Pinduoduo Product Analysis Report

In the market structure where Alibaba and JD.com divide the world, a dark horse has emerged in the domestic e-commerce track - Pinduoduo . Pinduoduo went online in October 2015 and officially entered the U.S. capital market on July 26, 2018, setting a new record for the fastest listing of domestic e-commerce companies. As of May 2020, Pinduoduo has 600 million active buyers and millions of merchants, and its GMV in the first quarter of 2020 reached 302.6 billion yuan.

How did Pinduoduo rise so rapidly in such a short period of time? From a gathering place for counterfeit and fake products that was criticized by everyone to the object of imitation by major competitors today, what has it experienced?

This article attempts to analyze the Pinduoduo product from multiple aspects to gain a deeper understanding of the operating logic behind this company and its e-commerce industry. The analysis structure is as follows:

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1. Industry Analysis

The industry macro-environment plays a vital role in the rise of an enterprise. The "point, line, surface and body" theory mentioned by the author's goddess, Liang Ning, in "30 Lectures on Product Thinking" also shows the importance of the industry's macro environment: the rapid rise of a "point" is largely dependent on the rise of the "body" in which it is located. This "body" refers to external macro factors that are unrelated to the enterprise.

The author uses the PEST model to conduct an industry analysis of the e-commerce industry:

1.1 Politics: Policy level

1.1.1 The government vigorously supports the e-commerce industry

The e-commerce industry has made important contributions to the growth of my country's national economy, and the government's strong support is an important booster for its development.

According to the "2019-2024 China E-commerce Industry Development Trend and Investment Decision Analysis Report" released by the Forward-looking Product Research Institute, in the two years from 2017 to 2019 alone, the country issued nearly 20 policies related to the e-commerce industry. Many provinces, cities and counties followed the national policies and provided more detailed and relevant local policies to support the development of the e-commerce industry.

1.1.2 The promulgation of the E-Commerce Law further strengthened industry supervision and encouraged corporate innovation

The implementation of the "E-Commerce Law" in 2019 has given e-commerce industry platforms a legal basis.

In terms of supervision, in addition to including purchasing agents, micro-businesses, bloggers, etc. in the scope of e-commerce operators for legislative management, the "E-Commerce Law" also imposes restrictions on today's emerging social e-commerce platforms. It provides detailed regulations on e-commerce platforms' deletion of negative reviews, brushing of positive reviews, selling counterfeit goods, express delivery delays, etc., standardizes e-commerce behavior, maintains market order, and promotes the sustained and healthy development of e-commerce.

In terms of corporate innovation, the "E-Commerce Law" encourages new e-commerce formats, innovative business models, and promotes the research and development and promotion and application of e-commerce technologies. This is a major opportunity for the development of the e-commerce platform economy. As a new form of e-commerce platform, "social e-commerce" has also become a new outlet for thriving growth.

1.2 Economy: Economic level

1.2.1 Improvement of residents’ income level

The increase in residents' disposable income is one of the most important factors affecting residents' consumption. The growth of residents' per capita income is conducive to promoting residents' online consumption.

According to iResearch data, China's per capita disposable income has continued to grow in the past five years. In 2019, the per capita disposable income of Chinese residents was 30,733 yuan, an increase of 8.9% year-on-year.

1.2.2 Rapid Development of Downstream Market

1.2.2.1 Huge traffic in the sinking market

In terms of population size, more than 70% of my country's population lives in third-, fourth- and fifth-tier cities and rural areas. According to Nielsen data, the population size of my country's third- and fourth-tier cities is as high as 953 million, far exceeding the 427 million population size of first- and second-tier cities. Regardless of economic growth or the spread of the Internet dividend, this group of users will be the most important component in the future.

In terms of the number of mobile Internet users and the Internet access rate, the number of mobile Internet users in third-, fourth- and fifth-tier cities is around 460 million, accounting for 55% of the total number of mobile Internet users, more than half of the market size, and are the main force of mobile online consumption. However, in contrast, the Internet access rate in third-tier and lower cities is relatively low, at only 48.3%. This data means that on average less than one in every two people uses a mobile device, which is a huge gap from the 88.1% in first- and second-tier cities. It can be seen that the sinking market will still be a blue ocean market with huge potential in the next 5-10 years.

1.2.2.2 The GDP growth rate of the sinking market is encouraging

According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, although the overall economic size of the third-, fourth- and fifth-tier sinking markets cannot reach the level of first- and second-tier developed cities, they have continued to maintain a relatively high growth rate in recent years. The overall GDP growth rate of fourth- and fifth-tier cities even exceeded that of first- and second-tier cities at one point.

1.2.2.3 People in the lower-tier markets have a strong willingness to consume

According to data from Mob Research Institute, although the monthly income of people in the third-, fourth- and fifth-tier markets is mostly below 5,000 yuan, housing prices in most low-tier cities are relatively low, and a considerable number of residents do not need to worry about huge mortgage payments, and thus have a strong desire to consume. The actual per capita disposable income in low-tier cities is not even inferior to that of people in first- and second-tier cities who need to pay mortgages. The "China Consumer Confidence Index Report" released by Nielsen also shows that in 2018, the consumer confidence of residents in first-tier cities was the weakest, while the consumer confidence of residents in third-tier cities and rural areas was stronger and their willingness to consume was stronger.

1.2.3 The consumption structure of the market within the Fifth Ring Road is polarized

The "market within the Fifth Ring Road" is derived from Pinduoduo CEO Huang Zheng's concept of "people within the Fifth Ring Road", referring to high-tier cities, corresponding to the "sinking market".

"Polarization of consumption structure" means that consumers concentrate their disposable income on high-end luxury brands and low-end functional brands, and consumption gradually shows two trends: low consumption and high consumption. On the one hand, luxury goods consumption has grown by leaps and bounds, and on the other hand, online shopping and affordable shopping are also becoming a trend.

Although the "people within the Fifth Ring Road" do not live in the "sinking market", due to the "polarization of consumption structure", they have downgraded their consumption of functional brands, making them the target users of group buying e-commerce companies such as Pinduoduo.

1.3 Society: Social and cultural aspects

1.3.1 The scale and penetration rate of Internet users have increased, and mobile devices have become the most commonly used channel for Internet access

Comparing longitudinally over time, after two waves of the Internet, my country's Internet penetration rate has continued to increase. According to the 44th "Statistical Report on the Development of China's Internet" released by the China Internet Network Information Center, as of June 2019, the scale of Internet users in my country was 854 million, with 25.98 million new Internet users compared to 2018. The Internet penetration rate reached 61.2%, an increase of 1.6% from the end of 2018. Among them, the scale of mobile Internet users in my country reached 847 million, with an increase of 29.84 million mobile Internet users compared to the end of 2018. The proportion of netizens using mobile phones to access the Internet increased from 98.6% at the end of 2018 to 99.1% at the end of 2018. Mobile phones have become the most commonly used channel for netizens to access the Internet.

In international comparison, according to a report released by the Pew Research Center on June 25, 2018, the smartphone penetration rate in China is 68%, which is at an upper-middle level internationally.

1.3.2 Mobile Internet Participation in Lower-tier Markets Increases

1.3.2.1 The lower-tier markets have become the largest incremental group in the mobile Internet, and the age structure of new Internet users is mainly at the two ends

According to QuestMobile data, from March 2019 to March 2020, the number of monthly active users in the sinking market increased by 24.61 million, while the number of monthly active users in first- and second-tier cities decreased by 7.14 million. Among the net increase of 17 million people, new users under the age of 24 and over the age of 41 accounted for 90% of the total new users.

1.3.2.2 Netizens in lower-tier markets have abundant leisure time

Compared with residents in first- and second-tier cities, residents in third-, fourth- and fifth-tier cities work fewer hours and have more free time, so they have more leisure time.

Residents in low-tier cities have relatively short working hours:

• The average daily working hours in first- and second-tier cities are longer. Workers in first- and second-tier cities such as Guangzhou, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Hangzhou have longer average daily working hours. Guangzhou ranks first with an average daily working time of 9.2 hours, followed by Hangzhou with 8.9 hours. Shanghai has an average daily working time of 8.89 hours, and Shenzhen has an average daily working time of 8.88 hours.
• The working hours per week in third- and fourth-tier cities are shorter, with 35% of people in third- and fourth-tier cities working 31-40 hours a week, lower than first-tier cities (56%) and second-tier cities (47%).

Residents of lower-tier cities have more free time:

• People in second- and third-tier cities have more leisure time per week. Changsha residents have the longest leisure time per week, which is 22 hours, while Xiamen residents have 21.9 hours per week, ranking second.
• Residents in third- and fourth-tier cities spend more time online on average every day. The average daily Internet time is highest in the 2-5 hour period, among which residents in third- and fourth-tier cities account for more than 50%, while those in first- and second-tier cities account for less than 40%.

Average daily working hours of employees in each city (hours)

Weekly working hours of residents in cities of different tiers (hours)

Weekly leisure time of working people in each city (hours)

Daily Internet time of residents in cities of different tiers (hours)

1.3.3 The number of non-Internet users has decreased, but they are still mainly from rural areas. The main reason for their Internet access is their educational level rather than hardware facilities.

According to the "Statistical Report on the Development of China's Internet", the number of non-Internet users in my country continues to decline. As of June 2019, the scale of non-Internet users in my country was 541 million, a decrease of 1.6% from 2018. In the structure of non-Internet users, rural areas account for a relatively high proportion of about 62.8%. It can be seen that non-Internet users are still mainly in rural areas. Lack of usage skills and cultural limitations such as not knowing pinyin are the main reasons why non-Internet users in China do not go online.

1.4 Technology: Technical level

1.4.1 With the improvement of my country's information technology development level, the threshold for people to access the Internet is getting lower and lower

The growth of Internet users is closely related to the industry's technology level, interaction methods, network costs, etc.

In terms of hardware, my country has built the world's largest fiber optic and mobile communications networks. The proportion of administrative villages with access to fiber optic and 4G exceeds 98%, and the number of fixed Internet broadband users exceeds 450 million. With the acceleration of broadband construction in my country, the increase in Internet speed and reduction in fees, the sharp increase in the penetration rate of smartphones, and the decrease in traffic costs, the cost of Internet access for users has dropped to a very low level.

In terms of software, with the innovation of operating systems and the application of artificial intelligence technologies such as voice recognition, the human-computer interaction mode of mobile devices has gradually become more humanized. People with low Internet awareness can also use mobile devices to complete some simple interactive operations.

1.4.2 The infrastructure of the e-commerce supply chain is complete, and the e-commerce supporting service system for netizens in third- and fourth-tier cities is more complete

After nearly 20 years of hard work by Alibaba and JD.com in the e-commerce industry, the platform infrastructure of the e-commerce industry has been completed, such as logistics systems, big data, mobile payments, supply chains, etc. At the same time, in order to develop the rural economy, the e-commerce supporting service systems in low-tier areas are being improved in full swing. The "express delivery to the countryside" program and the implementation of a series of policies to benefit farmers will bring greater opportunities to rural e-commerce.

