How to design an e-commerce new product channel?

Nowadays, with the rapid development of the Internet, the e-commerce industry has already occupied an advantageous position. Many users have become accustomed to using e-commerce platforms for shopping. The content of e-commerce platforms is also very rich and can meet the needs of users. The author of this article shares a case analysis on the design of e-commerce new product channels. Let us take a look at it together.

1. The value of new products

The traffic dividend of mobile Internet has already peaked, and the three major e-commerce platforms including Alibaba, JD.com, and Pinduoduo have already entered into a battle for existing traffic.

With the rise of new consumer goods, major e-commerce platforms have attached increasing importance to new products. New brands and new products that focus on new quality and personalization have an increasingly wide influence. "Creating new things" has become an opportunity for e-commerce platforms to attract new consumer groups and gain new growth space.

• Relying on its own advantages, Alibaba continues to incubate new brands through Tmall Little Black Box, attaches the greatest importance to new products and has achieved remarkable results.
• Because of its own self-operated and purchasing and sales model, JD.com relies more on JD.com Mini Cube to create innovation in the product dimension and help existing merchants expand their incremental space.
• Because of Pinduoduo's strategy of using subsidies and low prices to increase the number of lower-tier consumers, its promotion of new products is relatively weak, and it focuses more on sales and exposure of white-label products.

Based on my experience in the vertical e-commerce industry, we classify products into best-sellers, new products, and discounted products. Bestsellers are enduring and account for the majority of sales. Products with poor sales often start to be discounted from the beginning, and a large number of long-tail products are among them; the constantly launched new products are undoubtedly the most eye-catching, occupying the user's attention time, and are also the source of new best-selling products.

Whether an e-commerce platform can launch popular new products and boost new product sales by "creating innovation" best reflects the platform's comprehensive influence in the industry.

(Entrance to the new product channel on the homepage of Taobao, Tmall, and JD.com)

Just by looking at the position of the new product channel on the homepage of the e-commerce platform, you can feel the importance each platform attaches to new products. Open Taobao on your mobile phone, and [Tmall New Products] is in the first position below the search box.

When you open Tmall on your mobile phone, [Tmall Black Box] takes up half of the first screen of the homepage; when you open JD.com, [New Product Launch] appears when you swipe right at the golden position; Pinduoduo has no fixed entrance for new products on the homepage; the new product channels of NetEase Yanxuan, Dangdang, and Xiaomi Youpin all have obvious entrances on the homepage.

2. Product design of new product channel

E-commerce is a combination of people, goods and places. The design goal of the new product channel is to build a store that efficiently matches the supply and demand of new consumer products with corresponding users.

As product managers, we need to consider factors such as the characteristics of the platform categories, the characteristics of the new consumer groups, and the way the products are presented; discounts, content recommendations, limited draws, and trials are the most common modules in the new product channel.

1. New product aggregation page

(Tmall, JD.com, NetEase Yanxuan new product aggregation page)

Platform-based e-commerce companies of the scale of Tmall and JD all use a complex aggregation page structure. The aggregation page homepage only includes a carousel resource position, a navigation bar and a feed stream, while content seeding and new product trials are all on the secondary page. However, for e-commerce companies of the scale of NetEase Yanxuan, Xiaomi Youpin, and Dangdang, the aggregation pages are simple pages, presenting different modules on different floors in the page.

What is the difference in this design? Because the traffic of platform-based e-commerce is large enough, the bottom navigation can make the product structure clear and guide the consumer path. In addition, platform-based e-commerce has sufficient algorithm resources to support the personalized distribution of products through feed flow. For ordinary e-commerce platforms, traffic is limited, and one more level of jump will result in the loss of some traffic. The simplest design is to present multiple floors on a single page, and it can avoid the disadvantage of inaccurate feed flow presentation caused by insufficient algorithm resources.

Comparison: Tmall's page is more standardized, and the look and feel of each module is relatively uniform; JD's page has a strong promotional style, the carousel pictures and super new seasons are brightly colored, and the carousel landing page also has a strong thematic style. The display of the HeyBox page in the Taobao and Tmall apps is slightly different. When you click [New Product Spot] in the Tmall app, the second position in the bottom navigation will change from [New Product Direct Price] to [Top Product Lottery].

2. New Product Calendar

(Tmall new product drop, JD new product calendar, JD new season)

The core goal of the new product channel is sales, so a list page that directly displays the launch time of new products is essential. Tmall’s new product list [New Product Direct Reduction] highlights price discounts. The exclusive direct reduction can better arouse users’ desire to get a bargain, and the sorting is based on algorithm intervention.

JD’s new product list [New Product Calendar] is divided into [NEW/Tomorrow’s New Products] and [Previous|First Release New Products] according to the release time. It is strictly sorted according to the launch time, without highlighting the price factor. How to design a simple list page can best highlight the basic skills of a product manager. To determine whether time sorting or algorithm sorting is more suitable for your platform, you can use A/B testing.

Among the elements of product display, highlighting price discounts will undoubtedly attract more users. In addition, many business parties would like to add other information besides the products to the list, such as the store, well-known designers, book authors and other information. The core criterion for judgment can be whether it is conducive to the sales conversion of new products.

