Xianyu business logic and user analysis

This article analyzes user psychology from the perspective of the Xianyu platform’s tone, and finally discusses the platform’s operational implementation strategy, providing a thought-provoking description.

01 Introduction

2020 is the Year of the Rat and the first year of the domestic epidemic. The offline economy is in a recession, but the GMV of Xianyu, a second-hand business platform, has achieved a year-on-year growth of 100%. In its 2020 full-year financial report, its GMV exceeded 200 billion yuan.

The development of Xianyu and other second-hand trading platforms is due to the need to meet the changing needs of consumers from "possession to use" in recent years and to realize the realization of idle goods. Also because of the epidemic, the consumption concepts of most Chinese people are gradually no longer rejecting the situation of "trading second-hand goods", and are more pursuing [cost-effectiveness] and [value of items].

This article analyzes user psychology from the perspective of the Xianyu platform’s tone, and finally discusses the platform’s operational implementation strategy, providing a thought-provoking description. (Ju is also on Xianyu and invested in a small project)

02 Xianyu’s “Three Axes”

01 Xianyu, where throwing “things” makes a sound

It's better to sell it after using it up than to let it gather dust in the corner

The endless stream of e-commerce festivals in recent years and the constantly updated GMV data reflect the craze for online shopping. Under the consumption concept of “buy, buy, buy”, “stockpiling, stockpiling” has also become the norm. Under the discounts (marketing tactics) provided by online merchants and platforms, consumers will more or less purchase some items that are not used frequently, placing them in their homes to take up space and gathering dust in corners.

Few people would consider the treatment of these "idle items". #Don't let me be idle#, just as the theme of Xianyu's 17th strategic conference "Don't be idle, hang on Xianyu" said, the emergence of Xianyu has solved the fundamental needs of a large number of users: ① low-price Taobao, secondary use; ② idle items into cash;

In addition, Xianyu’s credit rating function is linked to Alipay’s Sesame Credit, which to a certain extent protects the rights and interests of both parties to the transaction and enhances the credibility of the platform. After the user purchases, the seller can place an order for logistics delivery with one click through Cainiao Kuaigou, realizing a perfect closed loop of the user ecosystem. Xianyu’s various services and functions have created China’s largest C2C trading market for long-tail products (including second-hand, retro, refurbished and leased).

02 Taobao customer's Xianyu

Take a chance and turn your bicycle into a motorcycle

Where there are people, there are rivers and lakes. There is no perfect value-decreasing system for the depreciation price of second-hand goods. The prices of goods of the same quality on Xianyu may be high or low, which means that sellers have inconsistent standards for judging the value of their idle items, and information asymmetry arises.

Therefore, finding bargains on Xianyu has become a symbol. For example: the "garbage picking" trend that started in the digital area of ​​​​Bilibili in 2019, and the recent surge in graphics card transactions due to blockchain mining;

We can use game psychology to explain many usage phenomena of Xianyu users.

Richard Bartle, co-founder of the game Multi-User Dungeon (MUD), divided players into four types according to their gaming style and interests by observing and analyzing people's behavior in multi-user games. Each type has a vivid name: Killer, Achiever, Explorer and Socializer.

1) Killers: Those who enjoy interfering with the workings of the game world or the gaming experience of other players

We can regard these people as bad buyers or bad sellers on Xianyu. They have violated the fair trading rules of Xianyu itself. They take advantage of consumers' desire to get a bargain and set up fake products with false information, defrauding consumers after they buy. Or after a buyer makes a purchase, they enter a false address, and the seller uses the same method to defraud after the product is shipped.

For example: A few years ago, it was very popular to buy an iPhone for 0.01 yuan on Xianyu;

Of course, with the formalization of Xianyu’s operations , such products have become hard to find, and such people have also been sanctioned by law. For Xianyu, the fewer "killers" there are, the better the real user experience.

2) Achievers: Willing to overcome various challenges in the game world and accumulate achievements

This type of people refers to users on Xianyu who focus on finding bargains and purchase high-value goods at low prices through means such as bargaining.

This type of people are quite familiar with the market conditions of a particular product and spend a lot of time on Xianyu, browsing, identifying and waiting for the opportunity to buy. Achievers are the core users of Xianyu. Every time they find a bargain on Xianyu, they will share it to convince more explorers of the possibility of "finding bargains on Xianyu". Although this is nothing more than survivor bias, it also encourages speculators to continue to participate.

