How does Xiaomi Youpin APP operate products?

Xiaomi Youpin is a boutique lifestyle shopping platform under Xiaomi and is also part of Xiaomi's "new retail" strategy. The author of this article analyzes the current situation of Xiaomi Youpin APP from the perspective of product operation to see how it operates.

1. E-commerce industry analysis

According to QuestMobile data, as of December 2020, the scale of monthly active users of mobile Internet in mainland China was 1.158 billion, of which the scale of monthly active users in the mobile shopping industry has reached 1.047 billion, and the comprehensive penetration rate has reached 90.4%. In the post-mobile Internet era, the e-commerce industry has become an absolute red ocean market. In addition to the two traditional giants, Yimao and Yigou, Pinduoduo has emerged as a dark horse, and second-tier forces such as Vipshop and Suning.com have struggled to move forward. The industry as a whole has formed a pattern of two supers and one strong.

Data shows that in the comprehensive e-commerce industry, Taobao Special Edition had the fastest year-on-year growth in monthly active users, reaching 459.5%. There were two companies with negative growth, including Tmall Mobile, which had a negative growth of -16.9% and a monthly active user base of 43 million; Xiaomi Youpin, which had a negative growth of -37.6% and a monthly active user base of 9.81 million.

It is worth noting that among the top ten comprehensive e-commerce software, Xiaomi Youpin, as a quality e-commerce platform, is fundamentally different from traditional e-commerce. It improves the quality of products on the entire site and provides consumers with cost-effective products by penetrating upstream manufacturing and supply chain management, reducing intermediate links, strengthening the platform's dominance in product selection, and relying on data technology to improve the supply side's response speed to changes in market demand. Compared with traditional e-commerce, the core differences are:

First, the number of intermediate links has been reduced, and the number of profit distributors in the supply chain has decreased. For details, please refer to Suning Jiwu and Whirlpool brands (Suning self-operated) under Suning.com. However, there are some differences. Traditional channel and platform parties such as Suning use the upstream and downstream expansion caused by the strong channel parties to create more profit and capital imagination space, and it is inevitable that they will allocate more resources to their own brands in sales.

Secondly, through their own brand tone, such as Jiwu, Youpin, Yanxuan, etc., they use their own brand credibility to endorse domestic manufacturers, which greatly reduces consumers' distrust of small and medium-sized manufacturers in terms of quality and brand.

2. Product Analysis of Xiaomi Youpin Main Site

1. Home

We are currently in the 618 promotion stage. Judging from the homepage of Xiaomi Youpin, the UI design, overall layout and fluency are all good, which is in line with Xiaomi's long-term tone of focusing on things, geeks, and user experience.

In terms of layout, the top of the homepage/Guess You Like tab can be divided into several modules: search bar, message, 618 strategy window and big promotion horizontal window. The carousel picture below has been increased in size to further enhance the visual effect. The icon is a 5*2 format commonly used in the industry. The first screen icon is displayed separately for new and old users. The first screen for new users is smart life, quality furniture, Xiaomi self-operated, Youpin Life+, new user flash sale, mobile phone, new user benefits, Xiaomi crowdfunding, home appliance data, clothing and sports. The second screen is health and wellness, Youpin overseas shopping, food and beverages, hot sales rankings, product value center, new selections, wine and gifts, group buying, Youpin live broadcast, and life helper.

Judging from the distribution of icons, the main categories promoted are smart appliances, home furnishings, wines and beverages, and clothing and luggage. This is consistent with industry information that the proportion of male users of Xiaomi Youpin has increased from 70% in 2018 to 80% in 2021. The author speculates that the main reason is that the users of mobile phones, smart home products and other products within the Xiaomi system are mainly male, and the overlap between Xiaomi Youpin users and users of other products within the group is relatively high.

In addition, the homepage consists of the 618 promotion bottom horizontal bar, the car giveaway floating window, the new user zone, the second-screen headlines, flash sales, crowdfunding and other modules, and the product recommendation information flow at the bottom.