Comparison: Tmall’s discount information is more attractive to consumers, and JD’s new product calendar page has a strong sense of design.

3. Content seeding

(Tmall new product promotion, JD new product live broadcast, JD new discoveries)

With the continuous development of short videos and live shopping, the consumption decision-making path of the new consumer group is driven by content, and gradually presents the characteristics of "unplanned, stimulating, and short decision-making cycle"; short videos and live broadcasts have become standard for new product promotion. Tmall's short videos and live broadcasts are located on the [New Product Grass] page. The celebrity live broadcast calendar makes people feel that there are many big names. JD's [New Product Live Broadcast] and [Novel Discovery] display live broadcasts and short videos respectively.

For ordinary e-commerce platforms, it is necessary to evaluate whether they have sufficient content materials to support this module. On the other hand, it is also particularly important to display high-quality content throughout the entire platform.

Comparison: JD.com’s live broadcast landing page still has a strong theme style. Taobao Live has more content.

4. Draw for the best products

(Tmall's top-selling product lottery page, lottery details page)

Generation Z and users in specific hobby circles often attract attention with their obsession and love for trendy toys and specific limited editions. HeiHeiBox has brought the scene of people queuing up to buy premium products online. People can sign up for a lottery for various limited editions in the form of lottery codes. If you want to increase your chances of winning, you can share with friends to get more lottery codes.

When I took the screenshot, there were 5 ongoing activities, 4 figures and one celebrity autograph, with thousands of people participating in each activity. For the activities that had ended, the official data showed that there were tens of thousands of participants in each activity. Such activities are the most challenging for the platform's ability to operate products, and limited-edition products can attract heavy users.

Comparison: JD.com currently has no corresponding activities, which once again demonstrates Tmall's advantages.

5. New product trials

(Tmall U trial first, Tmall 1 cent trial, JD daily trial)

The types of trials include 0 yuan trial, 1 cent/1 yuan trial and low-price purchase trial, all of which are ways of delivering products to seed users at a low price, and having the seed users provide product reviews.

Tmall’s new product trial and U-first trial channels are connected, divided into 1 cent lottery trial and low-price purchase trial. Most of JD.com’s daily trials are 0 yuan lottery trials, and some 3C appliances are 1 yuan lottery trials.

After experiencing the trial process, I found that Tmall’s experience and functions are better than JD.com. The trial requires you to follow a store, but Tmall’s application only requires one click, and it will automatically help you follow the store when you click. JD.com requires two clicks, and following the store requires one more click.

Tmall’s sharing allows users to obtain more lottery codes and utilizes social fission to attract new customers and promote activity, while JD.com does not have this function; there is an entrance to add welfare coupons on Tmall’s application page, but when you click to join the group chat, you are prompted that “you do not meet the specified conditions for joining the group”.

Comparison: Tmall’s lottery process is simpler and has more functions, but it also has obvious functional anomalies.

6. Good news when you open the box

(Tmall Unboxing is a Happy Event, Unboxing is a Happy Event Task List, Tmall U First Trial Task List)

By integrating the task system into basic functions, Taobao is worthy of praise for guiding users to "shop". "Opening the Box Brings Happiness" is a task system in the Little Black Box. The corresponding tasks include [playing the mini-game of getting bargains], [browsing on Taobao Life], and [receiving red envelopes on the mobile Tmall app]. After simply browsing the tasks, the author drew a red envelope from the Little Black Box.

A similar task system is also reflected in U-first trial, which uses limited trial coupons as an attraction to guide users to browse various modules and complete tasks; the task system is used to enhance user usage time and stickiness.

Comparison: JD.com's Little Cube does not have this function yet.

7. Crowdfunding

JD.com and NetEase Yanxuan have placed crowdfunding in their new product channels, but Tmall has not.

3. Data monitoring of new product channels

Because new products have not yet been launched on the market, they are full of unknowns for users. Users who come to the new product channel often have a certain curiosity and are highly proactive in browsing.

Taking a certain e-commerce platform as an example, the exposure of the 4th screen of the new product channel homepage can reach 80% of the first screen; while on an ordinary category channel page, the 4th screen often only has 10% of the exposure.

The result indicators of daily monitoring are the channel’s UV, PV, the number of new product orders received through the channel page, and the total number of new product orders received. The process indicators include UV and PV of each core module, the conversion rate of entering the product details page, the conversion rate of adding to cart and payment, and the overall conversion rate. Trial is a relatively special scenario. More detailed monitoring can view the daily activity of users participating in the trial lottery, as well as the behavior of users participating in the task system, to provide a reference for user activity.

4. Tmall/JD.com is nitpicking

Click [New Product Grass] on the Tmall app's Little Black Box page, and the second position in the bottom navigation will change from [New Product Direct Price] to [Top Product Lottery].

To experience the process of trying out new products, you need to follow the store. Tmall's application only requires one click, and it will automatically help you follow the store when you click. However, JD.com requires two clicks, and you need to click one more time to follow the store.

There is an entrance to add welfare coupons on Tmall’s application page, but when you click to join the group chat, it prompts that "you do not meet the specified group entry conditions."

Author: Zuoshousi

Source: E-commerce Product Notes