1.5 Future Development Trends

1.5.1 Generational changes: the continuous joining of Generation Z has brought about changes in the structure of the Internet

Generation Z refers to a generation that has been greatly influenced by technological products such as the Internet, smartphones and tablets. Because they grew up completely during the period of rapid development of the Internet, they are also called the "natives" of the Internet.

In 2019, the first batch of 30 million "indigenous people" entered society and became an important part of social consumption. Their attitude and approach to the Internet, which is completely different from previous generations, will bring changes to the structure of the Internet.

1.5.2 Social e-commerce is still booming, and WeChat is its important channel

In 2018, the scale of my country's social e-commerce industry reached 626.85 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 255.8%; in 2019, the market size of my country's social e-commerce industry reached approximately 1,316.64 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 110%. It can be seen that with the continuous and deepening integration of social traffic and e-commerce transactions, there is still a lot of market space in the social e-commerce market, and it will continue to maintain rapid growth in the next few years.

As a giant APP, WeChat has 940 million monthly active users, which is close to the 1 billion mobile devices in my country. It can be roughly assumed that 94% of mobile devices have WeChat software installed. Social e-commerce, which is based on communication between people, requires huge traffic as support. Therefore, social media such as WeChat, QQ Mobile, and Weibo will definitely be important channels for social e-commerce sales in the future.

2. Introduction to Typical Business Models in the E-commerce Industry

2.1 Introduction to the “People-Goods-Place” System of E-commerce

The author uses the "people-goods-place" system architecture proposed by Liu Run in "New Retail" to split and introduce the typical business model of e-commerce.

What is retail? What is e-commerce? The book "New Retail" explains that the essence of retail is the "place" that connects "people" and "goods", and the essence of the e-commerce platform is to build an efficient "people-goods-place" system. New retail is nothing more than more efficient retail.

The summary diagram of the “people-goods-field” architecture is as follows:

2.1.1 Goods = DMSBbC

The entire supply chain of goods from design, production to consumer market can be summarized as D-M-S-B-b-C:

D=Design, refers to the design process of product style;

M=Manufacture, also known as factory;

S=Supply Chain, usually refers to general agents, provincial agents, distributors, dealers and other institutions;

B=Business (Big B, shopping mall), refers to hypermarkets, supermarkets, chain stores, etc.;

b=business (small b, store), refers to individual sellers such as mom-and-pop stores, street vendors, and WeChat merchants;

C=Consumer, which is the end customer.

2.1.2 People = Consumers = Traffic * Conversion Rate * Average Order Value * Repurchase Rate

People are consumers, and where consumers are, there is business.

The commercial value of consumers can be expressed as "traffic x conversion rate x average order value x repurchase rate". More commercial value can be obtained by attracting more traffic, improving traffic conversion rate, increasing average order value, and strengthening consumer loyalty to increase repurchase rate.

2.1.3 Market = Information Flow + Capital Flow + Logistics Flow

"Field" is the medium that connects "people" and "goods". This medium is mainly composed of three "flows": information flow, capital flow, and logistics flow.

Information flow refers to “people’s” cognition of “goods” information.

Capital flow refers to the "money exchanged for goods" in the phrase "cash exchanged for goods".

Logistics refers to the "hand-to-hand delivery" in "hand-to-hand payment and hand-to-hand delivery".

2.2 Based on the position of both parties in the goods supply chain, e-commerce can be divided into the following common types

2.2.1 B2B

A model in which businesses provide goods to other businesses, and both the supply and demand sides of the transaction are merchants (or businesses, companies).

Typical products: 1688

2.2.2 B2C

The model of large enterprises selling goods to consumers is the most common and basic business model in the commodity supply chain.

Typical products: Dangdang, JD.com, Tmall

2.2.3 C2B

A model in which consumers reverse customize the goods or services provided by a business.

Typical product: Haier's light-free factory

2.2.4 C2C

In a sales model where both the buyer and the seller are consumers, the seller first purchases the goods and then sells them to the buyer.

Typical products: Taobao, Xianyu, Weidian

2.2.5 M2C

A model in which factories provide goods or services they produce directly to consumers.

Typical products: Pinduoduo, Jingxi

2.2.6 C2M

A model in which consumers reverse customize goods from factories. When consumers gather on the demand side, the C2M model directly connects customer needs to the factory, customizes the goods, and delivers them to consumers.

Typical products: Red collar suits

2.2.7 S2b

S is a large supply chain platform, and b refers to individual sellers such as mom-and-pop stores, street vendors, and WeChat merchants. The S side can provide basic services such as centralized procurement that guarantee brand and quality. It can also establish a database through advanced supply chain technologies such as SaaS tools to realize dataization and intelligence for the B side, and lay the foundation for the B side to provide visualization services to the C side. b will complete low-cost real-time interaction with customers, understand customer needs, find customer pain points, and then use the S supply-side platform's collaborative capabilities in design, production, and transportation to complete customized services for customers.

Typical products: Tmall store

2.3 Based on traffic acquisition methods and operation models, social e-commerce can be divided into the following common types

Traditional e-commerce is product-centric, displaying goods through users’ active product searches, while social e-commerce is people-centric. Based on social media functions, it acquires traffic at low cost through social activities, content sharing, algorithm recommendations, etc., and ultimately realizes commercial monetization through an innovative e-commerce model. The position of social e-commerce in the spectrum of China's e-commerce industry is shown in the figure:

According to the traffic acquisition method and operation model, social e-commerce can be divided into the following four categories:

2.3.1 Group-buying e-commerce

Group-buying e-commerce requires two or more users to form a group through social sharing. After successfully forming a group, users can enjoy greater discounts at low prices and increase user participation enthusiasm, allowing consumers to spread the word on their own. Group buying platforms only need to spend a one-time traffic cost to attract users to actively initiate group buying.

In order to complete the order as quickly as possible, users will share the link to their social relationship chain. The spread of group buying information may also attract other users to open the group buying again. The number of disseminations and the number of orders have achieved exponential growth.

Typical products: Pinduoduo, JD Pinpin, Jingxi, Suning Pinpin, Taobao Special Edition, Xiaoe Pinpin, Gome Meidian, Squirrel Pinpin, 51 Pinpin, National Pinpin, Daily Pinpin, and NetEase Pinpin.

2.3.2 Member Distribution E-commerce

Membership-based social e-commerce business refers to a business model that connects suppliers and consumers with the S2b2C model to achieve commodity circulation on a social basis. The distribution platform (S) connects with commodity suppliers upstream and provides a series of services such as supply chain, logistics, IT system, training, and after-sales to B-end store owners downstream. The B-end store owners are then responsible for C-end commodity sales and user maintenance. Users become members by paying membership fees/completing tasks, etc., and use social relationships to distribute without intervening in the supply chain, realizing the goal of "saving money for personal use and making money by sharing."

Membership-based e-commerce is an upgraded version of personal micro-business. In the early personal micro-business model, individual store owners needed to complete the entire process of product purchase, pricing, sales and after-sales. In a membership-based e-commerce model, the owner does not interfere with the supply chain and only bears the responsibility of acquiring customers and users. The distribution platform provides standardized services for the entire industry chain. The owner just needs to use social connections. Earn money by sharing and recommending.

Typical products: AiKucun, Zebra Membership, Beidian, Fenxiang, Huasheng Diary, Future Market, Darling Home, and Fenxiang Life.

2.3.3 Content Sharing E-commerce

Content social e-commerce is to improve the effectiveness of e-commerce marketing by guiding consumers to make purchases through various forms of content to achieve coordination between goods and content. In the social e-commerce model, social networks are used as links and products are distributed based on individual users. Each social node can become a traffic entrance and generate transactions, which is suitable for consumers who are easily influenced by KOLs or communities with common interests.

According to a BCG survey, nearly half of consumers follow brand dynamics through social media and other digital media represented by KOLs, brand-owned advertisements and social ads. More than 70% of young people under the age of 30 are susceptible to the influence of different types of KOLs.

Young people are gradually becoming the main force of online shopping. In order to meet their scattered and personalized consumption needs, e-commerce and content industry chains are gradually merging, influencing consumers' decision-making and guiding consumers' shopping behavior through content.

Typical products: Xiaohongshu, Mogujie, Xiaohongchun, Douyin e-commerce, Kuaishou e-commerce, etc.

2.3.4 Community Group Buying E-commerce

The community group purchasing model is also a type of S2b2C. The community group buying platform provides products, logistics warehousing and after-sales support. The group leader (usually a mother or a community convenience store owner) is responsible for community operations, product promotion, order collection and final distribution of goods. Based on the trust relationship between the community group leader and the surrounding residents, the customer acquisition cost is reduced and it is suitable for daily household items with a high repurchase rate.

After community residents join the order through the WeChat mini program or APP, the community group buying platform will deliver the goods to the group leader on the next day. Consumers can pick up the goods at the door or the group leader will make the last mile delivery.

Typical products: Xiaohongshu Mall, Babytree, Koala Selection, Nian Gao Mama, Good Things, Niwonin, Food Enjoyment Club, Shihuituan, Linlinyi, Xiaoqule, Yippin Fresh, Xingsheng Selection, and Daily Tao.

3. Competitive Product Analysis

In the face of the huge cake of e-commerce, a large number of players have emerged. They have adopted different solutions and formed different product forms. According to the "2020 Hurun China Top 10 E-commerce" ranking, among the major e-commerce players, Alibaba is undisputedly ranked first on the list with a value of 410.9 billion yuan, and it is the only one that dominates the list. Its value is more than the sum of the other 9 companies on the list, and it is undisputedly in the first echelon of e-commerce; followed by Meituan, JD.com, and Pinduoduo as important players in the industry with greater influence, belonging to the second echelon; other companies belong to the third echelon, as shown in the following figure:

Based on Pinduoduo's competitive product ecology and referring to the e-commerce value rankings, this article selects Jingxi, a product of JD.com that ranks in the second tier of the rankings, as Pinduoduo's competitor for competitive product analysis.

3.1 Pinduoduo

3.1.1 Growth Path

In April 2015, Pinduoduo was officially launched.

In April 2015, it received angel round investment from Duan Yongping, Wang Wei, Sun Tongyu and Ding Lei, but the specific amount was not disclosed.

In July 2016, Pinduoduo's user base exceeded 100 million, and it received US$110 million in Series B financing led by IDG Capital, Tencent, and Gaorong Capital.

In September 2016, Pinduoduo and Pinhaohuo announced their merger.

On October 10, 2016, Pinduoduo’s single-day transaction volume exceeded 100 million yuan on its anniversary celebration.

On February 1, 2017, it received US$213 million in Series C financing from Sequoia Capital China, Gaorong Capital, Cathay Capital, and Tencent Investment.