2. Classification

The classification tab is divided into two major modules: search and category distribution. The search is exactly the same as the homepage search. The category distribution lists 20 category modules, including product recommendations, mobile phones and digital devices, home appliances, smart homes, mother and baby, pet life, etc. The layout is similar to JD.com. The display structure of each category is the first right screen banner + popular selections + subcategories, which are independently configured for each category.

3. Youpin Life+

Youpin Life+tab is mainly a community + grass-planting + shopping model, which is divided into several modules: personal profile, search (different from the homepage and category search), message, top tab, and release. Similar to Xiaohongshu, it is the main battlefield for socialization. Users can post content in the community, follow bloggers, etc. I will not go into details here.

4. Shopping cart

It is divided into several modules, including news, product list, coupon recommendations and settlement column. The news is the same as the homepage entrance, including regular categories such as after-sales, transactions and services. The product list in the shopping cart is divided into elements such as coupons, free shipping, product main title, subtitle, corner mark, price and quantity. Usable and redeemable coupons are displayed under the products in the cart to further improve the transaction conversion rate.

5. My

It is divided into several modules: personal profile, small window with discounts up to 10% off, scan, settings, messages, check-in, product value center (member center), my collection, browsing history, evaluation, after-sales, game interaction, more services and recommended product information flow at the bottom. The main site's new user acquisition, activation, and gamification functions are mostly concentrated here. The author will analyze the relevant functions separately below and will not go into details here.

It should be noted that the author found that after updating personal information such as nickname and avatar in Youpin Life Community, the "My" information on the APP main site was not updated synchronously and still needed to be manually updated again.

3. Analysis of Xiaomi Youpin’s new customer acquisition methods

Xiaomi Youpin’s new customer acquisition campaign is relatively complex, and will be analyzed here from the aspects of participation threshold, reward steps, and reward targets.

1. Participation threshold

Only users who have completed their first order can participate, regardless of whether they have received the goods. Only registered or real-name users cannot participate in the new customer acquisition event. New users are defined as users who have never made purchases on Youpin official platforms such as the Youpin APP, mini programs, and the Mijia Youpin Channel. A successful order is considered to be placed within 72 hours after receiving the gift package, the actual payment amount is higher than RMB 19, and the order is considered to be successfully placed 8 days after confirmation of receipt.

2. New customer acquisition steps

It is divided into three steps: invitation registration + coupon collection, order rewards and attracting multiple new members to stack rewards.

1. Invite registration and complete the new account rights to get a random red envelope. The author measured a red envelope of 0.19 yuan. A maximum of 30 new people can be invited every day;
2. New customers who complete the purchase within 72 hours and pay no less than 19 yuan, and confirm receipt 8 days later, can receive a 10-30 yuan reward, with a maximum reward of 200 yuan during the event;
3. The rewards for inviting multiple new members are as follows: you will be rewarded 20 yuan for inviting 1 person to place an order, 30 yuan for 2 people, 48 yuan for 4 people, and 70 yuan for 7 people.

The overall new customer acquisition activity is relatively complex and has a high threshold for understanding. First of all, it is promoted that after sharing with friends, friends will receive new customer gift packages, and I can get a red envelope of up to 20 yuan, but the actual reward value of this step is 0.19 yuan. From an operational perspective, without clearly stating the minimum amount, the difference between the actual amount obtained and the promoted amount is too large, which affects the enthusiasm for subsequent steps.

Secondly, the activity rules state: "If you successfully invite a new user to complete a consumption through this activity, you will have a chance to receive a reward of 10-30 yuan. The more you invite, the more you get, up to a maximum of 200 yuan in red envelopes." "You can invite up to 30 new users per day." The author speculates that the limit of inviting 30 people per day is mainly to restrict a single user from establishing a binding relationship with new users without restrictions. However, from the user's side, there is an obvious conflict between these two rules. For example, if you invite 30 people per day according to the latter, it meets the requirements. However, if each household is charged a minimum of 10 yuan, it still exceeds the former limit of 200 yuan, which is obviously ambiguous.

At the same time, the main KV title of the event is "Invite friends to place orders and you can get up to 168 yuan." If you follow the event rules, if you invite 7 friends to place orders during the event, you can get an extra 20+30+48+70=168 yuan. The aforementioned invitation coupon reward is 0.19*7=1.33 yuan. You can still get 10-30 yuan for each friend you invite to place an order. The actual maximum amount you can get is far more than the advertised 168 yuan.

