The underlying logic of Douyin e-commerce product selection

Anyone who has worked in e-commerce may have heard a saying that 30% of e-commerce depends on operations, and 70% depends on product selection. From this sentence, everyone can clearly see how important product selection is for e-commerce. Many students who are engaged in Douyin e-commerce often only focus on operations. Some people even devote themselves to how to operate, how to operate short videos or live broadcast rooms.

However, everyone must be clear that our operations are ultimately to serve your products. If there is a problem with your product itself, no matter how good your operational skills are, you will find that it will be futile in the end.

Therefore, we must not put the cart before the horse. We must start with product selection. If you do a good job of product selection, it is equivalent to laying a good foundation for our store. On such a basis, when you go on to operate, you will find that our operational efficiency will be twice the result with half the effort. How can we select our own products in a new e-commerce track like Douyin?

To answer this question, we must first know what Douyin e-commerce is? What are the differences between it and other e-commerce? Only if we understand some of the underlying principles here can we establish a correct cognition and then establish a clear idea of ​​product selection. What exactly is Douyin e-commerce? Previously, at the first ecological conference of Douyin e-commerce, Kang Zeyu, president of Douyin e-commerce, proposed a concept called interest-based e-commerce, which is also a positioning for Douyin e-commerce. The original words of interest-based e-commerce are a kind of interest-based e-commerce based on users' yearning for a better and happier life, and then actively helping consumers discover their own potential shopping interests and improve the quality of life of customers. What's the meaning? We all know that our Douyin now has more than 600 million daily active users.

In other words, more than 600 million users will come to Douyin every day. When these people open Douyin, you will find that they generally do not come for shopping, but most of them come for entertainment.

Under the superb algorithm mechanism of Tik Tok, everyone will continue to see content that interests them. Based on such a scenario, we in e-commerce actually need to cater to the needs of users, fully explore their interests, and then make them interested in your content when they see you. Then demand is generated and finally consumption is completed.

During the whole process, we not only meet the needs of users, but also give them surprises. It turns out that life can be lived this way and life can be so beautiful. This is the fundamental logic of our interest e-commerce. Only by starting from such a fundamental point can we do e-commerce well on Douyin.

The fundamental point of e-commerce is actually the products, so our product selection must also be based on the fundamental point of interest-based e-commerce. Before, some e-commerce colleagues would usually think of a so-called shortcut when selecting products. They would first go to traditional e-commerce platforms to find some popular products, and then sell them on Douyin. Their reasons were very sufficient, because other companies were already very mature e-commerce companies, and the products that were already selling well had been verified by the market, right? Therefore, it will definitely not be wrong to choose these popular products to sell on Douyin. Is this logic valid? This is definitely not true. Why? We first need to look at the difference between interest-based e-commerce and other e-commerce.

Source: ByteDance official website

Okay, let’s first take a look at traditional e-commerce. What is the logic behind traditional e-commerce? Everyone has a need first and then searches.

For example, let's say your baby is about to go back to school, and you need to buy something for your baby, such as a school bag. You first have such a need, and then you go to these traditional e-commerce platforms and enter the keyword "school bag" in the search input box. A lot of results will appear, and then you can filter them based on your own judgment, and finally select a product that meets your needs.

This is the logic of our traditional e-commerce. What does it resemble? Just like when we go shopping in a mall in real life, you go with a targeted goal and then you buy the thing you ultimately want. So, what is our traditional e-commerce? It's demand, then search, and then purchase. It's a chain like this. Douyin e-commerce follows the logic of planting grass, that is, it does not come with a demand first. It first sees the thing, and then sees that it may be one of our products, a display. It may come for the purpose of entertainment, and then we stimulate its desire to buy. For example, we may sell some delicious food or some new and unique good things, and then we stimulate its desire to buy, make it have the idea of ​​buying, and then place an order, and finally complete the shopping.

How is it different from traditional e-commerce? I just talked about our traditional e-commerce, which is like shopping in a mall. Our interest e-commerce is a bit like going to the cinema. For example, you want to go to the cinema for some entertainment today and watch a movie, but when you get to the mall, you find that the movie you arrived at has not started yet. At this time, you can just walk around the mall. As you are walking around, you may find that some products nearby suddenly arouse your shopping desire. You may think that this product is quite good and no one has seen it before, but you just happened to notice it today, and then you may buy it.

This is the logic of our Douyin, the logic of being planted. What is its content? It means that you first become interested, then develop a demand, and finally make a purchase.

