Insights into mobile advertising in the second-tier e-commerce apparel, shoes and bags industry in 2018!

The second category of e-commerce studied in this report is direct-operated e-commerce, which refers to self-built websites by advertisers for the purpose of selling goods. The websites have the function of online ordering or support cash on delivery. The products sold include but are not limited to clothing, shoes and bags, watches and jewelry, food, digital appliances, sports and outdoor, skin care and cosmetics industries, etc. Merchants on well-known e-commerce platforms (JD.com, Taobao, Tmall, Pinduoduo, Meituan, etc.) and well-known brand websites (Estee Lauder, Nike), etc. are not within the scope of the second-class e-commerce platforms.

Relatively speaking, most of the second-tier e-commerce companies do not have a complete review and order system. Their ultimate goal of advertising is to get orders for single products, and cash on delivery is their more commonly used payment method. Also due to the above characteristics, second-tier e-commerce companies have low trust in users. When placing advertisements, the copywriting and landing page details are more inclined to stimulate users' impulse purchases.

Since the self-built website tools of the three major platforms, Toutiao, Tencent social advertising, and Baidu information flow, are more mature, the credit mechanism and regulations of the second-tier e-commerce are also relatively complete, the related advertising volume is also high, and the clothing, footwear and bag industry is also a key industry for the second-tier e-commerce, so this report takes this sub-sector as the observation object.

In summary, this report selects the mobile advertising data of the second-category e-commerce apparel, shoes and bags industry tracked by App Growing in 2018 (January 1st to December 31st) on three mobile advertising platforms, namely Toutiao, Tencent Social Advertising, and Baidu Information Flow, as the basis for analysis, and releases the "2018 Second-category E-commerce Apparel, Shoes and Bags Industry Mobile Advertising Trend Insight" report. The core content is as follows:

① Overview of advertising placement in the second-tier e-commerce industry: In Tencent social advertising, Toutiao, and Baidu information flow advertising platforms, second-tier e-commerce advertising accounts for more than 50% of the total advertising placement in the clothing, shoes and bags industry on each platform; among the second-tier e-commerce advertising in the clothing, shoes and bags industry, more than 80% of the advertising life cycle is less than 3 days, and the cumulative exposure of tops and shoes advertising accounts for the highest proportion.

② Insights into advertising trends in each sub-category of apparel, shoes and bags: Among the second-category e-commerce advertisements in the categories of tops, pants and shoes, the men’s product advertisements on Tencent social advertising, Toutiao and Baidu information flow advertising platforms are mainly men’s product promotions; after taking stock of the hot items on each platform, men’s jackets are the hottest item in the tops category of Tencent social advertising.

③ Inventory of advertising copywriting routines in the second-category e-commerce clothing, shoes and bags industry: Emphasis on discounts, emphasis on change, raising questions, and situationalization are the more common creative routines. Please see the analysis in this report for details.

PS. App Growing has not yet tracked the advertising information of QQ Browser, WeChat Moments, App Store and other media under Tencent Social Advertising, so the above-mentioned Tencent Social Advertising does not include the advertising data of these media. The Toutiao mentioned in this report refers to the Toutiao advertising platform, not the single media of Toutiao. The same applies below.

1. Industry Advertising Overview

1) Among the mobile ads placed by Toutiao in the apparel, shoes and bags industry, second-class e-commerce accounts for more than 85%

On Tencent social advertising, Toutiao, and Baidu information flow advertising platforms, the number of second-category e-commerce advertisements accounts for more than 50% of the total number of advertisements in the clothing, shoes and bags industry on each platform.

Relatively speaking, among the advertisements placed by Toutiao in the clothing, shoes and bags industry, the proportion of second-category e-commerce advertisements is as high as 85%, which is presumably related to the relatively complete second-category e-commerce related mechanisms. Further analysis of the landing page links of the second-category e-commerce clothing, shoes and bags advertisements on Toutiao’s advertising platform shows that 93.85% of them use Toutiao’s Luban system, followed by Orange Website Builder (4.90%).

Category II e-commerce companies usually use self-built website tools of the corresponding delivery platforms. Self-built website ads have high compatibility and are easier to connect all aspects of marketing. As far as advertisements in the clothing, footwear and bag industries are concerned, the usage rate of Tencent's own website building tool Maple Leaf system is as high as 94.8%. In addition to the official website of the advertiser, 100% of Category II e-commerce advertisements in Baidu Information Flow use Baidu's official self-built website tools to build marketing landing pages.

2) Among the second-tier e-commerce clothing, shoes and bags industry advertisements, more than 80% of the advertisements have a life cycle of ≤3 days

An analysis of the second-category e-commerce apparel, shoes and bags industry advertisements on Tencent social advertising, Toutiao, and Baidu information flow advertising platforms shows that more than 80% of the advertisements have a delivery cycle of less than 3 days , and the frequency of advertisement delivery and update is relatively frequent.