According to the analysis of the rules, the actual maximum amount should be the maximum coupon reward + the maximum order reward + the maximum cumulative new customer reward. The maximum coupon reward is: maximum 20 yuan red envelope * daily new customer limit of 30 households * activity time 61 days = 36,600 yuan, the maximum order reward is 200 yuan, the maximum cumulative new customer reward is 168 yuan, and the total theoretical maximum amount is 36,968 yuan.

3. Reward Target

The reward for attracting new customers is Xiaomi Youpin red envelope, which is valid for 30 days and will be credited to the account within 3 working days. The maximum amount that can be deducted from the red envelope in an order is 20% of the order amount.

4. Analysis of Xiaomi Youpin’s promotion methods

Xiaomi Youpin's main means of operating and promoting activities include sign-in, product value center (membership center), daily lucky draw, player club, Xiaomi Manor, and super group buying. We will analyze them one by one.

1. Daily Sign-in

To sign in on the Xiaomi Youpin APP, click on the daily sign-in page to automatically complete the sign-in. After completing the sign-in, you can get 1 random red envelope. You can get an additional random red envelope if you sign in for 1-7 consecutive days. If both are met, you can only get the red envelope for consecutive sign-ins, and you can no longer get the normal daily prize pool red envelope. The author tested and received a red envelope of 0.01 yuan on the first day and 0.05 yuan on the second day, but was unable to confirm whether it was a sign-in reward or a consecutive sign-in reward based on the distribution records.

2. Product Value Center (Member Center)

The design of Xiaomi Youpin's membership system is relatively simple. In terms of membership levels, it is divided into six levels from 0 to 9999 points. The initial 0 points is the first level, 249 points is the second level, 499 points is the third level, 1999 points is the fourth level, 4999 points is the fifth level, and 9999 points is the sixth level. Each level corresponds to different rights and interests.

Member level benefits include six items: discount coupons, free shipping coupons, free shipping on returns, free product trial qualifications, exclusive customer service, and limited purchasing rights. See the mind map above for the corresponding benefits for each level.

There are three ways to earn points. The points are earned through active transactions and active logins. The dimensions include actual payment amount, actual number of orders, active logins, order evaluation, sharing, and posting of orders. The deduction items are credit-related compliance behaviors, and the specific behaviors are not clearly displayed.

3. Daily lucky draw

The activity is in the form of a big wheel lottery. Each person has three chances to draw a prize every day. If you share, you can get an additional three times, with a maximum of 15 times per day. The prizes are all merchant traffic coupons, and there is basically no investment from the platform side.

4. Players Club

It includes four modules: completing tasks to receive red envelopes, interactive games, Mr. Yangmao, and coupon fission. Tasks include signing in to receive red envelopes, browsing recommended venues for 15 seconds to receive red envelopes, participating in interactive activities to receive red envelopes, and sharing with friends to receive red envelopes. Interactive games include the Good Luck Box (lottery participation), Procedures Challenge (insert the corresponding font to pass), voting guessing (daily questions), and watering Xiaomi Manor. To be honest, this player club is a bit confusing. I can't find the entrance to each sub-activity, so I can't analyze it further.

5. Xiaomi Manor

Xiaomi Manor is a regular development game, the main form of which is to obtain water drops, plant millet, and exchange millet for rewards.

• Water drops can be obtained through participation and personal behavior: first registration, daily invitation of friends to help, inviting friends to plant millet, browsing products, opening three meal lucky bags, placing orders for gift tasks, etc. Water drops can be obtained by completing three treasure chest opening tasks. Function activation behavior: Add Youpin lite to the mini program and allow subscription messages to obtain water drops. Social behavior: stealing water drops, helping friends water, and getting water drops when being watered.
• Use of water droplets: Water the millet. A total of 300g of millet needs to be watered for it to mature. 5g of millet can be harvested each time and can be exchanged for goods or coupons.
• The value of Waterdrop and Xiaomi: Among the hard currency rewards, 25g of Xiaomi can be exchanged for a 5 yuan no-threshold coupon, that is, 5g of Xiaomi corresponds to 1 yuan, and 300g of Waterdrop corresponds to 1 yuan.

