Valuation soared 3 times, Wanda e-commerce development O2O is inevitable

Yesterday (January 4), it was reported that two overseas Internet investment funds will invest 1 billion yuan in exchange for 5% of Wanda E-commerce's shares. The valuation has quadrupled in just a few months, and Wang Sicong's father's new company has once again become the focus of attention in the industry.

With the acquisition of 99Bill in December 2014, Wanda E-commerce finally filled the gap. 99Bill not only brought a mature and complete payment platform to Wanda E-commerce, but also brought consumer big data accumulated over many years of operation and more than 200 domestic and foreign financial cooperation institutions, which can provide important support for its future membership system and development.

Wanda has money and merchants, Baidu has traffic, Tencent has users, and with the new fast money, on paper, Wanda's e-commerce strength should not be underestimated. Think about it, each of these three shareholders is a godfather-level rich company. If they can work together, it is worth looking forward to conquering an e-commerce empire. However, no matter how strong the paper strength is, it will eventually show its true strength on the field. There are many examples of 1+1 not necessarily > 2, such as Sony teaming up with Ericsson and TCL acquiring Alcatel, and the final results are far from the original ideal. So in the face of fierce market competition, where will Wanda's e-commerce breakthrough be?

The development of O2O is inevitable

Among the current B2C e-commerce websites, Alibaba is the best in platform development, while JD.com is the best in direct sales. Both companies have been deeply involved in the relevant industries for many years. If Wanda e-commerce breaks through in these two directions, it will be very difficult for it to compete with its rivals.

The only advantage that Wanda has over the other platforms is that it owns hundreds of commercial properties and hundreds of thousands of mid- to high-end businesses across the country, which is the largest offline business network in the country. This is a strategically important resource that current e-commerce platform rivals such as Tmall and JD.com do not have, and it can be said to be a natural advantage. Therefore, how to combine this huge offline business network with the online one to create a dynamic and valuable O2O business empire will naturally become an important task for Wanda e-commerce in the future.

In fact, Wanda e-commerce had already observed this when it was first established. As early as last year when Wanda joined hands with Baidu and Tencent to establish Wanda e-commerce, it announced that it would not sell goods but services, and clearly listed the creation of an integrated online and offline user experience as its strategic goal, and gave it a very high-sounding name - Smart Plaza. It is reported that Wanda e-commerce's various preliminary preparations are being carried out in an orderly manner, the free wifi layout has been completed, and the O2O service software is under development, and it will focus on this in the future.

Highlight the advantages of genuine products

The biggest worry when shopping is the fear of buying fakes, especially when shopping online. Although Alibaba has raised the banner of fighting counterfeiting and even taken the fight offline, its Taobao and Tmall are still plagued by counterfeit products. In this regard, Jack Ma's statement is no different from that of the legendary experts: the reason why there are so many counterfeit goods on Taobao is that buyers are greedy for bargains.

It is human nature to buy things at a bargain price. During the Double 11 and Juhuasuan events, low prices are used to attract buyers to "get a bargain"? Moreover, the 25-yuan Rolex mentioned by Jack Ma is just an extreme example of fake goods. More fake goods appear in the form of fake brands and fake materials, and they are all disguised very well in the form of promotions, making it difficult for buyers to identify. Due to the low entry threshold and weak supervision, Taobao C stores are more common. Even Tmall has been found to have such a situation from time to time. Therefore, when it comes to the authenticity of goods, Alibaba's websites are somewhat lacking in confidence, and consumers do not trust them very much.

Wanda Plaza itself is positioned in the middle and high-end market, and has strict entry requirements for merchants. In addition, as a physical store, the management is more complete and controllable. Compared with pure e-commerce platforms, the trustworthiness of goods on Wanda Plaza merchants is far greater than that of offline Taobao and Tmall. Relatively speaking, the trustworthiness of goods on JD.com's own platform is much higher than that of Tmall, and its management methods are worth learning for Wanda e-commerce. The opponent's disadvantage has become its own advantage at this time. If Wanda e-commerce can strictly supervise merchants, maintain a zero-tolerance attitude towards counterfeits, and truly serve consumers, it will be able to create an excellent reputation for authentic products in time. In this way, it can successfully distinguish itself from other e-commerce platforms, successfully establish a brand of authentic products, and enter the market.

Seize the target group of mid- to high-end users

China's Internet industry, so far, is a living example of the Diaosi economy. There is a saying that whoever wins the Diaosi wins the world. Look at the large number of Internet brand mobile phones that are surging now, which are beating traditional international brands to retreat step by step. This is a good example.

Diaosi are an important part of the Internet economy, but that doesn't mean that the rich and handsome are not the target user group of e-commerce. It's not that they don't know how to use the Internet, but they have higher tastes and are much more demanding on shopping experience and service levels. Can I say that Jack Ma himself never uses his Taobao account to buy things? What does this mean? More importantly, the purchasing power of the middle and high-income groups is much stronger than that of the Diaosi, and the profit margins and profits they bring are very considerable and absolutely cannot be ignored.

Although the e-commerce services for middle- and high-income groups cannot be called blank, it is still a market segment full of huge opportunities. Since Wanda Plaza's business model is positioned to serve middle- and high-income groups, it is more aware of the needs and preferences of this group of people and has a natural advantage in developing middle- and high-end user groups.

You see, Apple's market share in China is less than 10%, but its profits far exceed the total profits of domestic mobile phones, showing the huge commercial value of high-quality customers. If Wanda e-commerce can give full play to its own advantages and meet or exceed the requirements of the rich and handsome in terms of shopping experience and service level, it will firmly grasp the middle and high-end user groups and obtain rich returns.

As the country with the largest population and the largest number of Internet users in the world, China's B2C e-commerce has experienced explosive growth in recent years. In the next 10 years, the scale of online retail transactions is expected to reach at least 20 trillion yuan, nearly ten times the current level. Such a huge market is enough to accommodate several large e-commerce platforms to compete on the same stage. In just a few months, Wanda E-commerce's valuation has quadrupled, indicating investors' optimism about the future market.

Wanda E-commerce is not facing the question of whether there is an opportunity, but whether it can seize the opportunity. Of course, this is a very difficult challenge. After all, Alibaba's market position is difficult to shake in the short term. In addition to the team's execution and creativity, the key lies in whether the major shareholders can give full play to the integration advantage of 1+1+1>3.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.