QuestMobile data shows that this year's 618, whether it is called "carnival" or "storm", the marketing time rhythm of e-commerce platforms is relatively consistent. Basically, they start to accumulate energy from mid-May, start pre-sales in the second half of the month, and explode in early June, followed by another round of pre-sales, and then explode again around June 18th... The user activity and new users of several major platforms are basically consistent with this rhythm. Taking the period from May 24th to June 3rd as an example, Taobao added 9.088 million new installations, JD.com added 8.173 million, Suning.com added 3.035 million, and Tmall Mobile added 1.658 million.

In addition to time homogeneity, due to the comprehensive application of aggregated traffic and diversified marketing methods, the strategies of e-commerce platforms are becoming increasingly homogenized. The only difference is the precise push of merchants or brands and different groups of people. In order to highlight their own advantages, major e-commerce platforms have significantly increased their advertising during the promotion period, which has had a significant impact on the overall advertising market. For example, beauty and cosmetics companies have cooperated with e-commerce platforms, from joint exposure and traffic generation during the warm-up period to promotions during the outbreak period, as well as joint offline coverage, showing that the dominant position of e-commerce platforms is stable.

However, the live streaming sales and live evening party models are also quietly affecting the logic of traditional promotions . Live streaming combined with short video content has become the main marketing action of e-commerce platforms, and the impact of live streaming on user purchasing decisions continues to deepen. Of course, short video platforms will not miss the opportunity. Douyin and Kuaishou entered the market with the concepts of "interest e-commerce" and "trust e-commerce" respectively, and increased user engagement through live evening parties and celebrity live broadcasts. From the final results, Douyin's sales of food, beauty products, and maternal and child products ranked in the top three, while Kuaishou focused on clothing, beauty products, and food.

For details, please read the report.

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01

1. E-commerce platforms preheated and promoted their marketing in advance, and the marketing rhythm was similar, but the marketing strategies were different

1.1 E-commerce platforms celebrated the mid-year event with two waves of explosions, and core players continued to compete on 618

1.2 From the perspective of user participation, the 618 promotions in the past three years have maintained a high level of popularity. Among the top e-commerce platforms, Taobao and JD.com have obvious traffic-attracting effects, while Pinduoduo has relatively low participation, and its users have a relatively indifferent response to the 618 promotions.

1.3 618 promotion marketing strategy: e-commerce platforms aggregate traffic and integrate marketing to attract merchants to cooperate and convert users, and promote the promotion to achieve greater sales value

1.4 Merchant side: The platform provides merchants with traffic support through marketing tools, resource positions, etc., increasing brand exposure opportunities during the promotion period

1.5 User side: attract users through interactive gameplay, red envelopes, live broadcasts, etc., and guide users to add items to their favorites and purchase them

For example, JD.com uses the dual-party model to attract traffic, in which the "Boiling Night" is promoted on the content platform in advance through celebrity topics.

1.6 Douyin and Kuaishou joined the 618 promotion, using short videos + live broadcasts as carriers, increasing exposure through live evening parties + celebrity live broadcasts, and intensifying competition with e-commerce platforms

Through a series of marketing actions, users are attracted to participate in new channels during the promotion period, and multiple categories of products are guided to place orders in the live broadcast room

2. The cooperation between brands and e-commerce has deepened. The cooperation between the beauty and cosmetics industry and e-commerce has increased significantly this year during the 618 shopping festival.

2.1 The beauty and cosmetics industry is the key cooperation area for e-commerce platforms this year, increasing sales opportunities through joint exposure

2.2 When brands choose joint platforms, large e-commerce platforms with large exposure and no geographical restrictions are still the first choice. At the same time, brands are also trying to cooperate with offline stores in order to achieve full online and offline coverage

2.3 From the perspective of marketing rhythm, brands tend to work with platforms to attract traffic during the warm-up period, but reduce joint marketing during the peak promotion period, focusing on highlighting brand promotion information to increase user attention and purchase frequency.

02

Media efforts to cooperate, advertising strategies closely follow brand needs

1. Brands plan content delivery in social media in advance to build momentum for the brand, create content volume, and further convert it into purchases

2. With both content attributes and high traffic characteristics, short video platforms have become a key distribution channel for e-commerce platforms and brand owners

3. Typical industries use a variety of media types for advertising, but overall advertising budgets tend to favor short videos

03

The value of 618 advertising is more inclined towards exposure and conversion

1. E-commerce platforms dominate the overall pace of delivery

1.1 During the 618 period, the rhythm of e-commerce advertising was clear, which had a significant driving effect on the overall advertising market

1.2 Increase the number of ads at the beginning of the event to warm up the market, and enrich the creative advertising to attract users' attention after the promotion begins.

2. Each brand has its own characteristics, focusing on hot-selling products

2.1 Brand owners’ advertising closely follows the rhythm of big promotions, with significant growth at key nodes

2.2 The brand concentration of advertising in the personal care small appliance industry is relatively high, among which new brands have a more obvious tendency to compete for users through advertising exposure.

2.3 New domestic brands are in direct competition with industry giants, seizing the opportunity of the 618 promotion to attract users with strong advertising exposure + live broadcast + price promotion

2.4 Among them, from the perspective of single product launch, popular products such as Huaxizi lipstick and Yves Saint Laurent lipstick are mainly launched during the period close to 618, with a shorter link to the e-commerce platform.

04

The marketing effect of the 618 promotion was outstanding, and the best-selling products in many categories performed well.

1. Multiple exposure forms and multi-channel integrated applications, the drainage effect continues to grow

1.1 From the warm-up period to the opening, advertising creativity promotes user growth of various e-commerce platforms

1.2 Judging from the traffic-generating effects of JD.com and Taobao’s 618 promotions, short video ads and information flow ads have become valuable ways to attract new customers

1.3 The top e-commerce platforms mainly attract new customers who are aged 25-35 and have relatively active purchasing power.

1.4 Major e-commerce platforms focus on attracting lower-tier markets, with Tmall Mobile being the most prominent in attracting new lower-tier users

2. Sub-categories are growing fast, and new brands are more popular

2.1 During the 618 period, domestic brands and new brands accounted for a high proportion in the food, beverage, home appliance and other industries

2.2 Beauty users have clear consumption goals, and the consumption of hot products is concentrated in the first wave of the 618 boom period. Price discounts and promotional policies are the primary means to stimulate consumption during the big promotion period.

2.3 Giant brands in the food industry compete with new brands through marketing by cooperating with new-generation traffic stars. During the 618 promotion, the sales of giant brands remained stable, while new brands increased their sales through promotions, with a significant peak.

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Author:QuestMobile

Source: QuestMobile