To sum up, our traditional e-commerce is a form of meeting needs, while Douyin e-commerce is about creating demand. You will find that there is a big difference between Douyin e-commerce and traditional e-commerce. Let’s go back to the issue we talked about at the beginning. If you look at the logic of selecting products in traditional e-commerce and selling them on Douyin, it is definitely untenable. Okay, let’s briefly summarize it. Douyin e-commerce is completely different from traditional e-commerce.

It is a monetization process from planting grass to pulling grass, that is to say, first make users interested, then generate demand, and finally close the deal. Therefore, products that can stimulate users' expectations of use and create emotional resonance in them are the most suitable products for the Douyin ecosystem. This is a fundamental point in our product selection. How do we achieve this? How to stimulate user expectations on Douyin and then facilitate transactions? Ha, in Douyin, there are two places provided for us to display our talents: short videos and live broadcast rooms.

Source: ByteDance official website

Short videos and live broadcasts are the two major transaction scenarios for our Douyin e-commerce. We all know that when consuming in traditional e-commerce, users' transaction scenarios are usually on the product details page. We often visit traditional e-commerce, and you will see a place called the product details page. Then, you search for a product you want, and after you click on it, you will usually browse the product in detail. If the details page is very beautifully made, and the product introduction is very detailed, and the reputation is good, and it meets your needs, you may complete the order. Product camera is also a transaction scenario in traditional e-commerce, but it is different in Douyin. Douyin is divided into short videos and live broadcast rooms. These two types of consumption scenarios, when we are watching short videos, sometimes you will see a product introduced in the video.

Then, a purchase link will appear in the lower left corner of the video. If you are attracted to the product and the price is good, you may click on the link to purchase it. This is a consumption of the short video. In addition, let’s look at the one on the right. We are in the live broadcast room, and you can also see a very rich display of products. Once you are convinced, you can click on the little yellow cart below and complete the purchase in the same way.

Short videos and live broadcasts are the two major transaction scenarios for Douyin e-commerce. No matter it is short videos or live broadcasts, our core is still to do a good job of your content. We all know that Douyin is a platform where content is king. As long as you can do a good job of content, you will be able to play Douyin. For Douyin e-commerce, the core of what we just said about content is king, which is the product we want to sell. Only if we do a good job in product selection and showcase our brand well, can we make your short videos and live broadcast rooms become popular. Let’s take a look at short videos and live broadcasts separately and how we can make them popular.

Source: ByteDance official website

Let’s first look at the weight of short videos, which is a very important system. That is to say, how high is the traffic after our short video is released? What is this weight? For example, if you post a short video, Tik Tok will first recommend it to the first small wave of traffic, and then observe this wave of traffic and its feedback on your work. What is included in this includes what we have listed here, the completion rate, that is, what proportion of people have finished watching your video, the like rate, how many people have liked it, the forwarding rate, how many people have forwarded it, and how many people have commented on it? How many people like the chalk, how many fans are added, how many people watch it again? If your work is of high quality and the feedback from everyone reaches the threshold set by Douyin, Douyin will push you into a larger traffic pool. This is a weight system of our Douyin.

We have a weight system for short videos, which means that if your content meets the standards, it will break through the traffic pool of Douyin and eventually become a hit. Okay, we just talked about that for Douyin e-commerce, your products are your content. Now let’s all think about it. Under our weight system, what kind of products can help your short video break through the hierarchical traffic pool and then achieve the goal of becoming a hit?

Source: ByteDance official website

Continuing, let’s take a look at another transaction scenario, which is the weight system of our live broadcast room, that is, how can your live broadcast room become a hit? If you start a live broadcast, Douyin will first display your live broadcast room to Xiaobo's traffic. After some people come in, it will generate a click-through rate for the live broadcast room. When they click in, it will generate a click-through rate. Then the person who clicks into your live broadcast room, the time he stays in your live broadcast room, this is the user retention market. Then, if you control the live broadcast room well, these people will comment and interact with you, and become your fans, right? This is the interaction rate and the conversion rate to fans. Next, if your product has advantages and you display it well, what else will happen at this time?

It will also generate sales data such as product clicks, product purchases, etc. What I just talked about in the live broadcast room include click-through rate, duration of stay, and interaction rate and conversion rate to fans. Based on conversion rate and so on, each one is a business indicator set for us by Douyin. As long as you complete the business indicator, Douyin will promote your live broadcast room to more people. Our product selection is actually based on these business indicators. Commodities are the core elements for achieving these indicators.

Let’s think about it, based on the business indicators of our live broadcast room, what kind of products have more advantages in the live broadcast room? Having said that, I believe everyone understands, if you want to do well in Douyin e-commerce? We must develop strategies around TikTok’s algorithm, and your products are the core of this strategy.