On July 26, 2018, Pinduoduo officially entered the U.S. capital market with an issue price of US$19 and a market value of US$24 billion.

On April 11, 2018, it received $1.369 billion in Series D funding from Sequoia Capital China and Tencent Investment.

In October 2018, Gome Electrical Appliances and Pinduoduo started cooperation, with the former providing electrical appliance product management business to Pinduoduo.

In February 2019, Pinduoduo was included in MSCI;

In September 2019, Pinduoduo issued a $1 billion bond financing

On March 31, 2020, Pinduoduo announced that some long-term investors have agreed to purchase the company's newly issued Class A common stock with a total value of US$1.1 billion through a private placement, accounting for approximately 2.8% of the total issued shares. The transaction is expected to be completed in early April 2020.

On April 21, 2020, Pinduoduo subscribed to the US$200 million convertible bonds issued by Gome Retail, and Pinduoduo and Gome Retail reached a comprehensive strategy.

In the early morning of April 25, 2020, Pinduoduo released its 2019 annual report. The annual report showed that in 2019, Pinduoduo's transaction volume was 1,006.6 billion yuan, and the number of annual active buyers on the platform reached 585.2 million, an increase of 167 million from the previous year. The average annual consumption of active buyers was 1,720.1 yuan, a year-on-year increase of 53%. The number of annual active merchants exceeded 5.1 million, an increase of 41.7% from 3.6 million in the same period last year.

On March 31, 2020, the platform Pinduoduo announced that some long-term investors have agreed to purchase the company's newly issued Class A common stock with a total value of US$1.1 billion through a private placement, accounting for approximately 2.8% of the total issued shares. The transaction is expected to be completed in early April 2020.

In September 2020, Pinduoduo became the exclusive red envelope interactive partner of the 2021 Spring Festival Gala.

3.1.2 Slogan

Buy in bulk to get a bargain

3.1.3 Product Positioning

Costco+Disney

On the one hand, let users experience the feeling of getting a bargain by creating core popular products with the characteristics of low prices, low gross margins, low SKUs and high inventory depth.

On the other hand, by refining operations through games and other means, incorporating entertainment into the consumer purchasing process and relying on social models, consumers can feel psychological pleasure. At the same time, the user experience is continuously improved through high-speed iteration. It is reported that from October 26, 2015 to August 2, 2019, Pinduoduo launched a total of 199 versions, an average of one version every 6.87 days.

3.1.4 Business Model

M2C+Decentralization

The traditional offline retailer supply chain is production, logistics, distribution, terminals, and consumers. The supply chain of traditional e-commerce is production, brand, agency operation, logistics, and consumers. Pinduoduo’s supply chain includes production, logistics, and consumers. Pinduoduo adopts the M2C business model, directly connecting with factories, shortening the supply chain, avoiding price increases at each level, and promoting the intensification of the supply chain, thereby reducing various warehousing and logistics costs. It then eliminates multiple intermediary distribution links, sells goods directly to consumers, and significantly reduces prices.

Pinduoduo also adopts a decentralized e-commerce business model. Decentralization does not mean that there is no center, but that everyone becomes the center inadvertently. Pinduoduo uses the method of sharing and group buying to enable its products to reach more potential users. Different from traditional e-commerce that access products through search, Pinduoduo recommends products to users through algorithms. The recommendation algorithm allows each user to have a different Pinduoduo homepage. Considering that a large number of people in low-tier cities cannot even type the name of a product, it is difficult for them to shop on a search-oriented platform. Decentralized and search-oriented shopping platforms provide them with a good shopping scenario.

3.1.5 Social Mode

WeChat, as a must-have social software for every mobile Internet user, is the best platform for social e-commerce. The huge traffic support of the WeChat ecosystem is an important reason why Pinduoduo was able to achieve explosive growth in users in a short period of time.

Pinduoduo's viral marketing on WeChat in the early stages of its development can be said to have maximized the role of WeChat as a social platform. Pinduoduo uses technical means to break through the restrictions of WeChat platform rules and continuously sends messages to WeChat users in many ways. In addition to recommended messages from friends and advertisements in Moments, there are also push notifications from various WeChat accounts. People even jokingly say, "How to judge whether a person has bowed to life? See if he sends you a Pinduoduo link." This shows that Pinduoduo's viral marketing method has a great impact on ordinary WeChat users.

In the later stage of Pinduoduo's development, WeChat blocked the price-cutting link. However, Pinduoduo had already seized the dividends of WeChat at this time and launched the "Pin Xiaoquan" function which is similar to the social attributes of WeChat.

3.1.6 Customer Acquisition Methods

Social activities such as group buying and bargaining are one of the ways to acquire customers

WeChat secondary entrance and WeChat mini program are the second entrance for acquiring customers

3.1.7 Merchant Source

The main source of merchants for Pinduoduo in the early days were the low- and mid-end merchants that were cleared out after traditional e-commerce giants such as Taobao moved towards branding. Pinduoduo is also developing "Pin Factories" offline. By aggregating consumer demand, it provides demand information to small and medium-sized manufacturers, allowing merchants to focus on the depth rather than the breadth of SKUs and concentrate on creating 2 to 3 core popular products.

3.1.8 Payment Methods

WeChat Pay, Alipay, QQ Wallet, and Huabei can be linked with Alipay's activities.

3.1.9 Warehousing and distribution model

All items on Pinduoduo are free shipping and delivered by third-party logistics. Rumor has it that Pinduoduo will cooperate with Jitu Express to build its own logistics moat.

3.1.10 After-sales guarantee

Pinduoduo has teamed up with PICC Property and Casualty Insurance Co., Ltd. and well-known domestic and foreign brands to launch an authentic product insurance card, which allows users to claim compensation if they buy counterfeit products in designated stores.

3.1.11 Business Development

Pinduoduo has been constantly innovating in terms of integrating market conditions and increasing market growth. In April 2018, Pinduoduo launched the "Duoduo Orchard" plan on the supply side, using the form of games + agriculture to complete the first step in bringing fresh produce into the city. In December 2018, Pinduoduo launched the "New Brand Plan", planning to support 1,000 merchants and help them "reach consumers more effectively and cultivate white-label brands at low cost." In June 2019, Pinduoduo teamed up with platform brands to launch the "10 billion subsidy" plan to further promote the platform's branding.

3.2 Jingxi

3.2.1 Growth Path

In 2014, JD.com launched its social e-commerce layout, reached a strategic partnership with Tencent, and entered the first-level entrance of WeChat and QQ shopping.

In 2016, the group buying business was launched, and the content shopping guide ecosystem "Shopping Circle" was launched.

In June 2018, JD.com launched the group buying app

In 2018, the first “JD Shopping Festival” was held.

In April 2019, JD.com’s Pingou APP was officially launched for testing;

In May 2019, JD.com announced that it had renewed its three-year strategic cooperation agreement with Tencent, which came into effect on May 27, 2019. In the agreement, JD.com will utilize unique resources such as WeChat's first-level entrance and WeChat Market to create a new platform that is different from JD.com's existing scenarios and models.

During the 618 period in 2019, JD.com Pingou promoted growth in the lower-tier markets and launched the “Factory Direct Premium Products” plan in partnership with Xinhua Credit.

In July 2019, JD.com’s group buying business department was renamed JD.com’s social e-commerce business department, and its strategic position was upgraded.

In September 2019, "JD Pingou" was renamed "Jingxi" and the new App was officially launched.

3.2.2 Slogan

Low price but not low quality

3.2.3 Product Positioning

Provide consumers with high-quality and low-priced goods

3.2.4 Business Model

M2C

Jingxi explores high-quality factories in industrial belts and merchants in production belts, builds a source direct supply chain model of "factory direct supply + direct shipment from the origin", and delivers high-quality goods to consumers.

3.2.5 Social Mode

Jingxi fully leverages the advantages of video live streaming and small games, and further integrates user characteristics with business features through industrial belt live streaming combined with the gameplay of "Jingxi Factory". By completing tasks in the "Jingxi Factory", users can deeply experience the process of "making good things" and further deepen their understanding of "good products directly supplied from factories". At the same time, a series of social gameplay settings will also activate users' social fission.

3.2.6 Customer Acquisition Methods

Jingxi has six major traffic entrances: WeChat, QQ shopping entrance, Jingxi mini program, Jingxi APP, Jingxi M station, and fan group.

In May 2019, JD.com signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Tencent, which provided JD.com with prominent first- and second-level entrances on its WeChat platform, bringing JD.com a stable traffic entrance. Mobile channels such as the Jingxi QQ shopping entrance, Jingxi mini program, Jingxi APP, Jingxi M station, and fan groups also had good customer acquisition performance.

3.2.7 Merchant Source

Jingxi pioneered the "corporate store investment promotion" model in the industry. In 2018, JD Pingou (before the upgrade of Jingxi) held several investment promotion conferences and used preferential policies to attract merchants to settle in.

3.2.8 Payment Methods

WeChat Pay, JD Pay (can be linked with JD Finance’s promotional activities).

3.2.9 Warehousing and distribution model

JD.com combines its own logistics with third-party logistics.

3.2.10 After-sales guarantee

JD’s value-added protection is provided by a third-party service provider commissioned by the JD Financial Protection Service Official Flagship Store, such as: expired replacement, accidental protection, three-month accidental replacement, and six-month accidental replacement.

Goods directly supplied from the factory and shipped directly from the place of origin are inspected by third-party quality inspection agencies.

3.2.11 Business Development

Jingxi itself is a product of JD.com's business expansion, focusing on the sinking market to compete with Pinduoduo, so it does not have any other business expansion.

3.3 Summary

From the above analysis, it can be seen that the overall traffic sources and business models of Pinduoduo and Jingxi are very similar. Although there are many similarities, Pinduoduo and Jingxi still have certain differences.

In terms of product positioning, Pinduoduo focuses on low-priced popular products, while Jingxi focuses on low-priced and high-quality goods. Although the lower-end population is sensitive to prices and does not have high requirements for product quality, it does not mean that they can tolerate the low quality of service of the entire group buying e-commerce. The survey shows that consumers hate counterfeit and shoddy goods, which are the primary factor that causes group buying e-commerce target users to stay away. Jingxi's control over product procurement and merchant certification provides a better guarantee for product quality. Product quality control is also an important direction for the development of group buying e-commerce platforms.

In terms of customer acquisition methods, Pinduoduo mainly relies on WeChat, while Jingxi has two major social traffic pools, WeChat and QQ Mobile, and has a stronger traffic-generating effect. However, since WeChat currently prohibits sharing external links, Jingxi’s scene layout in WeChat is not as radical as Pinduoduo’s viral spread back then.

In terms of the source of merchants, Pinduoduo's merchants initially came from the tail merchants eliminated by traditional e-commerce, while Jingxi's merchants were mainly introduced through investment promotion.

