Video e-commerce: You can see it but you can’t buy it

At the end of October, Alibaba and JD.com announced their respective video e-commerce plans one day apart, which seemed to give people the illusion that the video e-commerce market might explode. Those who pay attention to this field know that the concept of video shopping has been advocated for many years, and even the watch-while-buy visual chain technology newly launched by Alibaba and JD.com is just old wine in a new bottle.

The video TV market is also embarrassing for e-commerce giants. Everyone believes that the video field has strong e-commerce value, but it has been slow to make substantial progress. In addition, with the development of smart TVs in the past two years, a "TV e-commerce" market has emerged that is very similar to "video e-commerce". However, TV e-commerce also faces the same development problem of idealism and reality.

Video e-commerce, an unforgettable dream for e-commerce companies

If you are interested in video e-commerce, you may want to search for it. Alibaba and JD.com started to shout slogans two years ago, and compared with now, there is basically not much change, and they are still in the early stage of fantasy. If there is any progress, it is that the integration of video e-commerce and variety shows is closer now, but the actual effect is not very good. We will discuss this issue later.

After Alibaba and JD.com announced their respective strategic plans for video e-commerce, many users were disdainful of this. Of course, new things are often not favored in their early stages, which is normal, and consumers have enough reasons not to accept video shopping, but for e-commerce companies, whether they can succeed is not the most important thing, the most important thing is to do it, what if they succeed?

Theoretically, videos contain huge e-commerce value. Every item in every scene has the potential to promote consumption. For e-commerce and video companies, this is advertising space, which can be sold for money. Before the video e-commerce channel is opened, this is called advertising placement and brand exposure. If the video e-commerce channel is opened, it can bring direct conversion rate, which is what companies are looking for.

But this is only in theory, the actual situation may not be so optimistic. Let's think from our personal perspective, among the many videos you watch, how many times have you had the desire to buy the same product in the video? This cannot be said to be absolutely non-existent, there will be some. But watching videos requires fluency, who would suddenly stop and place an order first? And after missing that exciting moment, you will no longer think of buying it.

Of course, the Chinese market is large enough and has enough users, so there will be at least some users who will place orders while watching videos. However, this shopping method is unlikely to become popular in a short period of time, and it is not the real shopping demand of consumers. Otherwise, video e-commerce would have been strong enough in the past two years.

For e-commerce companies, they can’t do anything about whether users buy or not, but when their technology is mature enough, they can provide services first and then slowly cultivate user habits. What if the trend suddenly changes one day and video e-commerce becomes popular? At least it’s right to be well prepared and not be overtaken by other companies.

When a company grows to a certain size, it will always take risks and do things that may be wrong, because many things that seem wrong now may become right in two years. In order to prevent crises caused by sudden changes in market trends, companies will always prepare certain trial and error costs. The current video e-commerce is in this situation. The prospects are very good, but there has been no effect, and companies cannot give up.

TV e-commerce cannot pass the radio and television test, and smart TVs are not practical enough

With the increasing shipments of smart TVs in the past two years, the development of TV e-commerce has also been put on the agenda. However, from the perspective of the current TV industry dominated by radio and television, true TV e-commerce is still a long way off, as the one-way digital signals of radio and television have no basis for e-commerce. However, as radio and television promote the development of the integration of three networks, the future TV e-commerce market is still quite attractive, but this will be a long process, and the interests involved are complicated, so it is better not to consider it in the short term.

In fact, TV e-commerce based on smart TVs may still have some opportunities. It is easy to get confused here, so let's first clarify two points. One is TV e-commerce generated by content transmission dominated by radio and television, and the other is TV e-commerce based on smart TV hardware. At present, the content of radio and television is transmitted in one direction (the normal broadcasting form of TV stations), so there is no e-commerce opportunity. Smart TVs are intelligent hardware that can achieve two-way interaction by connecting to the Internet, and can be used for online shopping like PCs, mobile phones, and tablets.

However, although smart TVs have the hardware foundation for online shopping, the same shopping experience means that they cannot support the development of TV e-commerce. At present, TV apps of e-commerce companies and some shopping guide apps are difficult to use. This is mainly because the interaction between the remote control and the TV is not suitable for online shopping. During the shopping process, you need to input and click, which is not what the remote control is good at.

As long as the remote control is still there, the shopping experience of TV e-commerce will not be up to standard, even if it is changed to a remote control with keyboard and mouse functions. In fact, many remote controls now have mouse functions, but the experience is far different from that of a PC mouse, and the input function is mostly based on virtual clicks, which requires moving the cursor one by one, which is tiring, and the input efficiency is much worse than that of a PC keyboard.

Well, some people will say that smart TVs have USB ports, which can be plugged into PC keyboards and mice for operation! In fact, if you have the time to plug in the USB, you can already buy it on the PC. Some people also say that now mobile phones can directly control TVs, and it is more convenient to input through mobile phones. If you can control TVs with mobile phones, you can already place orders on your mobile phones, so why bother buying on TV? Those who really know how to use smart TVs, who can't shop online? Who would go to great lengths to shop on smart TVs?

Not long ago, Haier and Alibaba jointly launched a smart TV with a shopping function. If you are interested, you can go to Youku to watch the introduction of the TV shopping function. Anyone who has watched it will be so drunk that they don’t even have the energy to complain. At present, the online shopping interaction of smart TVs is generally too poor. Now even smart TVs cannot support the development of TV e-commerce. Even if radio and television realize signal transmission, it cannot change the dilemma of TV e-commerce. Good software and hardware interaction is the prerequisite for the development of TV e-commerce.

