Analysis of advertising in the e-commerce industry in April!

As 618 approaches, a new round of battle for traffic among major e-commerce platforms is about to begin! To help advertisers understand market trends in advance and adjust plans in a timely manner, we analyzed the four major types of applications, namely platform e-commerce, vertical e-commerce, discount sales, and cross-border e-commerce, based on the mobile advertising intelligence tracked in April 2020, to show their recent changes in advertising delivery trends.

Note: The following advertising data only counts the advertisements of the corresponding e-commerce type apps for the purpose of guiding app downloads, and does not include advertisements that guide users to purchase directly on the corresponding e-commerce shopping page.

1. Overview of the overall deployment of e-commerce applications

During April, we tracked the following intelligence on platform e-commerce, vertical e-commerce, discount sales, and cross-border e-commerce applications.

In terms of the number of advertisements , platform e-commerce and discount sales account for a relatively high proportion , accounting for 4.11% and 2.55% respectively, while the number of vertical e-commerce and cross-border e-commerce advertisements accounts for a low proportion. In terms of advertising amount , platform e-commerce and discount sales accounted for 4.52% and 3.64% respectively . The advertising amount of vertical e-commerce accounted for more than twice the proportion of its advertisement number, which indicates that the investment in advertising amount is relatively large.

The advertising creative formats of e-commerce applications in April are summarized as follows. The material formats and structures of platform e-commerce and discount sales are highly similar , both of which are mainly in the form of pictures and videos , with pictures accounting for more than 70% and vertical videos and videos accounting for more than 20% in total.

The total proportion of videos and vertical videos in vertical e-commerce and cross-border e-commerce is relatively high, at 43.55% and 27.92% respectively.

The following analyzes the advertising intelligence for platform e-commerce, vertical e-commerce, discount sales, and cross-border e-commerce in April, and lists popular advertising copy and creative materials.

2. Insights into App Delivery by Category

2-1 Analysis of Platform E-commerce App Launch

1) Top 10 rankings by number of ads

According to statistics, in April 2020, the top 10 apps in terms of the number of e-commerce application advertisements on the platform are as follows.

2) Analysis of the top 3 e-commerce apps

① Comparison of top advertising platforms

The key delivery platforms for Pinduoduo, Taobao, and Xiaomi Youpin are all Tencent Advertising , and they also account for a relatively high proportion of the delivery on Bytedance. The proportion of "Pinduoduo"'s advertising on major platforms is relatively evenly distributed, with Tencent Advertising, vivo, and Bytedance ranking the top three, accounting for 37.72%, 24.99%, and 11.50% respectively; the proportion of "Taobao" and "Xiaomi Youpin" in Tencent Advertising's advertising placements both exceeds 60%.

② Comparison of advertising materials

In terms of advertising materials , Pinduoduo, Taobao and Xiaomi Youpin mainly use pictures , accounting for 74.28%, 67.36% and 76.64% respectively. Among them, "Taobao" has the highest proportion of vertical video materials , which is about twice that of "Pinduoduo" and "Xiaomi Youpin", accounting for 23.51%.

2-2 Analysis of Discount Sale App Launch

1) Top 10 rankings by number of ads

According to statistics, in April 2020, the top 10 apps in terms of discount and sale app advertising are as follows.

2) Analysis of the top 3 discount sale apps

① Comparison of top advertising platforms

The key delivery platforms of the TOP3 discount and sale apps vary greatly, and the delivery tendencies are obvious. "Rebate" mainly invests in the Bytedance platform, and "Know Goods" mainly invests in Tencent advertising , and both account for more than 90%. "What's Worth Buying" mainly invested in Zhihu platform , accounting for 86.64%.

② Comparison of advertising materials

More than 70% of the materials of "Rebate" are in the form of videos . Compared with other apps, it pays more attention to video advertising, which is related to its focus on massive engines. “Shihuo” focuses on picture-based advertisements , which account for as high as 94.61%. For What’s Worth Buying, 50.38% of its materials are in the form of pure text , which is inseparable from its focus on the Zhihu platform. The second largest category is pictures.

2-3 Analysis of vertical e-commerce app launch

1) Top 10 rankings by number of ads

According to statistics, in April 2020, the top 10 vertical e-commerce apps with the most advertising are as follows.

2) Analysis of the top 3 vertical e-commerce apps

① Comparison of top advertising platforms

The distribution of the platforms where "Dui Zhuang Feicui" is released is more evenly compared to other apps, with a focus on Baidu Information Flow, Tencent Advertising, and Bytedance , accounting for 31.78%, 23.71%, and 23.46% respectively. The key advertising platforms for "Daily Youxian" and "Weipaitong" are Tencent Advertising and Bytedance , and "Daily Youxian" focuses more on Tencent Advertising.