In terms of warehousing and distribution, Pinduoduo focuses on a "light asset" business model and uses third-party logistics for distribution. Due to the low unit price of goods, the distribution cost accounts for a relatively high proportion. Jingxi is backed by JD.com’s logistics system and fully leverages JD.com’s advantages in warehousing and logistics.

In terms of after-sales guarantee, Jingxi benefits from the quality control experience accumulated by JD.com during its long-term self-operation, continues to use the excellent after-sales guarantee capabilities of JD.com's main site to bring consumers a better after-sales experience, and provides third-party quality inspections so that consumers can buy with confidence.

In terms of brand endorsement, since most M2C products are white-label products and have no brand endorsement, the platform needs to provide them with stronger brand endorsement to gain the trust of consumers. In the eyes of consumers, Pinduoduo still has the impression that it is flooded with counterfeit goods, but JD.com has always given people the impression of high quality, which can better empower Jingxi and create brand power for "unbranded" products.

In terms of social gameplay, Pinduoduo has different prices for the same products, and users need to spend time and energy for low prices (playing games or sharing links). This differentiates user groups and allows users who are willing to spend time looking for discounts to get discounts. Jingxi has only one price, and users get discounts by recruiting other users and getting cashback. However, due to the non-immediate nature of the cashback and the obscure cashback rules, users need to spend a lot of time learning the app during use.

4. User Value Analysis

A platform must have multiple users, and the development of the platform needs to meet the different needs of different users.

Users of the Pinduoduo platform include: consumers, merchants, logistics, and the Pinduoduo platform. The relationship between them is shown in the figure below:

In the user value analysis chapter, the author will analyze how Pinduoduo balances the interests of consumers and merchants from the perspective of different users. Since Pinduoduo uses third-party logistics services, the logistics aspect is not analyzed here.

4.1 Consumers

4.1.1 Small town youth

Small town youth refers to young people from third- and fourth-tier cities, county towns, and rural areas, who were born in the 1980s or later. According to the "2019 Downstream Market User Research Report" released by 58 Tongzhen, young people in small towns are the main users of the downstream market.

4.1.1.1 Characteristics of young people in small towns: free time, rich money, and chasing the trends of internet celebrities

In terms of time, compared with urban youth, small town youth have a smaller living radius and a relatively slower working pace, allowing them to have more time for socializing and entertainment.

Economically, the income of young people in small towns is not high compared with first- and second-tier cities, but their living costs are low. In addition, young people in small towns do not need to invest too much money in buying houses and buying property, and can enjoy relatively low prices in low-tier cities. Therefore, young people in small towns can have more abundant cash flow for consumption, and their consumption confidence will be higher.

In terms of consumption methods, young people in small towns are greatly affected by short videos, and their online video activity time is 3-5 times that of e-commerce platforms. As the main force of mobile apps such as Kuaishou and Douyin, young people in small towns are willing to consume and share, and more than 60% of them like to share Internet content, which also indirectly explains why mainstream short video platforms will achieve rapid growth in a short period of time.

4.1.1.2 The existing shopping methods and existing problems of young people in small towns

There are two types of shopping methods for young people in small towns: offline physical store consumption and online traditional e-commerce shopping. The above two methods mainly have the following problems:

Offline physical stores:

There are certain restrictions on the types and quantity of goods in physical stores. For some newly launched electronic products, agricultural products from special regions, hot products from a certain period of time, physical stores cannot be all-encompassing and cannot meet the diversified shopping needs of young people in small towns (Question 1).

Online traditional e-commerce:

Traditional online e-commerce still adopts the "people look for goods" method of consumers' active search. For "Benben" and "Xiaoxian" users who do not have clear shopping goals, traditional e-commerce cannot help them make shopping decisions (Question 2).

4.1.2 Middle-aged in the town

According to my country's national conditions, 41-59 years old are called middle-aged people. According to the "2019 Sinking Market User Survey Report", middle-aged towns account for about 25% of the total number of people in the Sinking Market, and they have consumption capacity that cannot be underestimated.

4.1.2.1 Characteristics of middle-aged users in towns - recommendations of acquaintances are of high importance, and they attach importance to consumption in family scenarios

The town has lived in a small town for a long time in middle age, and its family and social relationship chains are stable. The way to understand new things in the outside world is recommended by people around you, and there is a lag in information reception. At the same time, they pursue frugality and prefer to buy cost-effective products in family scenarios.

In terms of factors that affect consumption decision-making, excluding the key decision-making factor of "price", the sinking middle-aged group is greatly affected by "recommendations from acquaintances". Regarding the "acquaintance society" model in the sinking market, the sociology master Mr. Fei Xiaotong described it in "Rural China". Simply put, "acquaintance society" is a "small circle" society, a complex and huge relationship network formed based on the relationship between relatives and friends and neighbors. Because people are familiar with each other, they can help and take care of each other, making it easier to establish internal trust and thus affect consumer decision-making.

In terms of consumption types, middle-aged people in small towns should support their parents and raise their children. Most people understand the principle of living within their means and pay more attention to consumption in family scenarios.

4.1.2.2 Existing shopping methods and existing problems in middle-aged towns

There are two types of shopping methods in middle-aged towns: offline physical store consumption and online traditional e-commerce shopping. The above two methods mainly have the following problems:

1) Offline physical stores

People in the downtown area attach great importance to the cost-effectiveness of products. Because middle-aged people in small towns have elderly and young people, they know how to live within their means. They will choose the most cost-effective products through multiple comparisons. Most of these products are daily necessities in family scenarios and do not need to be very easy to obtain. In order to provide the instant availability of goods, physical stores spend a lot of costs such as stores, warehouses, multi-level supply chain delivery, etc., so the price of goods will be relatively higher. (Question 3)

2) Traditional online e-commerce

Due to the expenses of store commissions, advertising and marketing, bidding rankings and other expenses, traditional online e-commerce is not beautiful, and there are many e-commerce promotions, so in order to maintain profits, the pricing of products will be higher. (Question 3)

Secondly, the quality of online products is uneven. Compared with physical stores, e-commerce sellers have low cost of opening stores, and the purchasing channels are unknown, so the quality of products is difficult to guarantee. Due to the lack of trust in the store, choosing from a bunch of homogeneous products has increased the difficulty of customers to purchase. (Question 4)

4.1.3 Old people in small towns

The rate of access to the Internet for the elderly in small towns is low, but they are accessing the mobile Internet at a very high speed. The huge potential of the huge market remains to be explored.

The author only found the Internet information data for 2018: According to the Forward Industry Research Institute, in 2018, my country's population aged 60 and above was 250 million, accounting for 17.9% of the total population. At the same time, in 2018, my country's netizens aged 60 and above only had more than half a million, accounting for 7.1% of the total number of netizens. From this, it can be seen that the Internet access rate of elderly people in my country in 2018 was only 20%, while the Internet access rate of elderly people in small towns will only be lower.

At the same time, according to the "Online Life Consumption Data Report" released by JD Digital Research Institute and the National People's Congress Guofa Institute, the online sales of elderly people over 60 years old in 2018 increased by more than 65% compared with 2017. In terms of the number of netizens, the number of elderly netizens in my country has increased by 130% since 2012, and the speed of the elderly accessing the Internet is 1.6 times that of the overall mobile Internet popularization speed. It can be seen that this huge market blue ocean for the elderly in the town is emerging.

4.1.3.1 Characteristics of elderly users in small towns - really have free time and money, there is a certain "digital gap", it is easy to be deceived, pay attention to health care products

In terms of time, since the elderly in the town are generally retired, they do not have to continue working and there is a lack of entertainment activities in the town, they have more time to spare than the "workers" group and the "student" group.

Economically, since the state-given pension and children provide as income after retirement of the elderly in the town, the economic level is in a surplus state. According to the "Survey Report on the Use of Internet by Middle-aged and Elderly People in the Usage of Internet by Wuhan University's All-Age Team", the income level of middle-aged and elderly netizens is generally higher than the average level of Internet users across the Internet.

In the use of Internet products, there is a digital divide for the elderly in small towns. As the Internet population dividend gradually disappears, the elderly have become an important source of the increase in netizens, accounting for 44.6% of the total number of new netizens. However, as "white paper" users, they have short access to the Internet and have weak ability to actively search for products. Using complex functions requires a lot of learning costs, and the use of Internet products is still in the exploration stage. According to the Wuhan University "Survey Report on the Use of Internet by Middle-aged and Elderly People 2015", 33.3% of middle-aged and elderly people often encounter difficulties in accessing the Internet, and 51.7% occasionally encounter difficulties. The two account for more than 80%, which shows that middle-aged and elderly netizens will encounter more or less difficulties in the process of accessing the Internet.

In the process of using Internet products, the elderly in towns are becoming the target of "vulnerable groups" among Internet users and various fraudulent behaviors because they combine the two key characteristics of "small town" and "elderly". According to the survey results of Lian Lao.com, 67.3% of middle-aged and elderly people have had the experience of being deceived while using the Internet. The research team further inquired about these deceived middle-aged and elderly people and found that most middle-aged and elderly people could not distinguish between normal operation procedures and traps. They also found that the live broadcast software they downloaded mostly comes from pop-up advertisements rather than application stores. It can be seen that middle-aged and elderly people have weak ability to identify fraudulent information on the Internet.

Another discovery is that "health care products" are the hardest hit areas for elderly people in small towns to be deceived. Because the elderly in the town are far away from intensive and high-quality medical resources and lack of medical knowledge, it has always been an important source of performance in the health care product industry. Before the Internet was popularized, many health care product sales personnel packaged them into traditional Chinese medicine lecturers and nutrition experts, and forced to buy and sell high-priced health care products from the elderly under the banner of free physical examinations and popularized medical knowledge lectures. After the relevant national departments vigorously rectified the health product industry in 2019, a large number of participants flocked to the online health product sales channels, filling the gap in offline lectures. The 2019 Tmall Health Products Consumer Insight Report shows that the penetration rate and growth rate of health product consumption in small towns are far higher than that of urban silver hair among the eight major groups.

4.1.3.2 Existing shopping methods and existing problems for elderly people in small towns

There are three types of shopping methods for elderly people in small towns: offline physical stores, online traditional e-commerce and second-class e-commerce. The above three methods mainly have the following problems:

1) Offline physical stores

Offline physical stores are still the main shopping method for elderly people in small towns, but there are also common problems with offline physical stores, such as the small number of products cannot meet the needs of elderly people in small towns for specific functional health products. (Question 1)

2) Traditional online e-commerce

Traditional e-commerce is very difficult for the elderly in small towns to use, with many functions, many information and long operation paths. (Question 5)

3) Class II e-commerce

The second-class e-commerce is also called "marketing e-commerce". The main model is single product advertisements mixed between the information flow. The product page is usually a single H5 page. The only way for consumers to enter the product page is to click on marketing advertisements in the information flow. The second-class e-commerce, which has simple operation and strong incitement, has opened the door to online shopping for "small town elderly" by means of information flow advertising, with a return rate of up to 3.7. Some e-commerce merchants earn tens of millions of monthly income from popular categories such as reading glasses and elderly shoes.

