Unveiling MINISO’s private domain growth strategy

In 2020, the offline industry was hit by the epidemic, store business was hindered, and the vast majority of brands began to close stores and go bankrupt. Under the black swan effect of the epidemic, brands were mired in negative growth!

But there is a brand that has successfully achieved a 300% growth in its e-commerce business despite closing 50% of its offline stores, opening up a new era of private retail. It is MINISO !

Last year, when all industries were still mired in the shadow of the epidemic, MINISO made a comeback and was officially listed on the New York Stock Exchange. As of now, MINISO’s global stores have expanded rapidly to 3,500 (data is still being updated), and the number of store members has reached 42 million. But do you think that it has only started to be laid out in the past two years? In fact, as early as 2017, MINISO started its private domain expansion!

Today, Xiaoka will take you to take a look at what is worth learning from MINISO’s private domain strategy.

01 Traffic diversion: store traffic diversion to the official account

① Offline traffic diversion to online

As a brand with a huge user base, MINISO has no shortage of private seed users. The difficulty lies in how to unify the scattered users into the store's private traffic pool and carry out subsequent refined operations. This is also the pain point of most retail stores.

After realizing this, MINISO began its road to fame – directing customers entering its stores to its official account.

Setting the bait: satisfying users’ immediate needs

After users place an order in a store, when it comes to checking out and paying, the cashier will guide the users to scan the code and follow the official account, so that they can receive a 1 yuan shopping bag for free. This meets the users' immediate needs very well and stimulates them to scan the code and follow. Compared with scanning the code to earn points, users can get benefits that they can enjoy right away, which makes them more likely to take action.

There are also techniques for setting bait, and it is not set in stone. MINISO's selection of traffic-generating products is also constantly adjusted according to user needs, from shopping bags in the beginning to giving away masks during the epidemic, constantly understanding needs and truly resonating with users.

② Attract new customers with online coupons

Sharing fission is the most commonly used means of attracting traffic. It is simple and crude but also the most effective. Attracting new customers with free purchases, information packages, coupons... When brands conduct traffic-generating and fission activities, the prizes are diverse and rich in form. Some activities can easily form viral fission, while others cost a lot but end in failure. In fact, there is a lot of mystery in the activity settings.

Taking MINISO’s coupons as an example, there are at least two points that are worth learning from for many brands:

Reward selection: coupons promote conversion

Different from the form of giving away free products in exchange for recruiting people, MINISO mainly chooses store discount coupons as prizes.

On the one hand, the large half-price coupons of "200-100" can stimulate user participation to the greatest extent, giving users a strong psychological hint both visually and psychologically; on the other hand, coupons can directly lead to sales growth, from attracting new customers to repeat purchases, which greatly reduces the probability of users leaving after attracting new customers and receiving physical prizes;

Number of new invitees: 3-5 people to lower the participation threshold

When planning a new customer acquisition campaign, the number of people invited by users is also crucial and directly determines the effectiveness of the campaign. The more people there are, the lower the user participation will be. If the number of people is too small, the expected effect of the activity cannot be achieved.

For MINISO's new user acquisition campaign, you only need to invite three new users to help, and you can get a half-price coupon, which greatly reduces the threshold for user participation. In addition, after the friends who are invited to help successfully help, they can also get large coupons, shortening the time for new users to place their first order and improving user loyalty.

02 Retention: Community + Official Account + Video Account

After store traffic diversion and sharing fission, a good foundation for traffic has been laid. The next step to consider is user retention and conversion. As a die-hard fan of MINISO, I have discovered at least three retention channels and methods - official accounts, social networks, and video accounts.

Official Account: Building a Personalized Brand

Although also built on personal character, MINISO’s official account stands out. Functionally, it undertakes the acceptance and retention of external traffic; it is more refined in terms of IP image, and more diverse cartoon characters are derived according to the content of the article, which goes deep into the hearts of users;

Little M, who can be either male or female, mainly provides brand recommendation content with a warm and cute image, and shares eating, drinking, playing and fun tips and good things for users;

M Xiaomei, which focuses on beauty and fashion, provides beauty-loving women with comprehensive beauty strategies and product recommendations on beauty, dressing, skin care, etc.

M Xiao Zhai——represents people who love food in the second dimension, are not sociable, or have social phobia;

Different from the fixed image of Xiao Wanzi of Perfect Diary, the IP characters of MINISO are more refined, basically covering all target users, allowing users to see their own shadows in these IPs, which are close to the hearts of users, bring a stronger sense of involvement, and ultimately enhance the stickiness with fans;

Community: Push benefits and discounts

There are a large number of accurate users accumulated in the community, and community users play a vital role in the sales conversion rate. After going undercover in the MINISO community, I summarized its entry path and functions:

①Path to join the group

Scan the QR code in offline stores → Follow the official account → Reply "Community" → The official account automatically replies to the personal account QR code of the enterprise WeChat account → Scan the QR code to add the personal account → The personal account automatically replies to the group QR code → Users scan the QR code to join the group;

②Benefits

I have to praise MINISO’s group welcome message, which is indeed worthy of reference for many brands. It strictly follows the principles of “community positioning + community value + new member benefits”.

From the setting of the welcome message, users can clearly know what benefits the community has, such as 0 yuan trial benefits, flash sales, live shopping, member day discounts, etc., giving users enough reasons to stay.

At the same time, the mini program gives new customers a 10-yuan coupon, which can be used immediately after receiving it, shortening the time it takes for users to place their first order and directly facilitating transactions;

Video account: Regular live broadcast to promote conversion

As an important tool for private domain live streaming, MINISO’s official account and video account use two-way traffic to promote conversion.

At the beginning of each article in the official account, a video account QR code is set. Users can scan the code to be directed to the video account. At the same time, the video account homepage is also associated with the official account. New users recommended by the video account mechanism can follow the official account to achieve two-way guidance.

Through the three-party links of official accounts, social communities, and video accounts , the entire link from traffic generation, retention to conversion promotion has been opened up, truly maximizing user value and firmly binding it to the brand's private traffic pool.

03 Conversion: Mini Programs shorten the ordering process

With a Tmall store online and offline stores, how does MINISO change user consumption behavior and guide users to place orders within the mini program? Here, I summarize the following two points:

① Fastest 1 hour

MINISO has cooperated with two major food delivery giants, Meituan Waimai and Ele.me. Orders placed within the mini program can be delivered in as fast as one hour, and users do not have to bear the time cost of 3-5 days. This fully grasps the user's desire to receive goods quickly and meets their immediate needs. At the same time, free delivery coupons are regularly issued within the mini program to cultivate users' ordering habits.

②Mini Program Distribution

A distribution fission hierarchical commission function has been designed on the mini program, and sales promoters are recruited nationwide, so the distribution profit model can be started at no cost. Users can choose any product in the mini program and share it with their friends or friends. As long as their friends successfully place an order through the link, the system will automatically settle the commission. In the mini program, you are not only a buyer, but also can become an online shopping guide for MINISO and gain opportunities to make money.

04 Conclusion

After digging deep into MINISO's private domain growth strategies, we can easily find that whether it is store traffic diversion in the early stage, public account retention in the mid-term, or mini-program conversion in the later stage, everything is based on user needs, getting close to users and meeting their needs. With a strong insight into user psychology and the help of external private domain operations, we will integrate both internal and external factors to maximize growth.

Author: Lianka Enterprise Micro Private Domain

Source: Lianka Enterprise Micro Private Domain