V. Existing Problems and Suggestions

1. New customer acquisition activities

1) Strengthen logic

The overall logic of the new customer acquisition activity rules is not clear enough, and the threshold for users to understand is high. If the activity rules are not changed, it is recommended to clearly define the coupon gifts, first-order gifts, and cumulative gifts.

2) Change activity rules

According to the characteristics of e-commerce platforms, and to avoid deliberate returns to increase rewards, it is recommended to clearly define the rewards for attracting new customers as registration coupon gifts, order gifts, and delivery gifts, and distribute the reward amounts at a ratio of 1:2:7. According to current superimposed policy estimates, the cost of a single effective new customer through this channel is about RMB 25-28, which can be implemented at an average of RMB 2 for registration coupons, RMB 5 for placing an order, and RMB 20 for delivery.

3) Strengthen the review mechanism

1. On the new user acquisition activity page, the main page activity time is displayed as 2021.05.01-2021.06.30, while the activity details show the activity time as 2021.02.04-2021.06.30. If the time of the superimposed activity and the regular activity are different, it is recommended to clearly distinguish them;
2. Is the new member gift package worth 500 yuan or 1,000 yuan? There are different displays in different page themes and rules. For example, for activity updates, it is recommended to be clear and unified to avoid customer complaints and consumer protection risks. The author actually calculated that the actual face value of the coupons should be 551.18 yuan;
3. The "Invite new member" button on the second screen of the new page occasionally malfunctions in the latest version of the client on iPhone 11 models, and WeChat cannot be activated.

4) Optimize reward targets

The current reward targets are valid red envelopes, which can only deduct 20% of the order amount, and the inviter cannot receive the reward in real time 8 days after the new user completes the delivery. It takes 3 working days.

Rewards for industry insiders to bring in others must meet three conditions before they can be scaled up: first, the value amount must be attractive, second, the rewards must be queryable and obtainable in real time, and third, the rewards must be easy to cash out. It is recommended that the business be optimized as appropriate within the scope of risk control. Based on the current form of activities, the author speculates that the average daily number of effective new users acquired should not exceed 2,000.

2. Promotional activities

1. For the daily sign-in activity, in addition to the daily rewards, you can get extra rewards by signing in for 1-7 consecutive days. However, the consecutive sign-in rewards and normal sign-in rewards cannot be enjoyed at the same time, which is quite tasteless. It is recommended to adjust it to sign in for 2/3/5/7 consecutive days to get extra rewards;
2. Regarding the daily lucky draw activity, when I participated on June 17, it showed no lucky draw times. When I clicked to participate in the activity, a pop-up window prompted that the activity did not exist. This should be a configuration or display problem. On June 18, I found that the entrance had been changed to the "Three Orders Get Gifts" activity. It is recommended to strengthen the activity management mechanism in the future;
3. For player club activities, it is recommended to re-plan and adjust, such as defining a task center that aggregates various new user acquisition and activation activities. It is recommended to redesign the activity homepage and strategy. The current experience is poor.
4. Xiaomi Manor has a good overall customer experience. It is recommended to optimize the existing Xiaomi redemption coupons, add some low-priced hot-selling products, and directly redeem a certain number of Xiaomi products for 0.01 yuan to purchase hot-selling products, reduce intermediate links, and improve transaction conversion rates. At the same time, it can be differentiated and displayed according to different customer label attributes, such as the strength distinction between new and old users, and the strength distinction between users who have not completed their first order and long-term inactive users.

3. Main site level

At the main site level, Xiaomi Youpin has a good overall experience and a smooth transaction link. When broken down as a whole, it is obvious that it focuses more on operations than products. The author speculates that under the Xiaomi system, Xiaomi Youpin currently does not attach much importance to new customer acquisition and activation indicators, and its main focus is still on the product level and GMV level. However, in addition to the problem of its own operational capabilities that must be solved sooner or later, the two core problems of the platform's high proportion of male users and the low transaction frequency of the main categories may still become bottlenecks on the road to development.

Author: Da Lao Wang

Source: Da Lao Wang