However, for consumers, the problems of Class II e-commerce are also very obvious:

First of all, the product description is oriented and not objective enough. Sales volume and evaluation may also be fake data, and it is easy to be deceived to buy products that are not in line with the right board. (Question 6)

Secondly, it is difficult to protect after-sales rights. Generally, second-class e-commerce provides after-sales services through customer service telephone, and it is difficult for consumers to protect their rights when they are in a passive state during communication. (Question 7)

4.1.4 Migrant workers in first- and second-tier cities

The population of third- and fourth-tier cities in my country is 953 million, and the population of first- and second-tier cities is 427 million. Among the 427 million, there is a group of people who are nicknamed "New Buddy Clans". They are busy commuting, staying up late, anxious, and escalating... They are "workers" who work in first- and second-tier cities. The following picture shows iResearch Consulting’s portrait of the “New Busy Clan”:

4.1.4.1 User characteristics - no idleness and money

Migrant workers in first- and second-tier cities are affected by the fast pace of big cities, lack personal time, and are unwilling to spend a lot of time playing games for small profits. When shopping, they value convenience and speed more, and hope to quickly find the right-priced products through convenient and efficient purchase methods to end the purchase process, and the purchased products are mainly fast-selling products.

4.1.4.2 The existing shopping methods and existing problems of migrant workers in first- and second-tier cities

There are two existing shopping methods for migrant workers in first- and second-tier cities: offline physical store consumption and online traditional e-commerce shopping. The above two methods mainly have the following problems:

1) Offline physical stores

First of all, offline shopping is time-consuming and labor-intensive. You need to go to a physical store to and from the mall to buy goods. If the goods you need to buy cannot be bought in one mall, you need to go to several malls at the same time. During the purchase process, consumers need to look for shelves in the store and compare prices. After the purchase, they need to carry the goods home by themselves. The handling of large items is also very exhausting. (Question 8)

Secondly, offline physical stores are not transmitted in time. Promotional activities, discount information, price adjustments, and out-of-stock situations can only be understood when consumers arrive at the store. If they do not visit physical stores every day, it will be difficult to buy discounted products. (Question 9)

2) Traditional online e-commerce

As various festival activities in e-commerce come one after another, promotional rules are becoming more and more complicated due to "price discrimination". In this way, users who are willing to spend time and energy researching rules, sign in, share, and play mini games every day will get a lower price, and ordinary users are likely to become the harvested "leeks" due to the price increase before the holiday. (Question 10)

4.1.5 Students

According to the 46th CNNIC survey report, students account for the highest proportion of netizens in the entire network, accounting for 23.7%. It can be seen that the student group is an important part of Chinese netizens, and students are also the main users of various types of e-commerce.

4.1.5.1 User characteristics - have no money, good at making money

The student stage is when a person has the strongest demand but the financial conditions are the most difficult.

In terms of time, as an indigenous person of the Internet, the student group is prone to access the Internet, and the Internet time is increasing year by year. According to China News Network, the duration of online access for netizens of all school-age students in my country is shown in the figure.

Economically, students have poor economic independence and limited consumption capacity. Their income mainly comes from living expenses given by their parents, as well as other incomes and scholarships from part-time jobs in society. According to the big data of the Sui Shuji APP, the average monthly living expenses of college students in my country in 2019 were 1,282 yuan, and the average living expenses of college students in more than 70% of the regions did not exceed 1,500 yuan.

In terms of consumption level, the student party is in a period of rapid physical and mental development, and has a sense of freshness in all kinds of things and dares to try them. Their consumption demand is large and they have certain demands for digital, beauty, clothing, snacks and other categories. However, due to the constraints of living expenses, most of them pursue cost-effective products. They have received "higher education" and are good at making money, that is, they choose the most affordable purchasing method by calculating various complex preferential conditions. According to the "2020 College Student Rational Consumption Report" of China Youth School Media, 64.61% of college students have had the experience of making money.

4.1.5.2 Students’ existing shopping methods and existing problems

There are two types of shopping methods for students: offline physical store consumption and online traditional e-commerce shopping. The above two methods mainly have the following problems:

1) Offline physical stores

Offline physical stores cannot meet students' diverse needs due to space limitations (Question 1), and the prices of products will be relatively higher. (Question 3)

2) Traditional online e-commerce

First of all, the prices of traditional online e-commerce are not beautiful due to the expenses of store commissions, advertising and marketing, bidding rankings, etc., and there are many e-commerce promotions, so in order to maintain profits, the pricing of products will be higher. (Question 3)

Secondly, traditional e-commerce operations are relatively single, mostly single product promotions and various shopping coupons are superimposed, while wool parties mostly make profits by finding loopholes in the rules, not through formal marketing activities. These wool-pulling activities violate the original intention of marketing activities, and professional wool-pulling parties rather than the general student group are the main players who make profits. (Question 11)

4.2 Merchant

Pinduoduo’s merchant types can be roughly divided into manufacturers and mid- and low-end retailers according to their position in the supply chain. Unlike consumers' multi-level consumption needs, the main demand of merchants is to sell the most products at the lowest cost to make the largest profit. Different types of merchants have different advantages and different decision-making plans.

4.2.1 Manufacturer

4.2.1.1 User characteristics - with a complete production line, low secondary market recognition rate

The manufacturer has a complete production line and has been conducting "Office OEM" production for domestic and foreign brands for a long time. It is an upstream enterprise in the commodity supply chain. Due to the lack of independent brands, professional OEM factories are not recognized by the mass market in the secondary consumer market. High quality, high investment, heavy assets and low profits are the main characteristics of OEM business.

4.2.1.2 Manufacturer's existing solutions and existing problems

The existing sales channels of manufacturers are mainly divided into two types: shipment to other dealers and selling to independent brands. These two methods mainly have the following problems:

1) Shipping to other dealers

The product R&D design and sales channels of "Office OEM" enterprises are controlled in the hands of dealers. The manufacturers themselves have weak bargaining power and low profit margins. They also have to bear various risks such as self-built factories, equipment depreciation and production management. In this case, the development space of manufacturers is limited to becoming a "processing workshop" of a certain brand, and once the market fluctuates, the downstream orders are insufficient, and the supply chain is broken, the manufacturer will face an existential crisis or even go bankrupt. It can be seen that although Chinese manufacturers have huge productivity and manufacturing scale, high investment, low profits and high risks are the main problems. (Question 12)

2) Independent brand sales

Products made by the same manufacturer are four or five times more expensive than those of the manufacturer's own brands. Brands are valuable intangible assets of enterprises, while manufacturers' independent brands have a low awareness rate in the market (Question 13).

4.2.2 Mid- and low-end retailers

4.2.2.1 User characteristics - not much liquidity, no professional team

After traditional e-commerce began to take the branding route, professional brand merchants entered the market to compete for traffic, while mid- and low-end retail merchants could not bear the high transaction costs and lacked professional marketing teams, and urgently needed to find new ways out.

4.2.2.2 Retailers’ existing solutions and existing problems

The current sales methods of small retailers are mainly to open offline physical stores, sell goods on traditional e-commerce platforms, and develop their own sales platforms. These three methods also have the following problems:

1) Open an offline physical store

As a traditional selling scenario, physical stores have the following problems:

• The fixed cost of physical stores is high. The opening of physical stores requires store rent, decoration costs, store employee salaries, etc., and the initial cost is high. For some locations with high traffic flow, the rent is even more prohibitive (Question 14).
• Sales scenarios are limited by geographical location. Due to the fixed offline physical stores, consumers who are usually only commuting distances in the surrounding area will come to the store to consume, which can only radiate to a small number of consumers (question 15).
• The sales time is limited by the door opening time. Since physical stores require clerks to take care of, they will inevitably be unable to receive customers when closing the door at night (Question 16).

2) Open a store and sell goods in traditional e-commerce

Opening a store in traditional e-commerce is also a solution for many small and medium-sized businesses, but there are also the following problems:

• Transaction costs are high, and traffic acquisition, platform exposure, store commissions, transaction commissions, etc. are all costs that are difficult for small and medium-sized enterprises to bear. (Question 17)
• Low marketing capabilities. Nowadays, traditional e-commerce marketing activities are increasing, and the activity rules are becoming more and more complex. Small and medium-sized enterprises lack professional ability to keep up with the pace of marketing. There are many cases where some small and medium-sized enterprises set up wrong discount rules and are fleece until they go bankrupt. (Question 18)
• Due to information asymmetry, the quality of goods on the platform is uneven, and it is easy to see the phenomenon of "bad money driving out good money". The prices of goods on the platform are lowered by goods with inferior products, the profits of high-quality products are reduced, and they gradually withdraw from the market. (Question 19)

3) Develop your own sales platform

Some merchants with development capabilities will develop their own e-commerce platforms to sell goods, which not only avoids the shortcomings of offline physical stores but also bypasses the commissions of third-party platforms, but also has the following shortcomings:

• The development cost is high and requires a certain amount of strength. The own e-commerce platform requires a lot of manpower and material resources from development costs, server purchases, and post-maintenance. (Question 20)
• The number of views is low, there is no stable traffic channel, and the own sales platform does not have the high MAU as traditional e-commerce platforms. Many people do not know that there is such a platform that can purchase goods, and ultimately, it still needs to attract traffic from other places. (Question 21)

4.3 Platform

Through the above analysis, we have learned that consumers and merchants have their own demands, and the existing solutions have not met their needs well.

From the perspective of consumers purchasing goods, the following problems exist:

• Question 1: There are fewer types of products
• Question 2: Cannot help consumers make shopping decisions
• Question 3: Not cost-effective
• Question 4: Good and bad products
• Question 5: It is difficult for the elderly to use
• Question 6: There are many types of second-class e-commerce fraud
• Question 7: Difficulty in after-sales protection of e-commerce in Class II
• Question 8: Offline shopping is inconvenient
• Question 9: Offline information is not transmitted in time
• Question 10: There is price discrimination in traditional e-commerce operations
• Question 11: Traditional e-commerce operation activities are single and the rules are complex
• From the perspective of merchants selling goods, the following problems exist:
• Question 12: Manufacturers have high investment, low profits, and high risk
• Question 13: The market awareness rate of manufacturers' independent brands is low
• Question 14: The cost of offline physical stores is high
• Question 15: Offline physical stores have limited radiation range
• Question 16: There is free time for offline physical stores
• Question 17: Traditional e-commerce transaction costs are high
• Question 18: Poor marketing capabilities of mid- and low-end merchants
• Question 19: Information asymmetry, "short goods drive out good goods"
• Question 20: The cost of developing your own platform is high
• Question 21: The cost of obtaining traffic on your own platform is high

So how does Pinduoduo, as a platform, propose better solutions to these problems and meet user needs?

