QQ vs. Alipay in the red envelope war. Why is it QQ that is taking the fight?

As early as a month ago, Xiaomanshou asserted that starting this year, the red envelope war has entered the second half and the issue of Paomaquan users has been turned over. It has been four years. We have made what we deserved and received what we deserved. So how should we play in the second half?

At the end of December, WeChat first announced that it would return to being a tool and withdraw from the red envelope war. At the WeChat Open Class Pro, Zhang Xiaolong, senior vice president of Tencent and the father of WeChat, said that there may be no WeChat red envelope activity during this year's Spring Festival because the "shake" red envelope has completed its mission.

Although WeChat has withdrawn from the red envelope war, the red envelope battle is not over. Because Tencent QQ and Alipay held red envelope press conferences on both sides of the Taiwan Strait two days later.

Before guessing whether QQ or Alipay will win and how this new game will be played, Xiaomanshou has always had a question in his mind: Why did WeChat stop offering red envelopes on its own initiative, while QQ, as its brother, took over in a high-profile manner and competed against Alipay?

QQ and Alipay vs.

First of all, in terms of time, amount and participating merchants, the two companies are definitely competing against each other. From the data point of view, on January 11, Tencent QQ held a QQ red envelope media communication meeting in Beijing, and officially announced the three major ways to play QQ red envelopes during the 2017 Spring Festival. It plans to work with brand partners and celebrities to distribute a total of 250 million yuan in cash red envelopes and 3 billion yuan in card and coupon packages. The forms include search, scan and swipe, with location-based AR red envelopes becoming the highlight. In the red envelope gameplay announced by Alipay on the 13th, it announced the distribution of 200 million cash + 30 million coupons. Alipay has two lines of gameplay: one is for ordinary users, including collecting lucky cards and looking for AR real-scene red envelopes; the other is open to merchants to send red envelopes and coupons; QQ red envelopes' "LBS+AR sky-falling red envelopes" gameplay is also divided into three types: merchant red envelopes, celebrity red envelopes and personal red envelopes.

In terms of time, the two companies focused their firepower at almost the same time. In terms of form, AR is the highlight of this year, and in terms of the amount of red envelopes distributed, QQ is directly higher than Alipay.

No one mentioned the "red envelope war" this year

Despite the fight, compared to previous years, no one mentioned the "red envelope war" this year. Alipay said that it had no intention of getting into social networking and that its starting point was business. QQ also stated that red envelopes were a form of social interaction and had nothing to do with payment or business. What mattered was the relationship between people. Previously, Zhang Xiaolong also expressed his hope that everyone could put down their mobile phones to celebrate the New Year. This tone is undoubtedly more in line with people's desire for reunion, and it also makes the product less "awkward".

"After Laiwang, Alipay has already decided not to engage in social networking." Ni Xingjun, one of Alibaba's partners and the "deputy monitor" of Alipay, also mentioned in an interview with 36Kr: "Alipay will build a relationship chain, but the purpose is to serve the business scenarios of merchants and users."

QQ also stated more directly that the purpose of issuing red envelopes is for social interaction, nothing more. "As for the whole red envelope thing, we insist that it is a social content and an integral part of social interaction. For us, without social skills, this thing cannot be done well. It doesn't matter whether you are online or using a mobile phone. The key is the social relationship between each person." Tencent Vice President Yin Yu explained the original intention of QQ red envelopes.

For users, either there are tangible big red envelopes, or there is fun. For these two points, the key is to not let go of talented people. So the question is, who will win this year? The advantage of Alipay is that it was the only sponsor of the Spring Festival Gala last year. People already have the impression of receiving Alipay red envelopes during the Chinese New Year, and the method of collecting blessing cards is more popular. QQ's advantage lies in its years of control over social interaction and interpersonal relationships, as well as its grasp of AR, which is more like a game . QQ is obviously more interactive and fun. However, it can be seen from sponsors such as Honor of Kings and Pepsi that QQ is more targeted at young people.

Why is QQ the first to start the red envelope dispute?

Why is it that our friends on WeChat all say they don’t want to use red envelopes anymore and just celebrate the Chinese New Year well, but QQ has to stand out and cheer for the new year? Xiao Manshou pondered for a long time.

Let’s first look at the numbers. In 2015, QQ held its first red envelope event, which attracted nearly 154 million users to participate. In the second red envelope event in 2016, the scale was expanded to nearly 300 million. In addition to the fact that red envelopes can increase activity, there is a more important reason behind this, which is that QQ is making a comeback.

Any product has a life cycle. Over a long period of time, MSN appeared, flourished, and disappeared; Renren, Weibo, and WeChat changed dramatically; but QQ is still QQ, although it also experienced a low point and was somewhat thrown off balance by its brother WeChat. In February this year, QQ, the product that has inspired countless people to chat online, turned 18 years old. How to ensure that it remains young at the age of 18 is QQ’s challenge and mission.

Red envelopes in the form of AR red envelopes, celebrity red envelopes, etc. are just ways for QQ to increase interaction among young people. Because being fun and interesting is still important for QQ to capture young people. At the same time, for WeChat, the return tool is to simplify things, but this is not the case for QQ. QQ has always been a powerful and fun social platform for young people. Therefore, from this perspective it is not difficult to understand why QQ wants to take over the red envelopes . In addition, from the data in the first paragraph it can also be seen that the number of people participating in the red envelopes is doubling, so why not do it?

QQ is actively courting young people. "My biggest worry is that I am increasingly unable to understand the preferences of young people. Although we are in this industry, we do not understand what the usage habits of mainstream Internet users will be in the future. Moreover, users' needs and preferences are changing rapidly. What are the needs of people born after 1995 and 2000?" Ma Huateng once again emphasized at the Wuzhen Internet Conference that "Everyone in the Internet industry has a huge sense of crisis - the speed of changes in products and user needs, and the deep reliance on R&D technical capabilities are unprecedented."

According to the latest financial report released by Tencent, the number of QQ users is 877 million, of which more than 60% are born after 1990. If WeChat is a mass product, with 846 million users today, then QQ is undoubtedly still the main battlefield in Ma Huateng's mind to win over young people. Incubate the future.

In 18 years, we have changed, but QQ has not changed. He still hopes that you love to express your emotions, love to chat and make friends with strangers, there are idols, trends (2D), powerful file transfer and other functions. But you, who are restless in the city, have already been drowned in the struggle of "if you have something to say, say it quickly; if you don't, get out."

Mobile application product promotion service: APP promotion service Qinggua Media advertising

The author of this article @村里村外 is compiled and published by (Qinggua Media). Please indicate the author information and source when reprinting!