3) Tencent’s social advertising efforts have gradually increased since July

The advertising trends in the second-tier e-commerce apparel, shoes and bags industries vary greatly on different platforms.

Since July, the number of advertisements placed on Tencent Social Advertising in the second-category e-commerce clothing, shoes and bags industry has steadily increased, while Toutiao has started to decline since August. However, the overall level of advertising is significantly higher than that of Tencent Social Advertising and Baidu Information Flow Advertising Platform. After reaching a peak in October, the number of advertisements placed on Baidu Information Flow Advertising Platform fell in November and began to rise in December. It is speculated that the e-commerce war on Double Eleven has a greater impact on clothing, shoes and bags on Baidu's information flow and Toutiao's advertising platform.

4) Toutiao mainly features single images, while Baidu’s information flow mainly features group images

Among the information flow advertisements in the second-category e-commerce clothing, shoes and bags industry of each platform, the number of single-image advertisements on the Toutiao platform is the highest, accounting for 73.28%, while the number of group-image advertisements on the Baidu information flow advertising platform is the highest, accounting for 74.9% .

5) In the second category of e-commerce apparel, shoes and bags, tops/shoes ads have the highest cumulative exposure

Based on the daily activity of each advertising platform, the number of single ads delivered is used to estimate the number of exposures of each ad. This index is also used as the basis for the intensity of advertising delivery. Compared with the analysis of the proportion of the number of ads, it can avoid the errors caused by the different delivery cycles of different ads.

Based on AI and algorithm models, advertisements for apparel, shoes and bags are further subdivided into five categories: tops, skirts, pants, shoes, luggage, and accessories. The proportion of advertising exposure in each sub-industry of apparel, shoes and bags on each platform is shown in the figure below . In the advertising of the second-tier e-commerce apparel, shoes and bags industry, Tencent social advertising, Toutiao and Baidu information flow advertising platforms are mainly based on the subcategories of upper clothes and shoes, and the total number of advertisements they placed accounts for more than 50%.

2. Insights into advertising trends in each sub-category

1) In the second category of e-commerce tops advertisements, men’s tops are the main ones, and men’s jackets are the hot items on Tencent’s social advertising platform

The second-category e-commerce apparel, shoes and bags industry is segmented into men's, unisex and women's styles according to the group of people who use the advertised products. The algorithm estimation model is used to estimate the cumulative exposure of the corresponding product advertisements. The analysis of each segment of the second-category e-commerce apparel, shoes and bags industry is shown in the figure below.

The tops category advertisements of second-tier e-commerce companies are mainly men's styles on Tencent social advertising, Toutiao, and Baidu information flow advertising platforms . Among the second category of e-commerce advertisements, the cumulative exposure of men’s tops in Tencent social advertising accounted for 98.8% of the tops category on the advertising platform.

Further subdividing the tops items on each platform, men's windbreakers have the highest cumulative exposure on Tencent's social advertising platform . The advertising creativity of this product mainly uses the three-proof selling point (windproof, waterproof, and cold-resistant) . The promotion methods are mainly 2 pieces for 199 yuan/198 yuan, 1 piece for 138 yuan, and 10% off.

2) In the second category of e-commerce pants ads, men’s jeans are the main products, and men’s jeans are the hot items on Tencent’s social advertising platform

The second-tier e-commerce pants category advertisements on Tencent social advertising, Toutiao, and Baidu information flow advertising platforms are mainly men's styles. Among the second category of e-commerce advertisements, the cumulative exposure of men’s trousers in Tencent social advertisements accounted for 98.4% of the trousers category on the advertising platform. The cumulative exposure of advertisements for unisex pants is relatively low, and they are mainly for fleece leggings.

In Tencent social advertising, the men's jeans have the highest cumulative exposure on Toutiao's advertising platform. The main selling points of this product in advertising are good elasticity, emphasis on brand, promotional activities, etc. The main promotional methods are buy one get X free, 3 pairs for 199 yuan, etc.

3) Overview of cumulative exposure of male/female advertisements and hot-selling items in each sub-category of the second category of e-commerce apparel, shoes and bags

The following is an overview of the ad exposure of different styles in each sub-category of e-commerce apparel, shoes and bags. For the second-tier e-commerce advertisements in categories such as tops, pants, and shoes, the cumulative exposure of male product advertisements accounts for more than 60%, which shows that these categories are mainly promoted for male categories.

3. Inventory of advertising copywriting routines

Based on an in-depth analysis of the copywriting of second-tier e-commerce advertising in the clothing, shoes and bags industry, it was found that emphasizing discounts, emphasizing changes, raising questions, and contextualizing copywriting are more common.

The above is a partial overview of the report “Insights into Mobile Advertising Trends in the Second-Class E-commerce Apparel, Shoes and Bags Industry in 2018”.

Source: AppGrowing