4.3.1 Low-priced routes

Pinduoduo’s slogan is just “buy it, it’s cheaper.” In order to solve [Problem 3] and ensure that the products on the platform are cheaper than other platforms, Pinduoduo has made the following efforts:

First, shorten the supply chain and ship the manufacturer directly to consumers. On the one hand, the M2C model reduces supply chain costs, and on the other hand, many manufacturers will have a backlog of goods due to overcapacity. When the products are left, they need warehousing and management costs. If you stock up on the goods in your hands, it is a loss. Merchants are naturally willing to sell them at low prices on the Pinduoduo platform. Compared to making losses, being able to obtain lower profits is already a good solution.

Secondly, Pinduoduo’s products are purchased in group purchases and free shipping throughout the venue. Compared with individual users of traditional e-commerce purchases, group buying can bring greater purchase volume. In addition to the common two-person group buying, Pinduoduo also has 10,000-person group buying activities. Group buying activities have huge shipments, and this form of purchase is a bit similar to the wholesale market - wholesale large amounts of goods to achieve the goal of reducing unit prices.

Third, Pinduoduo will review the merchant’s prices. On the one hand, when a merchant publishes a product, he needs to submit an application to the platform. The platform will review the price of the product. The pricing rules for Pinduoduo's products are: the market price required for posting products > order buying price > unit price. On the other hand, in Pinduoduo's major promotional activities, the platform will also have rigid regulations, requiring that the products participating in the event must be at the lowest price on the entire network.

Fourth, Pinduoduo often has various large-scale subsidy activities, such as 9.9 yuan sale, cut-off clearance, and 10 billion subsidies. Judging from Pinduoduo's financial report, even if the activity suffers its own losses, Pinduoduo must make the low-price route to the extreme.

4.3.2 Quality Assurance

Although the core pain point of consumers is price, unqualified quality will seriously affect consumers' repurchase rate. According to a survey by iMedia, 45% of users do not choose to continue using the Pinzhu e-commerce platform due to concerns about product quality. In order to solve [Question 4] [Question 6] [Question 7] and ensure the quality of products on the platform and the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, Pinduoduo has made the following efforts:

In terms of genuine product protection, Pinduoduo launched the "one fake one and ten compensation" product guarantee in 2018. During the National Sword Network special operation in June 2019, Pinduoduo also actively responded and jointly launched the "genuine insurance" with China National Insurance Property Insurance to ensure that the products are 100% authentic.

In terms of business supervision, Pinduoduo implements a very strict management system. Pinduoduo installs cameras in the factory of the new brand plan, requiring manufacturers to upload all information including raw material procurement records, monitoring reports, production logs, etc. A children's watch merchant who was forced to close the store due to a random inspection fine said: A watch was sold on Pinduoduo for 19.9 yuan. It was found that the quality was not up to standard and 1,500 watches were sold in the month, but the amount of Pinduoduo's fine was calculated for 3 months on the day of the random inspection, and fined three times the transaction volume, totaling 270,000 yuan. In other words, if there is any problem with a random inspection, it can cause a fatal blow to small businesses. For ordinary merchants, Pinduoduo requires uploading qualification certificates and implementing a regular random inspection system. If they fail, they will be fined immediately.

In terms of logistics and after-sales service, Pinduoduo also has strict regulations. In terms of logistics, the Pinduoduo platform's requirements for conventional categories are that the goods must be shipped within 2 days (48 hours) after the group formation, and after the shipment, logistics information must be available within the specified time. For violations of regulations, the platform will impose a fine on the merchant. In addition, Pinduoduo also has penalties for merchants regarding false shipments, fraudulent shipments, and no shipments. In addition, if the product is not satisfied, Pinduoduo has launched a subsidy of "return package freight". Consumers apply for a return refund within 15 days after confirming receipt. Pinduoduo will subsidize the return freight, which also gives consumers a "peace of mind" in after-sales rights protection.

4.3.3 Shopping gamification

Pinduoduo’s product positioning is Costco+Disney. In addition to low prices, Pinduoduo also operates in a refined manner through games, thousands of people and thousands of faces algorithms, and integrates entertainment methods in the process of consumers using APPs, solving [Problem 2], helping and guiding "Benben" and "Xiaoxian" users who have no clear shopping goals to complete shopping decisions.

4.3.4 Reduce the difficulty of purchasing

In response to the problem of the high threshold for the use of traditional e-commerce for the elderly, Pinduoduo also has corresponding countermeasures.

First of all, in terms of shopping process, Pinduoduo has eliminated the shopping cart process compared to traditional e-commerce. The product details page only has two options: initiate order pairing and purchase separately. Click any button to enter the order submission page. If you default to password-free payment, you can complete the purchase operation in just two steps.

Secondly, in terms of page display, whether it is product list, product details page, order details page or coupon list, Pinduoduo always adheres to the way key information is displayed on the page in red font. This slightly "rustic" page is in line with the reading habits of middle-aged and elderly people, making it easier for them to find key information.

4.3.5 The marketing activities are simple and crude

With the maturity of traditional e-commerce, more and more marketing activities have been carried out, and the complex activity rules have caused many small and medium-sized businesses who have not professionally planned and users who have only snatched a few dollars for a long time. In order to solve [Problem 10] [Problem 11] and reduce the troubles of complex activity rules on consumers and merchants, Pinduoduo's activities mostly adopt the "direct price reduction" strategy, and the rules are very simple and crude, grabbing Mercedes-Benz, SK-II, Switch for 9.9 yuan... Users have been qualified to participate in the event by pulling people. Since they are already in low expectations for Mercedes-Benz, which is 9.9 yuan, Pinduoduo uses the game of consumers to complete marketing activities that are quite meaningful to lottery draws, reducing the loss disgust of consumers spending a long time but only obtaining some low-cost and consumption threshold red envelopes.

4.3.6 Launching the "New Brand Plan"

In order to solve the problems of [Question 12] [Question 13] - manufacturers' high quality, high investment, low returns and low market awareness of independent brands. In December 2018, Pinduoduo launched the "New Brand Plan" for the first time, and then on October 22, 2020, the "New Brand Plan" was fully upgraded to "New Brand Plan 2.0". The new brand plan supports independent brand merchants and provides them with portraits of consumer consumption habits, helping companies understand and reach consumers more effectively. Similarly, consumers can understand and enjoy cheap and good-quality products.

4.3.7 Rely on social fission to achieve decentralization and reduce merchant customer acquisition costs

"Traffic" is always a key factor in e-commerce. Pinduoduo obtains traffic at low cost through social activities, content sharing, algorithm recommendations, etc., solving the problem of high acquisition costs for traditional e-commerce merchants. Pinduoduo has changed the traditional e-commerce shopping model by allowing users to replace the platform and become the center of shopping information. Every user is both a buyer and a promotional promoter, injecting new vitality into the e-commerce platform and retaining users, and the cost of acquiring customers of the platform and merchants has dropped significantly.

4.3.8 Reduce merchant thresholds and transaction costs, and use low prices and cost-effectiveness as the basis for traffic diversion

The high cost of opening a store and the low level of professionalism are the core pain points of small and medium-sized businesses. In order to solve [Problem 18], in terms of entry threshold, Pinduoduo's entry threshold is lower than that of traditional giant e-commerce. For personal stores, you only need to upload your ID card, a product photo, and a front photo of your handheld ID card to register and open a store. In terms of fees, Pinduoduo does not need a platform entry fee. There are only two types of fees involved in opening a store: 1. When registering for an event, you need to pay a deposit; 2. A 0.6% transaction fee charged on behalf of third-party payment platforms such as WeChat and Alipay.

Unlike other e-commerce platforms' preferential policies for traffic distribution, Pinduoduo starts from product value proposition and mainly distributes traffic from four dimensions: product price, cost-effectiveness, sales volume, and user praise rate. Tmall's traffic distribution includes Alibaba Mama, which contains various marketing tools. Merchants have to spend money to buy traffic and compete with friendly forces, otherwise the ranking will fall. This part of the traffic marketing costs are very large, and in some categories, it may even account for 25% to 30% of the cost. The traffic distribution mechanism of Pinduoduo is different. Pinduoduo is a typical user-centric traffic distribution mechanism. The effect of merchants spending money on advertising may be better than directly reducing the price by 1 yuan. It is better to concentrate on polishing a popular product when merchants study advertisements for bidding rankings. After a low-priced hot product reaches sales, it will drive the sales of all products. This is the strategy of many Pinduoduo merchants. For comparison, the ROI given by Tmall in this category is 1:0.85, which means that the business of using 1 yuan for advertisements to exchange 0.85, while Pinduoduo is 1:5 or even 1:8 according to statistics.

4.3.9 Calculate the quality scores of merchants to avoid "short goods evict good goods"

To solve [Problem 19], Pinduoduo uses product quality points to measure the correlation between merchant product information and Pinduoduo user search intentions. The assessment content includes feedback on the implementation of merchant transactions, collections, clicks, customer service response rates, etc.; calculation quality of baby pictures, details pages and product introductions; whether insurance is cancelled, whether some serious infringement exists, whether punishment should be imposed; whether cosmetics are fake, one compensation for three levels. The charging method of Pinduoduo search promotion is also closely related to quality. The charging formula is: single click fee = (next one bid x next one quality score)/Own quality score + 0.01 yuan. This ensures that merchants with high quality scores can obtain higher exposure.

4.3.10 The superiority of online e-commerce itself

After solving the above problems, there are still [Question 1] [Question 8] [Question 9] [Question 14] [Question 15] [Question 16] [Question 20] [Question 21]. Due to the superiority of online e-commerce itself, the diversity of products (Internet celebrity products), recommendations of discount information, comparisons between different products, no need to pay the rent of offline shops, no constraints of geography and time, and Pinduoduo has huge traffic for the top 3 domestic e-commerce companies, and all problems in these aspects are solved.

4.4 Summary

Through the above three analysis, we can find that Pinduoduo can indeed meet the needs of different users, grasp the pain points of users, and have certain effects on all participants, providing consumers and merchants with a better solution, and creating value for the development of the platform. This is also one of the reasons why Pinduoduo has developed so rapidly.

V. Business model analysis

As an e-commerce platform, GMV is the core indicator for measuring market share and reflects its commercial value. GMV can be further divided into user number, conversion rate and customer unit price, as shown in the figure below.

In the chapter on commercial value analysis, the author will start from the three dimensions of user number (UV), conversion rate, and unit customer price, and discuss how Pinduoduo improves these three key indicators and thus improves GMV.

5.1 Increase the number of users

To increase UVs within a certain period of time, you can increase your reputation by attracting new activities, increasing traffic entrances, and advertising.