Video e-commerce, TV e-commerce, the game of channels and content

Here we should first reach a consensus on "video e-commerce" and "TV e-commerce" before continuing the discussion. Video e-commerce can be understood as a shopping method based on video content services on the PC Internet (such as Alibaba and Youku); TV e-commerce refers to the content implantation of radio and television (such as film and television drama implantation, variety show sponsorship), or a large-screen shopping method based on smart TVs (such as LeTV Super TV).

In fact, the integration between video e-commerce and TV e-commerce is very high. First, smart TVs can basically play the content of various video websites, and it is only a matter of time before the shopping method of visual chain technology is realized. In other words, the shopping method of PC video e-commerce can also be realized on smart TVs; second, the content of video websites and radio and television stations is much the same, and the two are also the same in some content implantation.

For example, the recently popular show "Goddess's New Clothes" is a program focusing on TV e-commerce and video e-commerce. When "Goddess's New Clothes" was broadcast on Dragon TV, it was broadcast in the form of radio and television, so it can be called TV e-commerce; when it was broadcast on Youku, people could buy while watching (assuming this shopping method has been commercialized), so it is video e-commerce; in addition, when "Goddess's New Clothes" is played on Youku on smart TVs using the Internet, people can also buy while watching (assuming it has been realized), so TV e-commerce and video e-commerce are the same thing.

In the long run, with the development of technology and the market, TV e-commerce and video e-commerce will gradually merge, and TV e-commerce and video e-commerce will become the same thing. In fact, whether it is TV e-commerce or video e-commerce, its core has two points, "channel" and "content".

Channel refers to the dissemination channel, whether it is broadcasted through television (radio) or computer (network), the most important thing is the dissemination channel. Take "Goddess' New Clothes" as an example. Whether it is broadcasted on Dragon TV or Youku, it is broadcasted through the broadcast channel to let the audience see the program. The most important thing is the dissemination channel. Only when people pay attention to it can they trigger demand. Content refers to the program itself. The content of the program itself determines whether it has strong e-commerce consumption potential. The products of "Goddess' New Clothes" are sold on Tmall. If the content is well done, it can indeed generate e-commerce consumption.

Therefore, channels and content are the core of TV e-commerce and video e-commerce, and other hardware, networks, technologies, etc. are external infrastructure. Only a complete infrastructure, good channels and good content can truly activate the TV/video e-commerce market.

In fact, the actual e-commerce consumption generated by the program "Goddess' New Clothes" is not large, and the sales of most products are very few. There is still a huge gap between it and real TV/video e-commerce. The program focuses more on the communication value of marketing. The so-called "buy while watching" in the program is completely disconnected from TV/video e-commerce and cannot be realized on TV or PC for the time being. Now calling it TV/video e-commerce is completely exaggerated. At best, it is a reality fashion show that can sell products on Tmall.

The "998" TV shopping that survives in the cracks is worth referring to

Before developing TV e-commerce and video e-commerce, you need to first understand their predecessor "TV shopping". There are two types of TV shopping industry, one is TV direct sales, and the other is home shopping.

Data shows that home shopping sales account for 8% of the total shopping in the US market, while in South Korea the figure is 12%. The largest TV shopping channel in the US is QVC, with a scale of 60 billion US dollars, while the number one TV shopping channel in South Korea, LG Home Shopping, has an annual sales scale of 25 billion RMB. (Sorry, no accurate data source was found)

In China, due to the lack of relevant laws and regulations, TV shopping has always given people the impression of being a scam, but the total retail sales of TV shopping in China in 2013 was around RMB 70-80 billion. Overall, the scale is still considerable.

Perhaps, in addition to the exploration of the "buy while watching" shopping method brought by the visual chain technology, TV e-commerce and video e-commerce can refer to the TV shopping model that is in the gap. Although this shopping method using TV as a communication medium and placing orders by phone is too simple, it has been accepted by a group of middle-aged and elderly users. However, the past 998 model is mostly deceptive. If e-commerce, video, radio and television and other companies jointly participate, it can improve the service quality of the entire TV shopping and even activate the Chinese market.

At present, the market value of video e-commerce and TV e-commerce is huge, but the first problem is to solve the user shopping method. Video e-commerce, TV e-commerce, and TV shopping will tend to merge into a whole industry chain in the future. Strong channels and high-quality content = generating consumption, which is the core of the entire video, TV and TV consumption industry.

At present, whether it is video e-commerce, TV e-commerce, or TV shopping, they are all in a state of being visible but not available. The "not available" in video e-commerce refers to a new form of shopping that does not have actual demand; the "not available" in TV e-commerce refers to a shopping form with extremely poor interactive experience; the "not available" in TV shopping refers to the fact that there are many scams and people dare not buy easily. In other words, the entire market is still in its infancy and there are great opportunities in the future, so it is understandable that Alibaba and JD.com have entered this field one after another, but whether they can do well or not is another matter to be observed.

This article contains a lot of nonsense concepts. The entire industry is still in its infancy and there is no unified concept expression, so a lot of the content is a bit messy and it is impossible to be concise. The main thing is to do a rough market review first. If you are interested, please save it and slowly understand and experience it.

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.