② Comparison of advertising materials

"Dui Zhuang Feicui" and "Wei Paitong" pay more attention to video form advertising, while "Daily Youxian" focuses on picture form.

2-3 Analysis of cross-border e-commerce app launch

1) Top 10 rankings by number of ads

According to statistics, the top 10 cross-border e-commerce apps with the most advertising in April 2020 are as follows.

2) Analysis of the top 3 cross-border e-commerce apps

① Comparison of top media placements

"The Princess and the Pea" and "Yangmatou" are mainly placed in Toutiao media , and "NetEase Kaola" is mainly placed in Tencent media .

② Comparison of advertising materials

"The Princess and the Pea" and "Yangmatou" focus on picture material forms, and the video form of "Yangmatou" accounts for more than 80% of the total.

3. Inventory of popular advertising materials

3-1 Analysis of advertising copywriting routines

Based on the information tracked by App Growing, the popular high-frequency words in each category of e-commerce are sorted out as follows.

From the word cloud diagram, we can find that the comprehensive e-commerce advertising copywriting without subdivision type all emphasizes selling points such as "low price", "free shipping", "discount" and "promotion" . The creative routines of related advertising copywriting have certain similarities. The following are the more common copywriting routines.

① 9.9 flash sales – super low prices to attract users’ attention

-Huawei nova6, new 5G mobile phone, 9.9 yuan flash sale!

-OPPO mobile phone, super fun for playing games, super beautiful photos, grab it for 9.9!

-Durian is having an event! On April 28th, each one is only 9.9 yuan, and free shipping to your home!

② It’s just this price/super low discount/too worth it ——Preferential discounts attract users to buy

-Kaola.com offers the best deals on the best products, with global brand lipsticks starting at 50% off, grab them now!

-Don’t buy expensive branded women’s clothing! I came to Vipshop for a super low discount and bought 3 items at once!

-Hurry up and stock up, SK-II, La Mer, Lancome, super low prices starting at 50% off, limited time special offer!

③ Daily red envelope/newcomer red envelope/cash red envelope ——Download and use the red envelope guide

-Suning.com APP users can receive red envelopes every day, up to 188 yuan!

-New customers can grab products for free! Xiaomi Youpin also offers a 500 yuan red envelope as a gift for new members!

-Are you really not going to claim this free cash red envelope? Up to one hundred yuan!

④ Regret after missing out/grab it quickly/snatch it up – create a sense of urgency

- Regret if you miss it! Click here to help you choose the best mask

-Hold on tight! Apply for a free mobile trial on April 25th, it's worth a try

-Super delicious mangosteen, every one of them is fresh and juicy! Grab the special price!

⑤ Authenticity/Authenticity ——Emphasis on Authenticity Guarantee

-Don’t look for purchasing agents to buy good products from Japan! Try Wandou, order directly online, free shipping for genuine products!

-This is the price of big-brand watches! Starting at 0 yuan, appraised by professional masters, guaranteed authenticity and free shipping!

3-2 Analysis of popular advertising materials

Video ads are gaining more and more attention in information flow ads. Even though they currently account for a small proportion, they have many advantages such as intuitive display of products, great appeal, and rich content. They are a traffic outlet that cannot be underestimated.

In the e-commerce industry, advertising materials in the form of pictures are highly similar, all focusing on highlighting product features, preferential prices, and discount activities , but there are obvious differences in video materials used in different styles .

① The platform's e-commerce video materials are generally mainly display videos of seasonal fruits, daily necessities, electrical appliances, red envelopes , etc., focusing on the products themselves to highlight their freshness, juiciness, practicality, ease of operation, and cost-effectiveness, so as to attract users to download the App for purchase.

② Discount and sale video materials focus on highlighting preferential prices that are lower than the market price, large-scale discount activities , etc. Applications with rebate functions will also emphasize large-denomination coupons and money-saving tutorials such as shopping with coupons .

③ Vertical e-commerce video materials are more special than other styles of applications. They mostly adopt situational drama mode , using eye-catching plots to introduce them in the early stage, and then implanting App selling points and new user activities to improve user conversion rate.

④ Cross-border e-commerce video materials focus on displaying real shots of imported goods purchases , highlighting selling points such as authenticity guarantee, easy operation, and tax-free direct mail , hitting the pain points of female users.

A collection of popular advertisements in the above e-commerce industry:

3-3 Landing Page Routine Analysis

Based on our advertising intelligence tracking, we have compiled the popular landing page creative routines of the top advertisers in the three categories of platform e-commerce, discount e-commerce, and vertical e-commerce as follows.