5.1.1 New recruitment activities

As the leader in social e-commerce, Pinduoduo has achieved rapid growth in the number of platform users with the help of the superiority of social e-commerce and guided user communication. The means of communication include, for value-sensitive users, using product mechanisms such as discount + bargaining, free bargaining, group buying, etc., to guide users to spread products to WeChat group chats and circle of friends, thereby completing a series of actions such as self-dissemination, new recruitment, and paid activation, and achieving low-cost traffic drainage.

5.1.2 More traffic entrances

Pinduoduo's traffic starts from the WeChat platform and rapidly expands. In the process of rapid growth, in addition to retaining the secondary entrance of WeChat and the WeChat mini-program entrance, Pinduoduo also needs more traffic entrances to expand the number of users.

According to iResearch Information Network, Pinduoduo has reached a cooperation with Kuaishou, and Kuaishou anchors will work with Pinduoduo merchant resources to promote products live broadcasts and achieve traffic attractions through live broadcast scenarios. In terms of open-screen advertising, Pinduoduo has also spared no financial resources to launch open-screen advertising for major software, including Zhihu, Tencent Video, Toutiao, Weibo, etc. In terms of information flow advertising, Pinduoduo inserts information into content products through articles, pictures, videos, etc. to increase traffic entrance.

5.1.3 Advertising

In September 2016, Pinduoduo and Yiquan Culture Communication Co., Ltd. reached an agreement. The original singer Zhu Zhuai was invited to adapt and sing on the original song "I Miss You So Much", becoming one of the most successful advertising songs in brainwashing among many advertisements in the entire e-commerce industry. In addition, Pinduoduo has also contracted many sponsors of popular variety shows, and these investments have increased Pinduoduo's popularity to a certain extent and brought a lot of traffic to Pinduoduo.

5.2 Improve conversion rate

After a user arrives at the homepage of Pinduoduo, a series of operation steps are required to complete the purchase process. Each additional user operation link will result in an additional user loss. The author simplifies the steps that users need to go through when completing a purchase process on Pinduoduo to the conversion rate funnel in the figure below, and then analyzes how Pinduoduo improves the conversion rate in the middle of each step.

5.2.1 Conversion rate funnel

5.2.2 How to improve conversion rate

5.2.2.1 Conversion rate from home page to product details page

Use social attributes to attract users. When consumers browse products on the homepage, texts such as "Friends Collection", "Friends Purchased by Friends", "Stores Followed by Friends" will be displayed in the header of the product. With the help of the social relationship between consumers and friends, users will be guided to click on products.

利用排名、銷量等大眾口碑信息吸引用戶，拼多多會在商品頭圖中顯示“XX榜第1名”，“已拼10萬件”，并展示已拼單人的頭像，增加場景的真實感，讓用戶覺得商品獲得大量人的認可，從而點開商品。

利用優惠活動吸引用戶，拼多多會在商品頭圖中顯示“滿19返1”，“關注立減5元”，“5周年慶”，“百億補貼”等方式告知消費者當前商品的正在做優惠活動。

利用保障讓消費者放心，商品頭圖的“小編推薦”，“正品險”，“品牌”，“退貨包運費”，“壞果包賠”等字眼增加用戶的信任感，引導用戶點開商品。

5.2.2.2 從商品詳情頁到屬性選擇的轉化率

當消費者進入一款商品的商品詳情頁之后，會展示商品的更多信息，不僅有參考圖片，大部分商品還有商品視頻，讓消費者對商品有更加深入的認識。

商品標題下方會展示當前商品正在參加的活動、可使用的優惠券、能享受的權益、在暢銷排行榜的入榜情況，減少用戶對商品的顧慮。

在拼單界面會專門展示出該商品當前的拼單人數、拼單者的頭像和名稱，以及各個拼單者拼單剩余時間，給消費者營造一種“喧鬧的集市感”，多人購買也能使消費者的信任壁壘降低。在這種情境下，消費者在從眾心理的驅動下更容易下單。

詳情頁的商品評價和行家心得，讓消費者看到商品的真實反饋，從而提供商品購買決策。商品評價默認排列方式采用了人為干預排序邏輯，優先展示優質評價。

底部相似商品推薦，提供用戶選擇的商品相關的商品推薦，給予用戶更多選擇。

5.2.2.3 從屬性選擇到收銀臺的轉化率

消費者在屬性選擇界面進行選擇后，如果庫存短缺會顯示“僅剩1件”的提示，敦促消費者抓緊付款。

5.2.2.4 從收銀臺到支付成功的轉化率

若用戶進入了購買流程但放棄付款，返回拼多多時，會彈出倒計時的頁面，增加緊迫感，同時還展示了多名用戶好評該商品的內容，以進一步加強消費者對商品質量的信任。收銀臺還支持修改收獲地址和選擇其他支付方式的選項，希望能夠在不取消訂單的情況下直接促成交易。

5.3 提高客單價

客單價等于單次購買金額乘以購買頻率，拼多多是如何提高單次購買金額和購買頻率的呢？

5.3.1 提高單次購買金額

1）滿折、滿減等運營手段

拼多多通過折扣讓利的方式引導用戶從買單一商品到購買多件商品，提升用戶額外購買的意愿，購買完的同時還覺得換算。

2）推出百億補貼、全球購、電器城等功能

拼多多通過售賣高端大牌的高價位商品，提高單次購買金額。

5.3.2 提高購買頻率

1）優惠活動通知

拼多多聊天列表中有優惠活動通知一欄，不時推送給消費者正在優惠的商品或者優惠活動。

2) Save money with monthly pass

拼多多的省錢月卡包含各種面額的優惠券，按照周期發放，用戶為了使用優惠券會提高購物頻率。

3）精選推薦

在瀏覽拼多多的過程中，在首頁、聊天頁、個人中心頁、我的訂單頁面、甚至游戲頁面都可以看到精選推薦商品，這些推薦都是按照特定的算法總結出來的，很容易誘發消費者的購物欲望。

5.4 Summary

通過提高一段時間的用戶數量，提升各個環節的轉化率，拉高客單價的方式，拼多多提高平臺的成交額，實現商業價值。

六、產品功能迭代分析

據酷傳網數據，拼多多各大應用市場的下載量與時間的關系曲線呈現“J型”，表明拼多多的產品生命周期仍處于成長期。

為了深入分析拼多多的版本迭代節奏，探究產品功能迭代邏輯，筆者通過七麥數據，整理了拼多多主要的版本迭代內容如下：

根據上表內容，筆者簡單將拼多多的迭代階段分為三部分：

6.1 階段一：冷啟動階段，完善基礎功能（V1.0.2～V2.0.2）

2016年3月20日之前，V1.0.2～V2.0.2版本，為產品的冷啟動階段，這個階段的主要目的是完善基礎業務功能，優化用戶體驗。比如增加支付寶支付、優化拼團分享流程、新增微博登錄和微博分享、優化瀏覽體驗等，都是在完善拼多多的核心拼團功能。這一階段基本完成了拼多多基礎功能的建設，為第二階段運營活動上線做好了準備。

6.2 階段二：快速成長階段，豐富產品功能和不斷推出活動，持續拉新（V2.1.5～V3.25.0）

從2016年6月3日至2017年6月11日，V2.1.5～V3.25.0版本，是拼多多的快速成長期，通過不斷推出新功能和營銷活動的方式來達到持續拉新的目的，是這件階段產品迭代的重點。根據酷傳網數據和拼多多財報，在此階段中，拼多多的各大榜單排名大幅度上升，至2017年7月達到穩定的TOP3位置，同時在2017年6月，拼多多的活躍買家數也將邁進一億大關。

在這一階段拼多多推出了大量的電商促銷活動，包括免費購、1元包郵、9塊9特賣等。拼多多通過這些優惠促銷活動，促進用戶進行消費和分享，實現大量拉新和留存。

6.3 階段三：業務成熟階段，關注細節體驗提升口碑（V3.27.0～V4.86.0）

隨著此時拼多多的消費者、商家等的積累，廣大消費者眼對拼多多基本有了一個定位，也展現出對商品質量方面的一些顧慮。對此，拼多多的迭代體也現出新的業務走向，更傾向于打消消費者對于商品的顧慮和提高用戶體驗，包括可以舉報假冒品牌商品、新增品牌折扣專場、推出百億補貼大牌正品假一賠十等活動。假冒商品舉報功能的出現，也從側面體現了拼多多逐漸在提升平臺商品質量，著力于改善以及提升廣大消費者對拼多多的認知，提升口碑，也提升了客戶體驗，防止客戶流失。

6.4 總結

整體看來，拼多多的整個迭代節奏把握得很不錯。首先是基礎功能的完善，然后推出大量活動持續拉新，在用戶積累到一定量之后，逐漸開始朝著保障消費者權益、提升口碑的方向推進。

7. Product structure analysis

在第六章筆者分析了拼多多功能迭代步驟，第七章我們來分析一下這些功能分別滿足了用戶哪些需求，以及這些需求在整個App中是怎么分布的。

7.1 功能結構腦圖

下圖為拼多多V5.32.0的產品結構腦圖：

因為拼多多平臺的主要用戶是消費者，所以重點滿足消費者的需求。消費者在拼多多完成購物流程，整條消費決策路徑可分為三種場景：消費者沒有消費意愿時、有消費意愿時和購買后。

為便于分析，筆者對上圖的功能結構腦圖，按照用戶、場景、需求和功能重新梳理，得到下面的表格：

7.2 場景一：沒有消費意愿時

對于沒有消費意愿的場景，消費者對于自己想要買什么商品沒有規劃，這時候可以通過滾動廣告、拼小圈、百億補貼、精選推薦、排行榜、跟著好評買等功能，主動吸引消費者的注意；也可以通過發放各種優惠券，讓消費者對優惠商品產生時不我待的緊迫感；還可以通過玩游戲時，給用戶推薦他感興趣商品，激發他的消費意愿。

7.3 場景二：有消費意愿時

對于有明確目標或者方向的消費者而言，他們可以通過搜索框或者是分類專區去尋找自己的目標商品。找到商品后，消費者最想知道的是商品的價格合不合適和質量好不好，這些信息都可以通過商品詳情頁面直接進行了解。

當在眾多同質類商品進行購買決策的時候，一款商品類目會出現多款同樣的商品可供選擇，這個時候貨比三家也很重要。消費者可以在搜索結果頁按價格或者按銷量等變量屬性進行排序操作，也可以通過對比價不同商品詳情頁面的價格和評論等內容，來做參考。

有時候通過買家評論中的描述，并不能很準確地了解商品的細節，消費者也可以在詳情頁與店鋪客服聯系，避免買錯商品的情況。

7.4 場景三：購買后

完成購物之后，查看訂單進度是最高頻的需求之一，消費者可以在個人中心-我的訂單中查看自己所有的訂單的進度。

購買后如果有售后問題，消費者可以通過我的訂單中與賣家溝通退換貨，也可以通過官方客服功能讓官方客服介入完成維權，消費者也可以通過退款售后功能查看所有退款中訂單的進度。

