buy and stockpile some household toilet paper.

"The assistant immediately recommended a type of tissue paper. I had never heard of the brand, but they said it was made from artificial wood pulp paper. Six packs cost only 13.99 yuan, which is cheaper than many brands on the market." Ms. Zhang recalled that the assistant said that as long as she placed an order for ten or sixty packs of tissue paper on the purchase page, clicked to confirm and left a good review after receiving the goods, she could receive an aluminum-magnesium alloy suitcase by taking a screenshot.

Ms. Zhang was somewhat cautious. In order to avoid being cheated, she carefully read the purchase page recommended by the other party. She confirmed from the domain name and page design that it was a mainstream e-commerce platform, and then placed an order with confidence. "I received the tissue paper delivered by express two days ago, and it seemed fine. I confirmed receipt and gave it a good review."

After sending the screenshot to the assistant, I found that the assistant did not reply and did not mention the gift of aluminum-magnesium alloy suitcase. Her friend told her that she had probably been blocked or deleted as a friend by the other party. She immediately contacted the customer service of the seller of the tissue paper she purchased, but the seller said that they had never announced this promotion and were completely unaware of it.

Ms. Zhang carefully checked the other party's online store page and found that there was indeed no mention of a free suitcase. Thinking she was unlucky, she posted this experience on her WeChat Moments, hoping to warn her friends to beware of similar "return" scams. Unexpectedly, many friends left messages saying that they were tricked by similar "return" activities. "A friend bought a few things on the 'copycat' mall, and they haven't arrived yet, let alone the gifts."

Consumers posted a photo of a large package of wet tissue paper

Dongdong Notes recently discovered on the 12315 and Black Cat complaint platforms that many consumers have complained that they were deceived by bad merchants and gray industry organizations and purchased products promoted in "scam" links and pictures, and either did not receive the gifts or did not receive the products at all.

Industry insiders analyzed that the so-called prize collection assistants in these cases may be in cahoots with the online store merchants. They guide consumers to shop by pretending to have gift information and bring traffic to the merchants, but turn against them when consumers ask for the gifts.

Even regular sellers on regular platforms will claim that their assistants are "third parties" and that they are completely unaware of the buy-one-get-one-free activities. After earning traffic and sales, they will shirk their corresponding commitments and responsibilities. Situations like Ms. Zhang's are still considered good, because at least the products they bought are from regular e-commerce platform stores. Some consumers couldn't even get ten packs of tissue paper after clicking the link (scanning the code).

Conclusion

Double 11 makes hundreds of millions of consumers happy after shopping, but it also makes some consumers deceived by the tricks and scams involved. In order to get "bargains", many consumers are struggling with the endless stream of discounts on mainstream e-commerce platforms, but are also being harmed by a large number of fraudulent marketing and even misleading scams.

Although such tricks occasionally occur in normal times, taking advantage of the situation during Double 11 (especially using the method of fraud) does indeed cause some consumers who are in the midst of a shopping spree to lose their rationality and fall for the trick on impulse. Either you buy goods that are in excess inventory, or you end up buying nothing.

No matter how huge the discount is or how tempting the gifts are, buyers must keep their eyes open when making purchases. As for the links and QR codes in the so-called internal purchasing groups and group purchasing groups for friends and relatives, let’s not click or scan them randomly and cause trouble for ourselves.

Author: Understand the Deity

Source: Dongdong Notes (ID: dongdong_note)