Analyzing Pinduoduo’s marketing strategy from the perspective of classic 4C

This article mainly analyzes Pinduoduo from the perspective of classic 4C to see why Pinduoduo can win the hearts of 300 million users.

Pinduoduo is used by 300 million people! Pinduoduo’s brainwashing advertising slogans have become well-known.

Pinduoduo has 340 million active-leaf users! Pinduoduo went public in three years! Pinduoduo has achieved in three years what Liu Qiangdong has done in 10 years!

Pinduoduo is vulgar! Pinduoduo fake goods!

The above is our basic impression of Pinduoduo. Many people are discussing Pinduoduo’s original sin, but as Internet people, let us first look at Pinduoduo purely from the perspective of product marketing .

As an Internet person, the first time I knew about Pinduoduo was from discussions among colleagues, but the first time I used Pinduoduo was from my aunt’s WeChat sharing to help her bargain! Click in and I can get this product for my aunt for as low as 1 yuan. Why shouldn’t I do that? I lightly pressed the button and cut down my own sword.

In this way, I completed my first trip to Pinduoduo. However, due to my dislike for the cluttered page, I did not continue to use Pinduoduo to bargain for myself.

From my own experience above, I can draw a few very clear points:

• I was indeed attracted by Pinduoduo’s low prices at the time - low price strategy
• I am willing to help my aunt get this low-priced product — social currency
• I was able to easily help my aunt cut some product prices (I don’t remember how much) – process convenience
• I believe my aunt must have sent it to more than just me. She has a husband and children, so I was her third choice at the earliest. Before that, two users had successfully helped her bargain. - Circle Social

Low-price strategy vs. 4C’s COST

The low-price strategy can be said to be Pinduoduo’s core selling point, and it can also be said to be the cost for users. This happens to correspond to the cost in the 4C theory, that is, user cost.

And to what extent does Pinduoduo’s low-price strategy go?

1. There are several huge low-priced tabs waiting for you to click on. From a visual point of view, the suspense of good things attracts your attention!
2. The price is so low that you don’t need to think about the quality of this thing? What if it’s not good after buying it? It's very simple. The price starts as low as 1 yuan, and large quantities are 9.9 yuan with free shipping. If the quality of the goods you buy is not good, you can throw them away without any regrets. This is much easier than thinking about whether a roll of paper for 100 yuan is really that good.

Low-price strategy vs. 4C’s customer

1. Customer environment: 70% of Pinduoduo's customers are women, and a large proportion of them are women from fourth-, fifth- and sixth-tier cities or rural areas (this part requires additional user data information). For this group of people, price is a very sensitive factor. E-commerce that defines low prices accurately meets the core demands of this type of customers - "creating core value for target customers"
2. Market environment: Pinduoduo was founded when Taobao was clearing out a large number of low-end merchants. At the same time, smartphones were widely popularized in fourth- and fifth-tier cities and rural areas. It can be said that it took advantage of the perfect timing for Taobao's transformation and the widespread popularization of smartphones. Taobao can clear out a large number of low-end merchants, but the demand cannot be cleared out. The demand for low-priced products has always been there, but now it has taken over Pinduoduo to satisfy everyone.

Process convenience VS 4C's Convenience

In terms of the overall environment, in the past ten years of e-commerce development, one of the biggest pain points at the beginning of e-commerce development - logistics - has been solved. The development of logistics today is almost no longer a consideration for the development of emerging e-commerce brands , so the process convenience here does not refer to the issues of payment and waiting for receipt. Even if the goods are supplied by a third party, the longest logistics speed can be resolved within 5 days.

But this does not mean that payment and logistics are unimportant now. These are still issues that users care about. It’s just that thanks to Pinduoduo’s years of experience in logistics construction in the market, the convenience of logistics has become a common consideration.

For Pinduoduo, above logistics, the convenience of dissemination is what Pinduoduo cares about most.

“Let things find people, not people find things”

This sentence was said by Huang Zheng, and it accurately interprets Pinduoduo's convenience model. In this era of material oversupply, we no longer lack certain products. On the contrary, we don’t know what to buy. That’s why Huang Zheng said that things will find people. The convenience of Pinduoduo's process lies in the convenience of the process of letting things find people, which of course also relies on the convenience of WeChat, which can definitely be regarded as Pinduoduo's geographical advantage.

I mentioned my own feelings above. It was effortless to help my aunt cut a price. I helped her cut a price on WeChat and increased my social currency.

Social Currency/Circle Social VS 4C Communication

Communication also means connection, which is why the "C" of Connection is added to the new 4C. Communication does not only refer to the communication between the platform and consumers, but also to the consumer's communication about "this thing". The communication about "this thing" can come from the merchant, from the comments on "this thing" on the platform, or from the opinions of people around them about "this thing".

When it comes to women’s purchasing, they are highly dependent on the needs of people around them, and even if it’s a small item, they will unconsciously recommend it or discuss it.

Pinduoduo's low-price "social e-commerce" is unlikely to arouse resentment among target users . Instead, it will make target users feel dependent, more like the second aunt saying to the third aunt: Third aunt, look at this thing, it's so cheap, let's bargain together, you bargain for me and I bargain for you, let's grab the bargain together. From this perspective, Pinduoduo not only offers low prices, but also provides topics and social factors for target users.

The above is a simple understanding of the classic 4C theory. Although the new 4C theory may be more adaptable to the Internet environment, the facts have proved that the classic 4C theory is not outdated. In most cases, the correspondence of the classic 4C theory can still be found in some successful cases.