7.5 總結

通過以上分析可以發現，拼多多的功能設計可以很好的滿足消費者在沒有消費意愿、有消費意愿、購買后三種場景的需求，進而促成交易，提高轉化率。尤其是在消費者沒有明確購買意愿時，引導他們有消費意愿進而完成購物流程的功能模塊設置得比較全面。

八、運營分析

所謂“好的產品是運營出來的”，這句話體現了運營在產品成長和發展的過程中至關重要的地位，拼多多也在成立之初執行了“純運營，零硬廣”的策略。那么，在電子商務已經發展到相對壯大、行業巨頭已經形成時期，拼多多是如何在夾縫中找到一線生機，形成獲利閉環并迅速發展壯大起來的呢？

筆者采用AARRR模型對拼多多的運營活動劃進行分析：

8.1 用戶獲取

用戶獲取是AARRR模型的第一步也是用戶增長的開始。“流量困境”一直是困擾電商的頭等問題，優化存量、引入增量是緩解這一難題的總體策略。拼多多的主要策略是，通過借助有海量用戶的騰訊病毒式傳播、廣告投放、贊助綜藝節目等方式進行“用戶獲取”。

8.1.1 借助騰訊社交平臺，獲取海量用戶，并病毒式傳播

拼多多的分享拼單模式，邀請好友一起購買就能享受優惠價格或者邀請好友幫忙砍價就能享受優惠，這讓用戶分享顯得誘惑十足。同時，使用微信賬號登錄、APP多處設置分享功能等設計，也可以讓用戶更輕易地一鍵將拼單、砍價、促銷等內容分享到微信、QQ。此外，在社交關系的信任背書下，用戶對拼多多的不信任感被大幅降低，用戶獲取成本也相應降低。

這種“分享拼單”的裂變式病毒傳播機制，一開始背靠騰訊海量用戶，充分享受了微信、QQ的流量紅利。當拼多多發展到一定規模后，也得到了騰訊的認可和支持，分別于2016年9月和2018年4月參與拼多多兩輪融資，并達成戰略合作，目前騰訊已經是拼多多第二大股東，持股比例達到19%。隨著2017年小程序的興起，拼多多通過微信小程序又多了一種從騰訊社交平臺獲取了海量用戶的形式，讓其發展更加飛速。

8.1.2 改編廣告神曲，多渠道播放廣告，加深品牌印象

魔性廣告神曲“拼多多，拼得多，省得多”的廣告歌詞耳熟能詳，朗朗上口，拼多多通過大量的廣告投放將洗腦神曲傳播至消費者心中。同時拼多多還占領了各大APP的開屏廣告和信息流廣告，最大程度地加深用戶印象。

8.1.3 贊助熱門綜藝，開啟霸屏模式，繼續增加曝光率

為了提高品牌知名度，拼多多大量贊助熱門綜藝節目，成為《極限挑戰》、《中國新歌聲》、《非誠勿擾》、《歡樂喜劇人》、《奔跑吧》、《快樂大本營》、《我是大偵探》等熱門綜藝節目的冠名商，開啟霸屏模式。據統計拼多多2018年，共冠名7檔、特約5檔、合作伙伴6檔，合計18檔綜藝，其中包括了各家衛視的王牌欄目，例如江蘇衛視的《非誠勿擾》、東方衛視的《歡樂喜劇人》等。在2019年，拼多多更是與湖南衛視達成了長期的戰略合作伙伴關系，大小綜藝都有他們的身影。

節目贊助部分明細：

• 2016年10月15日，拼多多大電影登錄廣州各大院線，用戶量超8000萬。
• 2017年7月9日，拼多多特約贊助《極限挑戰》，見證“一起拼”之旅。
• 2017年7月13日，拼多多冠名《醉玲瓏》，共同開啟奇幻愛情。
• 2017年7月14日，拼多多獨家特約《中國新歌曲》，一起聆聽，拼出未來。
• 2017年10月28日，拼多多特約贊助東方衛視《拜見小師傅》。
• 2018年1月3日，拼多多冠名《歡樂喜劇人》，認真搞笑，歡樂陪伴。
• 2018年3月，拼多多冠名《非誠勿擾》、《我是大偵探》，冠名電視劇《南方有喬木》。
• 2018年4月，拼多多成為《快樂大本營》首席合作伙伴，特約贊助《無限歌謠季》，網絡總冠名《奔跑吧第二季》。
• 2018年5月，拼多多特約贊助《青春同學會》。
• 2018年7月，拼多多獨家冠名湖南衛視《我家那小子》。
• 2018年7月，拼多多成為《中餐廳2018》首席合作伙伴，聯合冠名《爸爸去哪兒第六季》，網絡冠名《幻樂之城》。
• 2018年8月，拼多多獨家冠名《是真的嗎》、獨家冠名東方衛視《我們在行動》。
• 2018年10月，拼多多網絡總冠名《親愛的客棧》。
• 2018年12月，拼多多贊助《圓夢東方·2019東方衛視跨年盛典》。
• 2019年1月，拼多多贊助《直通春晚》，冠名《歌手》。
• 2019年3月，拼多多聯合贊助愛奇藝《我是唱作人》。
• 2019年9月，拼多多攜手愛奇藝獨播《我在未來等你》。
• 2019年11月，拼多多冠名愛奇藝《這樣唱好美》。
• 2019年12月，拼多多攜手湖南衛視跨年晚會，發超10億紅包。
• 2020年1月，拼多多獨家冠名湖南衛視全球華僑華人春晚。

8.2 用戶激活

在獲取到新用戶后，如果不及時進行激活，就會面臨新用戶迅速流失的風險。拼多多實現用戶激活的方式主要路徑是：新用戶點擊分享的鏈接-下載APP-參與新用戶優惠活動。當新用戶完成在拼多多APP上第一次消費時候，就會因為極其的低價而達到“啊哈”時刻。同時拼多多還設置了新手引導，對操作不熟悉的新用戶進行使用指引。

8.3 用戶留存

當新用戶完成第一次消費之后，如何提高用戶參與度和留存率就成為一個新的問題，拼多多主要采取了推出多種多樣的營銷活動和發送高頻次的優惠心里來提高用戶留存。

8.3.1 多種多樣優惠玩法提高用戶活躍度

拼多多不斷推出各種吸引消費者眼球的優惠活動，如“限時秒殺”、“9塊9特賣”、“品牌清倉”、“砍價免費拿”、“天天領紅包”等。同時拼多多還設計了“拼單卡收藏館”，“多多果園”等游戲，增加用戶的使用時間、頻次，激發用戶的參與度，提高用戶的活躍度。

8.3.2 發送推送消息提高復購率

拼多多通過對用戶瀏覽、收藏、購買的商品進行大數據分析，尤其在“618”“雙十一”等活動時期，通過微信公眾號、官方消息、推送等方式向用戶發送大量消息，提示用戶使用產品。同時，APP中“無處不在”的精選推薦，讓用戶一步就能觸達爆款商品。這些手段在增加商品銷售量的同時也增加了用戶粘性，提高了用戶活躍度。

8.4 獲得收益

獲得收益是商業活動的關鍵，拼多多不直接與消費者交易，而是向商家收取傭金和手續費來獲得收入，理論上消費者消費越多，拼多多間接獲益越多。

8.5 推薦傳播

拼多多用戶數量的日益膨脹主要得益于“推薦傳播”，拼多多的推薦無時無刻都存在，玩小游戲的時候要邀請好友，砍價的時候要邀請好友，搶9.9奔馳的時候要邀請好友，被你邀請的好友進入拼多多，還會繼續邀請別的好友，從而達成一個閉環。

8.6 總結

通過以上分析發現，拼多多首先依托微信社交平臺順利應對“流量困境”，瞄準下沉市場進行拉新，并借助各大綜藝節目和廣告為用戶增長開辟了大體量的渠道。其次拼多多通過新手引導等方式，激活了新用戶點擊分享鏈接-下載APP-參與新人優惠活動的首次消費行為。第三，拼多多豐富的優惠活動和后臺消息推送有利于與用戶保持長期良好的互動，大大提高了用戶的留存率。第四，拼多多通過消費者的消費行為獲得收益。最后，通過口碑分享、補貼優惠、朋友邀請等病毒式傳播，形成了一個營銷閉環。

IX. Conclusion

通過以上對拼購社交電商的行業和拼多多平臺的分析，得出總結如下：

從行業分析可以看出，國家大力扶持電子商務行業且鼓勵商務新業態，且國民的消費水平提高、消費的意愿提升、消費門檻降低，讓社交電商站上了茁壯成長的新風口。

從電商典型業務形態和競品分析可以看出，拼多多在行業中占有相對領先優勢，在《2020胡潤中國10強電商》˙中位列第四。與京喜相比，拼多多因為提前進入市場，收容了一大批尾部商家，加上豐富的社交玩法、低廉的商品價格，收獲了大批用戶，經過短短三年迅速上市。

在用戶價值方面可以看出，拼多多很好地平衡了商家、消費者的關系，一個平臺想要很好地發展，需要讓各個參與方利益最大化，這樣才能持續產生用戶價值。

在商業價值方面，GMV是衡量電商商業價值的重要指標，拼多多通過提高用戶數量，提升各個環節的轉化率，拉高客單價的方式，來提高平臺的成交額實現商業價值。

在產品功能迭代方面，拼多多整個迭代節奏把握得很不錯。首先是基礎功能的完善，然后推出大量活動持續拉新，在用戶積累到一定量之后，逐漸開始朝著保障消費者權益、提升口碑的方向推進。

在產品結構分析方面，拼多多的功能設計可以很好的滿足消費者沒有消費意愿時、有消費意愿時、購買后三種場景的需求，尤其是在消費者沒有明確購買意愿時，引導他們有消費意愿進而完成購物流程的功能模塊設置得比較全面。

在運營模式方面，拼多多利用微信的海量流量病毒式裂變，并借助各大綜藝節目和廣告為用戶增長開辟了大體量的渠道，然后通過激活新用戶、提高用戶的留存率、再老拉新的方式形成了一個完美的營銷閉環。

最后，筆者通過SWOT分析法來分析總結拼多多發展的優勢、劣勢，機會和威脅。

通過以上的分析我們可以看出，拼多多要想持續發展不斷獲得新的機會

首先，需要繼續打磨產品，在保證低價優勢的前提下，不斷推出新的營銷活動打破用戶慣性，優化用戶體驗，引導用戶消費已獲得盈利。

其次，需要加強電商相關上下游行業的護城河，比如布局供應鏈、物流、流媒體、私域流量社區等方面。

最重要的是，面對假貨爭議和負面印象，需要加大打假力度和做好品牌形象的正面公關。

以上是筆者本著熟悉行業的目的寫的拼多多產品分析報告，第一次寫產品分析報告，歡迎大佬指教。

作者：hchchc6016

來源：hchchc6016