3) Explorers: Those who enjoy exploring the rules of the game world

Explorers are active users of the Xianyu APP. They may just browse the products on Xianyu and read the posts in the circle when they are free, but they will not buy any products.

For explorers, browsing the products or communities on Xianyu allows them to observe the lives of other buyers. And, occasionally you can find one or two products that you need. They don’t proactively look for “treasures” like achievers, but instead act on impulse like buying a lottery ticket.

4) Socializer: Willing to share stories in the game world with other players and build social relationships

This group of people is also one of Xianyu’s core users. They gather like-minded people together through Xianyu’s community - circles, and share updates on common interests. Xianyu provides an opportunity for like-minded users to communicate with each other. This type of users also enables Xianyu to establish precise vertical communities, extending the user life cycle.

Socialisers are like organizers of theme parties. They buy and sell goods themselves and enjoy the process of organizing, selling and communicating.

03Do you still remember the time when you followed your mother to the market to bargain when you were a child?

I remember when I was a child, I went back to my hometown and followed my parents to the market to buy vegetables. It’s funny to say that no matter how high the price of the vegetables is, the two old men always like to bargain for a lower price, or ask the stall owner to give them a few more onions. This mentality is not due to the thickness of the wallet, but because of the consumer's consumption concept - the bargaining mentality.

This kind of psychological state often occurs among white-collar workers and the working class. Everyone earns their own money, so they try to save as much as possible. As Ju mentioned in the preface of this article, the consumption concepts of most Chinese people are gradually no longer rejecting the situation of "trading second-hand goods", and are more pursuing "cost-effectiveness" and "value of goods".

Back to the topic, let’s take a look at the buying and selling process diagram of Xianyu.

The buyer clicks and enters the product details page

↓

Click the "I want" button to enter the shipper dialogue page

↓

Buyer inquiry and counter-offer

↓

The seller confirms the price and changes the price

↓

Buyer pays, seller ships

After reading this flowchart, do you find that it is similar to the scene of bargaining at the market when you were a child?

Unlike B2C platforms such as Taobao, Tmall, and JD.com, which have clearly marked prices, Xianyu, as a C2C platform, does not set product prices consistent with the transaction prices. The user experience design of the Xianyu APP product breaks down the communication barriers between sellers and buyers, allowing Taobao customers to find high-quality and low-priced goods.

Ju once won a smart door lock in a draw during Tmall’s Double Eleven Carnival Night in 2018. He took a screenshot and posted it on Xianyu, then sold it for 1,500 yuan to a seller who happened to need to renovate his new house.

03 The joke teller’s idle fish

Younger, more dramatic

1) Xianyu, a young brand

As of April 2020, Xianyu has more than 14 million active 2D users, including about 7,500 certified 2D players covering various sub-sectors such as doll circles, model toys, Lolita, cosplay, and Chinese style, as well as over 400 related interest circles.

In May 2020, Xianyu teamed up with Jimu APP to launch the first JY "Cloud Comic Exhibition". Trendy toy displays, figure clearance sales, and live broadcasts by top artists allow users to view exhibitions and conduct transactions online without leaving their homes. In addition to offering the chance to grab original limited editions and an alternate-dimensional girl fashion store, the event also includes clothing and prop rentals, as well as equipment sales and exchanges in the same city.

In addition, during the epidemic, the activity rate of active users in the 15-18 age group of the Xianyu App increased by more than 200%. The reason is that there are a large number of cheap learning materials and class notes on Xianyu, and shared accounts of various platforms (such as WPSPSPRAEC4D, etc.) can be purchased at a low price, which also directly reflects the vitality of Xianyu's business model.

2) 4A makes me cry, Haruki Murakami loses to Xianyu Literature

The influx of young people has also enriched the fun of its product content. In order to sell their products, sellers spend their entire lives cultivating their cultural literacy and come up with a variety of detail page copywriting.

①Normal copy version

② Drama version

③Marriage introduction version

This chapter introduces Xianyu and user classification. The next chapter will introduce the ideas of operating Xianyu accounts in detail.